Mark Benioff’s advice this week was to watch this video of customer service expert John Tschohl talking about Netflix’s tribulations over the past 90 days.
It is a frightening tale of how quickly sentiment can swing in the social economy. The velocity and impact radius of a bad or good experience is unprecedented.
For nearly 15 years, Netflix has completely outclassed every one of its competitors. Better product. Better pricing. Better service.
Now we are watching them become the poster brand for customer ire. A decade of brand equity and customer love has evaporated in 90 days. Could there be any more relevant illustration of the power and position of today’s customer?
Should we have empathy or sympathy for the CEO who has been laid so low?
According to Tschohl, Reed Hastings (CEO of Netflix) deserves all the ridicule and criticism that he is now getting. Why? Because he has shown arrogance instead of good judgment. He says that responding to a crisis in today’s real-time social landscape requires: Speed, Responsibility, Empowerment, and Compensation.
According to Tschohl, Hastings failed on all four counts. What do you think?
P.S. The most interesting quote from Tschohl was this one: “Any business that understands the customer experience can have rapid growth regardless of the economy.”
