Business of Craft Episode 42 Stacey Trock on Difficult Customers

WELCOME TO EPISODE #42 OF BUSINESS OF CRAFT

My guest today is Stacey Trock, who got her start in the industry with her company Fresh Stitches, a crochet subscription club featuring amigurumi patterns. During her X year tenure at the helm, she amassed a more than half a million Facebook fans. In recent years, Stacey has focused her attention on marketing consulting and teaching.  Stacey is also a designer and the author of three crochet books. At the most recent needle arts trade show, she offered a class on dealing with difficult customers which I thought would be a great podcast topic so we’ll delve into that today.

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#1 What would you say is one of the most common scenarios you see crafty entrepreneurs dealing with in the realm of difficult customer relations? [2:44]

#2 Are there different categories of complainers? Different types if you will? [4:41]

#3 What tips do you have for those customers from whom you know you need to distance yourself? [8:15]

#4 With social media now, it seems that haters can gain traction really quickly so the potential damage to your brand can be much greater than it used to be. Can you speak to that a little bit? [11:25]

#5 I know from working with clients at our agency, most people want to delete negative comments from social channels (FB or Twitter for example), why is that one of the absolute worst thing you can do? [13:21]

#6 I know we have listeners out there who are thinking, I’m not ignoring it, I just didn’t see it! With so little time to spare, are there any tricks or tips you have to keep a finger on what people are saying about your brand on social channels? [18:11]

#7 A lot of listeners actually have brick and mortar retail locations where an unhappy customer might walk in the door. Do you have different strategies for online vs. in-person interactions? [21:27]

#8 Let’s talk about good customer service and how to recognize that. I recently read a study that said over 80% of businesses think they deliver superior customer service but only 8% of customers agree. Where do you think this huge gap in perception comes from? [25:31]

#9 What are some of the best customer service techniques you’ve seen in the craft industry? [27:51] 

#10 In Hug Your Haters, Jay says that by 2020, over 90% of companies will supply customer service through social media. What do you think that will look like for most crafty businesses? [32:24]

#11 What are some other mistakes you see business owners make with difficult customers? [36:33]

#12 So I always ask my guests a quirky question and I know you’re married to an Australian, so I thought we could do a little game of cultural slang translation? [39:54]

OK, so explain these things to us:

1. Playing the Pokies
2. Watching the footy
3. Wearing your thongs to the beach

Additional Resources

Connect with Stacey Trock | staceytrock.com | Pinterest | Twitter | Instagram

Jay Baer: Hug Your Haters

Google Alerts: google.com/alerts

Hootsuite: hootsuite.com

QBQ by John Miller

Stitchcraft Marketing’s Free PDF on Responding to Customer Feedback