Posted by Sara Dyer
We all know that negative word of mouth can steamroll a company's reputation, but we typically think of this kind of WOM as a slow-growing fungus. It's causing damage, but it's kind of hidden away from the rest of our business. Left unchecked, it will cause irreparable damage, but if we address it soon enough, it won't cause serious harm. Sites like Yelp! help facilitate the spread, but it's still relatively slow. But sometimes, a company ticks off the wrong person and negative WOM isn't a mold, it's an epidemic.
Sunday night, I was lucky enough to score tickets to Flight of the Conchords at Madison's Overture Hall (an amazing show, btw--check them out). Their opening act, Eugene Mirman, who has a small recurring role on the band's HBO series, told a story about Delta Airlines losing his luggage. While I can't do his story justice in a blog post, the gist of it is that Delta screwed up, said they were going to fix it, screwed up again, again claimed they would fix it and still did not resolve the issue. In the end, Mirman filed an insurance claim and received a check for his lost belongings.
Now this is where the story gets interesting. Instead of using his claim check to purchase a new suitcase and underwear, Mirman used the money to print thousands of these postcards.
He tells his story at concerts, passes out the postcards to all in attendance, and encourages us to mail them in.
Funny? Heck yes.
Damaging to Delta's already fragile reputation? Without a doubt.
Delta didn't know they were ticking off an influencer. If they had, they might have resolved the lost luggage issue more effectively. But the thing is, we never know our customers'/members' scopes of influence. Understanding that every one of our customers/members may have significant influence raises the bar for our level of service. You never know who you may tick off.
Better yet, you never know who you may please.
