Trex and the Social Media Conundrum

Today my neighbor stopped by and eyed up the large pile of Trex decking that was sitting in my yard. Her husband is a DIY kind of guy and she thought that maybe he could use the decking material for a new project. She suggested perhaps he could use the Trex material for a chair. I informed her of all the problems that we've had in the past with our deck and the persistent mold. She mentioned that it was unbelievable that in today's market that a company would not bend over backwards to make right by the customer.

She had heard great things about Trex in the past that they were supposed to have a really good product. I said that might be true now. I too have heard good things about their transcends line of product. So congratulations to Trex for putting out a good product. But what about all the unfortunate customers who purchased one of their inferior products. Don't you think that the best course of action would be to admit you have a bad product, satisfy the customer and move on?

Before social media avenues such as Twitter and Facebook came into our lives a company could get away with upsetting a handful of customers and not having to care. That was so last century, however. In this century consumers have the power to tell hundreds of thousands of people exactly what they think of a companies product via social media. Gone are the days when a company can turn a blind eye to an unhappy customer.

I read an excellent book titled: Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000: Running a Business in Today's Consumer-Driven World by Pete Blackshaw.  It discusses this very subject about the powers of social media and how, if a company wants to see the next century (or decade even) it must listen to the voice of the customer and respond appropriately to make things right.

When a group of unhappy customers confronted Trex on their Facebook page, Trex took the 20th century approach and blocked all users posting negative comments from their page.  Essentially burying their heads in the sand; thinking that maybe if they close their eyes the problem would just fix itself or go away.  Bad idea.  Instead what this did was it moved the anger against Trex outside a forum which was under their control.  Customers created their own Facebook pages and website.  They have gone into material supply stores and if they see someone even looking at Trex they will share their story.  Yes indeed, happy customers tell three friends, angry customers tell 3000 strangers.

The power of social media:  listen to your customers and act accordingly or you won't have any customers to listen to.