In this age of social media, never has there been such a direct link between poor service and the potential for reputational damage.

This week I arrived at a motor dealer service department at the requested time, only to be told that I was “late” by one minute and that due to the $143 per hour cost of their operations, my car would be delayed for an hour and a half. They said it wasn’t their fault but mine. Their attitude was unnecessary, antagonistic, rude and demonstrates a lack of understanding of the potential ramifications of poor service in the new media age.

Stories like these can turn into a firestorm on social media, and there are plenty of people willing to stoke that fire. The solution – make customer service a priority and escalate incidents or complaints to senior management immediately. You want to know about issues before they appear on social media.