Keeping up with customer complaints is a
fulltime job. Organizations like Salesforce.com
and Microsoft Dynamics CRM are brand lead-
ers in customer care management. Their soft-
ware can make it easier for you to address
consumer complaints, made via the web, in-
stantly. This, of course, eliminates negative
feedback that can result in the loss of new and
existing customers. For a hefty price tag,
these solutions can offer assistance.
A large majority of new startups are
lean or ‘downsized’ businesses. With minimal
to zero spending dollars. Budgets aren’t nego-
tiable. But this does not mean that small busi-
ness doesn’t have the same needs as larger
company’s. They need to find a cost-effective
resolution. “Gripevine was born out of a
shared frustration with my co-founder Richard
Hue in resolving our poor customer service
experiences” - says Dave Carroll, Consumer
Advocate, Social Media Expert and Co-founder
of Gripevine.com. The first online social media
platform for consumer-complaint resolution.
“
We began from the perspective of improving
experiences for customers but Richard and I
also understood that confrontation usually re-
solves very little and a one sided relationship
is ineffective. We agreed that for Gripevine to
be effective there had to be an incentive for
companies to participate and that it couldn’t
simply be a place where consumers came to
complain. Gripevine is all about resolving is-
sues and companies are wise to engage with
the system because we help alert them to
complaints and manage them in an efficient
and profitable manner. Like any successful re-
lationship Gripevine facilitates a win-win for
both sides and that’s why it works.”
A resource for growing organizations.
Gripevine.com takes customer service to the
web. Which is where most people, via Face-
book, Twitter, and others, take their com-
ments, complaints and praises. Now with
Gripevine.com businesses can track remarks
about their product or service, provide excel-
lent customer service that will increase brand
awareness and their bottom line. “Our Enter-
prise Dashboard allows companies to effec-
tively manage large and small numbers of
complaints as a complimentary tool to what
they may already be using. Complaints are
WWW.
COST-EFFECTIVE
RESOLUTION
D
AVE CARROLL
NOVEMBER 2012
WWW.TOMIMAGAZINE.COM
48
funneled into process that filters by gripe
type/category and allows a company adminis-
trator to direct the gripe to the appropriate
agent or follow it’s progress towards resolu-
tion. As more and more people rely on social
media to communicate with companies the
number of online complaints is increasing ex-
ponentially.”
Social Media Marketing and Relation-
ship programs are expensive and time-
consuming. Connecting your social media ac-
counts only places your customer service re-
sponse at that particular level. The internet is
vast. People don’t always use the same medi-
ums to vent. The key to keeping your business
running is by keeping the customer happy.
Response time needs to be quick all across the
board. “Not only does Gripevine shave
minutes off the time needed to understand
and act upon a complaint, which saves mon-
ey,” - says Dave “our Dashboard gives compa-
nies a fighting chance of managing the sheer
number of complaints they will see in the
coming years. Life and business favors the
prepared, so companies that understand that
even one angry customer can negatively affect
your brand, are embracing a tool like Gripe-
vine for it’s ability to handle the volumes and
stay connected with their consumers.”
“
We know our services will save com-
panies money and we offer features to suit
any size and requirement in order to help
companies help people.” -
Tonisha L. Johnson
Dave Carroll
Consumer Advocate and Social Media Expert
Co-founder, Gripevine.com
WWW.GRiPEVINE.COM
link