Perhaps this is a little off topic. Perhaps its not, though. In any venture, managing customer satisfaction is an important part of the process, of course. We all live and die on the basis of repeat customers and/or word of mouth in the market on our business and its practices. Aside from issues of the quality of our customer service, though, the basic integrity of the business ought to be rock solid and non-negotiable.
Here's a story. I recently had used an outpatient facility at a local hospital. (I'm fine; thanks for asking.) They sent me a survey asking how they did. I wasn't real happy about several non-medical interchanges with their staff, and said so on their survey. When asked if I would like to provide my name and contact information on the form, I declined. I figured what was important was the feedback. OK, I also didn't want the followup phone call.
Well, imagine my surprise when I got the call anyway.
At first I thought perhaps they'd figured out who I was deductively from the information I provided. But, after the expected conversation, I asked how they "found" me.
"Well," said the manager making the call, "we encode the form secretly." She went on to say that she thought this was a bad idea and had talked to management about it, but they felt the ability to follow up was more important than honoring their agreement on the form.
My comment to entrepreneurs - don't do this.
People will repeat the story for a long time. And, if their integrity at this level is shaky, what else will they cut corners on?
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