The Verde Group, a Toronto-based retail consulting firm, announced an interesting study showing that more than 50 per cent of Americans report that a negative shopping experience of a friend or colleague will prevent them from setting foot in a store altogether. The Customer Dissatisfaction Study finds that as shopping problems get repeated, they often get embellished and actually become up to five times more damaging to customer retention than the initial negative shopping experience itself. Instead of spending money on flashy advertising campaigns, America's retailers should put more dollars into customer service training to improve satisfaction levels.
Follow Me
Recent Posts
- Growing Customers for Life
- Does Marketing Trump Sales Training for Companies Seeking Sales Growth?
- Finding a Suit and Discovering Customer Service Best Practices at the Nordstrom Half Yearly Sale for Men
- A Simple Recipe for Business Success in 2012
- Garbage Company Executive Picks Up After His Driver's Mess and Generates Goodwill
- Word of Mouth Neighborhood Bistro in Salem, Oregon Demonstrates the Power of Online Customer Referrals
- Adam Bacher's Portraits of Haiti Project and Lessons in Word of Mouth Marketing
- My Three-Year-Old Marketing Guru
- I Love My New iPhone 4S and Chefs Lead the Way in Intriguing Uses of Smartphones for Building Repeat and Referred Business
- How Scott Avery Is Using Social Media to Grow His Hardwood Floor Refinishing and Installation Business and His Content Marketing and Consulting Company
Search
Categories
- Advertising
- Blogging
- Books
- Creating Buzz
- Current Affairs
- Customer Service
- Events
- Food and Drink
- Managing Buzz
- Measuring Buzz
- Media Relations
- Negative Buzz
- Networking
- Podcast
- Referrals
- Sales
- Science
- SEO
- Social Media
- Social Responsibility
- Speaking
- Television
- Travel
- Videos
- Web/Tech
- Weblogs
- WOM Ethics
- WOM Research
January 2012
« The Age of the Empowered Customer | Main | Recipe for the reluctant networker »
April 09, 2006
Comments
Websites
- Galvin Communications
The website for my word of mouth marketing and PR firm. Sign up for The Buzz Bulletin, a free monthly eNewsletter. - WOMMA: Word of Mouth Marketing Association
An outstanding resource for word of mouth marketing information. This respected organization also puts on a variety of well-organized and information-rich events and conferences which are worth attending.
Speaking
- Looking for a Creative Marketing Expert & Dynamic Speaker?
Learn more about my customized keynote presentations, breakout sessions, and half or full day seminars on word of mouth marketing and other topics that galvanize business success.
Books
Bella the Boxer: Secrets of a Working Dog: Unleash Your Potential and Create Success
Bella, a boxer dog and my company's director of goodwill (D.O.G.), teaches overworked and overstressed humans how to live successful and meaningful lives by thinking like a dog. Bella has improved our family's life so much since we brought her home five years ago. Read this book and you'll wonder why it has taken you so long to listen to the wisdom of dogs.Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz: Go for No!
A great parable about a salesman who learns that every "no" brings him closer to "yes" - an important lesson for anybody who wants to create buzz.Chip Heath: Made to Stick
This is the best business book that I've read since The Tipping Point since it provides a new way at looking at how you try to tell people about your products or services. You'll have lots of new ideas for promoting your business when you've finished reading this book. And, you'll discover that the best way to promote yourself doesn't involve spending money on marketing rather its all about learning how to tell your business stories better.T. J. Walker: Media Training A-Z
Walker, an accomplished media trainer, provides great practical insight into maximizing the value of the media spotlight. By following his simple suggestions, you'll go into interviews much more confident and come out of them with much better results for your business.Andy Sernovitz: Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking
This is the perfect book for an entrepreneur looking for a "how-to" on word of mouth marketing rather than a theoretical or academic overview. Andy Sernovitz built the Word of Mouth Marketing Association using many of the intriguing word of mouth marketing tactics he describes. His strategies are practical for both small and large businesses as his interesting case studies demonstrate. You may put this book down a few times while reading it so you can start implementing some of its excellent ideas.Fred Reichheld: The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth
Too many companies are addicted to bad profits. These corporate steroids boost short-term earnings but burn out employees and alienate customers. Learn why the answer to one simple question can determine your company's future: Would you recommend us to a friend?Ben McConnell: Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force
An interesting look at how to develop evangelism marketing strategies and programs that will create communities of influencers who will drive sales for your company.Mark Hughes: Buzzmarketing
This book contains some great stories from an experienced buzz marketer that illustrate the importance of finding angles that make you stand apart from the competition. I loved the story of how getting the town of Halfway, Oregon to change its name to Half.com generated a flood of publicity. You'll learn some great practical tips from this book.EMANUEL ROSEN: The Anatomy of Buzz : How to Create Word of Mouth Marketing
Rosen pinpoints the products and services that benefit the most from buzz and offers strategies for creating and sustaining effective word-of-marketing campaigns.Malcolm Gladwell: The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Why do major changes in our society so often happen suddenly and unexpectedly? Ideas, behaviour, messages, and products often spread like outbreaks of infectious disease. This book will help you understand how social epidemics take off and reach critical mass.Al Ries: The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR
Credibility is the crucial ingredient in brand building. This book explains why PR should be used to launch a brand while advertising should be used only once major PR opportunities have been realized.
