Just a few days ago the image below popped up on my Facebook feed. It was posted by a good friend of mine with the following comment; This was my dealings today with the owner of [DELETED] meat shop in [DELETED].
I clicked on the feed and was amazed at the 50 plus comments which followed – many of which were from people that I know or know of. Here are just some of the comments;
>>> That dude is a complete tool
>>> [DELETED] [DELETED] [DELETED] [DELETED] and other restaurant owners please check
>>> I stop going there mostly because like [DELETED] he is a tool to say it nicely
>>> [DELETED] he is done as a serious meat seller. Just wait until the Manila boys join this. They know how much I love my food
>>> Thanks. [DELETED]. I will save this post in case he comes back here again trying to sell me his meat.
>>> I just can’t believe his response The guy is a fool. Might be a good butcher but terrible at customer relations.
>>> The response “good luck to you” tell me he is a dip stick
In addition to those comments, dozens of restaurant and bar owners in his local area were tagged.
Just another customer
The guy who owns this meat shop probably thought he was just blowing somebody off. In the case of my friend, he was a customer who lived four hours drive away from where the meat shop is located and is probably not a frequent customer at the shop. What he probably didn’t realize is that my friend is very plugged into the expatriate community immediately surrounding where his meat shop is located, and which he relies upon to make a living.
Tell a friend about your bad experience
That expat community is small, but the combined reach of my friend, plus all of his contacts is a lot for such a small community. By now, that image has been broadcast all over the world. I’ll personally syndicate this post out to my 12,000 or so social media followers too. Fortunately for the owner, I’ve blacked out his identity and location. Not everyone did that!
Word of mouth on steroids
I’ve described social media many times before as word of mouth advertising on steroids. Unfortunately for business owners live the guy in the meat shop, social media is a two-edged sword. When you treat customers badly, social media can become a business destroyer on steroids too. Just think of that next time you’re tempted to send that frustrated text or email.
