How to get Customer Confidence Back

[SteelMaiden]

I understand the difficulty in getting that customer's confidence back.
I remember that my father bought a Ford in 1958 that he cursed until the day that he unloaded it. It was 30 years before I would even consider looking at a Ford!

Well, been there, done that, got suckered into buying once again. Never again.

 

[ezorangee]

Ah well....It could always be worse. This is not the worst it could be...I am confident that we will rise up and over this problem with some work and coordinated effort. Being in quality for longer than I like to admit, I have always cringed and thought, "May this never happen to me!" when I read about things as far back as food poisoning with Jack-in the Box to as recent as the problem with the contaminated spinach. Talk about a "dent" in your product and reputation!

 

[Jim Wynne]

To sort of expand a bit on some of the responses here, in particular Wes's, I think what the problem might be in cases such as this is a confusion over sales and marketing. Although the two are often lumped together, they're different, and whether or not the functions are integrated depends on the size of the company and the target market(s).

Two examples:

• The 1982 Tylenol poisoinings in Chicago. Johnson and Johnson took a catastrophic situation they essentially had no control over, one that might have ruined other companies, and through a textbook (literally) case of marketing expertise recovered lost market share and consumer confidence.
• Miller Lite. At one time in the twentieth century, there were scores of breweries in Chicago. By the mid 1960's, that number was reduced to one. The erstwhile Peter Hand Brewery produced a reasonably popular local brew called Meister Brau. Sometime around 1970, someone there had the bright idea to develop a "light" beer, one having fewer calories than standard brews. It was introduced as Meister Brau Lite, and went nowhere. In 1972, the brewery shut down after selling its brands to Miller Brewing in Milwaukee. Miller's sole purpose in buying the Meister Brau brands was to get its mitts on the "Lite" formula and idea. Thanks to one of the most successful marketing campaigns ever (Tastes great! Less Filling!) the rest is history.

If for any reason, customer confidence is lost, or customers have not been given good reason to try a product, marketing expertise is needed. Depending on the size of the company, this might mean hiring a full-time marketing staff, or just bringing in a consultant. In any case, the market must be created (or recreated) in order for the sales staff to be able to sell the product.

 

[ezorangee]

Jim.....A very interesting piece on the view of sales and marketing and one that certainly got my attention. In my particular case within this thread, I can tell you that we do not have a marketing resource. This is not to say that the company has not been succesful, in fact it is a very successful company, but you have put an interesting statement which I can relate to other types of problems that we experience. In fact, I will bring this discussion to our next meeting. Very interesting.

 

[Joe Cruse]

Speaking to the suggestion for having folks come in and actually see what your company has done to make improvements: Has the sales force been brought into your facility after all this work, to be given a grand tour of improvements? If not, they need to see for themselves, given their apparent lack of faith in your facility and product.

Might also be worth it (given Jim's note on sales versus marketing) to produce a very nice presentation on your facility and all the hard work that has gone into it lately to improve product quality and prevent defects. Once you've improved the product, getting the people who sell it involved and a great marketing program together would be my next goals.

Good luck.