Everyone encounters unhappy customers. That’s a fact of life in business. How do you tell when a complaint is minor or frivolous, or represents an important issue that could put your company at risk?
As a CEO may never hear about a problem, that is until lawyers or regulators 
are on the phone screaming. By then it’s too late.
Semi-structured interviewing with your patients, customers and channel partners can be an extremely effective tool for uncovering problems. For example, we’ve found
- A reseller for a printer manufacturer who was shipping product to another country in violation of his contract with the manufacturer, and undercutting authorized dealers in that country.
- Mishandling of patient discharge papers that would represent a HIPPA violation with significant regulatory, legal and financial consequences for a medical facility if not corrected immediately.
- Customers who buy products through channel and are having problems with installation. It may be weeks before the manufacturer gets the word, with a channel full of returns and negative customer reviews.
You don’t want any of these problems. It will save you a ton of money and aggravation to get immediate feedback on what’s happening and correct the situation before the volume of problems gets out of hand.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
We’re that ounce.