Do your customers trust your product offerings?

May 18th, 2012

Beware the power of word of mouth advertising

Today’s post is  from David J. Wenig a customer services manager at SafeSourcing.

The other day while I was mowing the lawn, a man pulled up to ask if he could take some logs that had been stacked by the curb to use as firewood. We started talking and the conversation was pretty typical for two people that had never met. Then, it took an interesting turn when I mentioned that I had been up at the high school football game and had a burger there.

The man then began talking about E. coli and how he does not trust the grocers to provide him with safe meat. He actually went on to tell me that his son is a chef who grinds his own meat. Not just that, the man actually went on to name a retailer where he bought ground beef that he claimed gave his wife food poisoning.

This conversation, albeit brief, was very interesting to me. At SafeSourcing, we are very aware of product safety issues and the ramifications of unsafe products. To this man, his fear of the meat was based on his distrust of the supply chain. He struck a chord with me when he mentioned that he had no idea where his meat comes from. 

Can this man’s concerns be managed? Through traceability, the products you offer could be proven to be safe. Retailers must be aware of their entire supply chain and the product safety procedures in place at each point. Here again, it is fair to ask; what certifications do your suppliers hold? Clearly, when these product safety questions arise such as an outbreak of E. coli, only a relatively small portion of the product is affected. With the technology available today, retailers should be able to defend their products against this type of concern.

If you don’t think this is important, ask yourself this question: How many other people did he tell?

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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