When customers have an unpleasant customer experience, the company no longer has to worry about them telling a few friends and family; the company now has to worry about them telling everyone. Internet service providers are giving frustrated consumers another means of fighting back. Free or low-cost computer space for Internet websites is empowering consumers to tell not only their friends but also the world about the way they have been treated. A few examples of disgruntled customer stories from the Internet include:
A bike-riding tourist requires stitches after being bitten on the leg by a dog. The tourism company is banned from renting bikes and in turn bars the tourist from taking any future tours.
A customer leaving Best Buy refuses to show the receipt voluntarily to the guard at the door. The Best Buy employees try to seize the customer’s cart and then decide to park a car behind the customer’s vehicle.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car operates a high-stress business, and frequently its customers find that the company did not honor reservations, did not have cars ready for reservations, rented cars with empty tanks of gas, and charged higher rates to corporate account holders. The pervasive nature of the Internet is increasing customer power and changing business from product-focused to customer-focused. Explain the difference between product-focused business and customer-focused business and why CRM is more important than ever before.