RTA Business Complaints Case Study: Unrealistic Expectations

As a part of the ongoing RTA Business Complaints series, this week we look at customer expectations, and how promising what you can’t deliver can poison your reputation with consumers, and when the time comes, with potential buyers looking to purchase your company.

Your Reputation Matters with Potential Buyers

We understand the nature of reputation here at RTABusiness Consultants. We’ve been helping people all over the country sell their businesses for years, and in our experience, we’ve seen that a bad reputation hangs like an albatross around your neck when you’re trying to persuade a potential buyer that your business is right for them.

Nothing will give your firm a bad reputation quicker than a slew of angry customers. Customers get angry for a number of reasons; one of them is when your product doesn’t deliver what you say it will. They feel as though they’ve been swindled, take to complaints forums and before you know it, your reputation is shot to hell. Just ask National Health Specialists (NHS)

The RTA Business Complaints Case Study

A New Zealand-based health specialist, NHS released a new product and marketed it as a miracle pill. The Lemon Juice Diet Rapid Slimming Capsule was billed as a slimming miracle. Of course, the company promoted the pill with a range of advertisements.

The advert made the mistake of promising that users would slim by two kilos every 24 hours. Naturally, this turned out not to be true, and someone complained to the country’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

Remember: Customers Don’t Like Being Lied To

The ASA were swift and brutal in their judgement. They ordered the ad be removed from circulation, noting that it promised unrealistic and unsafe weight reduction, which the parties in question were unable to substantiate. Of course, its generated press and the complaint, along with the decision made labelling the NHS as a disreputable company, will linger like a bad smell, damaging their reputation going forward.

At RTA Business we hope this example reminds you that customers won’t take being lied to. If you want to build up your company with an eye to one day selling it, you need to remember that an angry customer will complain, and that complaint will reflect badly on you when it’s time to find a potential buyer.