If all things were equal … Would they pick your company to do business with? Would your customers recommend your company to a friend? Would the majority of your business come from referrals? Let’s get one thing straight … ALL THINGS AREN’T EQUAL. There are different levels of quality of products and different levels of customer service.

Bain & Company (a top tier management consulting firm) did an extensive study of companies in America and found that the percentage of companies who believe their service level sets them apart from their competition was 80%. But, when Bain & Company reversed the tables on their research and went out and asked the clients of those companies what they thought about their service … just 8% of their customers believed the company actually exhibited a higher level of service than their competitor. 80% vs 8% … that difference is both profound and scary.

So, what should your company be working on? I would recommend you start looking at what causes such a vast gap between the perception of 80% versus the reality of 8%. A great place to look for answers to that question is on Google; that is where I start when I am preparing a program for my clients. I simply type in the Google search bar: “Complaints about XYZ Company” and start reading. A while back, the results for a financial organization I was working with had one Google reference listing 416 complaints. Ouch! Just recently I found these comments about a company I was working with:

• They are the worst company to deal with.
• They didn't follow through on their promises.
• They won’t return my calls or answer my emails.
• The employee I worked with was rude, arrogant, and continuously misleading.
• I wouldn't wish this experience on my worst enemy or the devil himself.
• Don't do business with these idiots.

This company is a large organization with locations all over America … and these complaints stemmed from only a few under-performing offices. (but the consumer doesn’t know that) These comments could cause a client to not even call and give you a chance to do business with them … even though your other locations are getting nothing but praises from clients.

A recent Google study revealed that online reviews impact 67.7% of respondents' purchasing decisions. When checking a company out, 50.4% of the people will just look at the first page on Google, 36% will read up to 3 pages, and 13.6% will read 4 pages or more. If you have four or more negative articles about your company or product appearing in Google search results, you’re likely to lose 70% of potential customers.

Be so good your company can’t be ignored.
Be so good your customers will tell others.
Be so good your company is what all others are compared to.