Yesterday, the host of a local radio show exposed a family secret. While growing up, his father did not put up with inferior customer service. In fact, anytime he felt wronged by a company—a hotel, restaurant or retailer—he banned them for life! He not only cut off his complete patronage of the company, he also asked his kids (including the one telling the story) to do the same. To never set foot in that business again.

Today, customers who don’t feel the love, not only share their ill feelings with the store manager or sales rep, they share them with the world.

As marketers, we need to help clients understand how to identify unhappy customers instead of failing to recognize those who raise their hands and say “I had a bad experience with your company.” We need to react to early messages, either directly or on social media, with empathy and special treatment.

An unhappy customer could always mount a campaign that you might call “the opposite of loyalty,” making sure that everyone he/she knows is aware of his/her poor treatment. Several prominent cases exist in this social age, where customers used the power of the Internet to bad mouth companies for years.

Many articles like this one from Social Media Examiner, explain how companies can use channels like Twitter to respond to customers quickly with good customer service. That’s a much better option.