Customer Satisfaction and Reputation Management

Toyota has issued a new recall on July 29, 2010 for its Avalon and Lexus LX 470 brands. The Avalon recall is for the 400,000 Avalons from the 2000 – 2004 models in the US, Canada, China and Saudi Arabia. The recall is designed to repair a problems with flawed steering locks. The Lexus LX 470 recall is for 80,000 LX 470s (also known as Land Cruiser 100s outside the US) from the 2003 – 2007 model years. This recall is related to steering shaft disengagement. This recall tarnishes Toyota’s reputation in a new way.

BP’s Oil spill has put it in the spot light, mostly with negative publicity. BP has attempted to fight back with improved communications on the $20 Billion fund, a new leader and Gulf Coast Restoration organization, clean ups and preparations for hurricanes. It has prepared 4 videos on these subjects but then make them hard to find except on the BP site. Small changes in the company website to improve search engine optimization would help BP’s reputation management cause.

BP CEO Tony Hayward BP CEO is no longer speaking for BP’s Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico according to a New York Time article. The BP Board of Directors has removed him because he ‘upset people’. The Chairman of BP’s Board of Directors, Carl-Henric Svanberg is taking over. “This has now turned into a reputational matter, a financial squeeze for BP and a political matter, and that is why you will now see more of me,” said Svanberg. This post cover 4 mistakes Tony made.

Another blow to the sagging reputation management efforts of Toyota is the latest recall of the Lexus LS Sedans for steering problems. The models affected are the 2010 LS 460, LS 460 L, LS 600h, and the LS 600h and represent about 11,000 cars worldwide. The Lexus ls 600 costs over $100,000 US! The problem seems to be both hardware and software. This latest recall is a further setback to Toyota’s attempts to improve its reputation and customer satisfaction.

On Tuesday April 13, 2010, Toyota suspended the sales of the GX 460 Lexus after a report from Consumer’s reports called the SUV a safety risk. Another report shows that Toyota routinely engaged in questionable, evasive and deceptive legal tactics when it was sued. One has to wonder what else is being hidden. Toyota is spending millions on advertising and discounts trying to revive its reputation. But these latest new releases are a severe blow to that effort.

Yelp, a web site, where consumers post positive or negative reviews of local businesses can be a boon to customer satisfaction, sales and new customer acquisition or it can be a real headache for a local business. The power of consumers is very evident in this new review site which boasts 30 Million users a month, and 10 Million reviews, mostly in the US, but also in Canada, UK and Ireland. This article describes Why Yelp is important, what Yelp is, how local business owners can use Yelp and what do to next if you are just getting started.

Everyone once in a while a person or organization makes a big mistake. Customer satisfaction takes a hit and the problem goes viral in the press and on the internet (blogs, social media, websites, etc). Why this is important and what to do about it (how to recover) is covered. Three examples are reviewed: Tiger Woods Infidelity scandal, Toyota Recall and Safety issues and the Roman Catholic Pope and the child sex abuse scandal. Videos of apologies and action plans are included in the article.

Has the term Toyota Customer Satisfaction become an Oxymoron? Toyota’s recent quality problems on stuck gas pedals has now forced the company to halt car production AND SALES in North America of the affected models. The US government forced Toyota into this action. Car rental agencies, Toyota biggest customers, have pulled the affected Toyota models of out of service. The entire ecosystem, customers, leasing companies, insurance companies, shareholders are all negatively affected. There are recalls now in China and Europe. Should the affected Toyotas be allowed on the nation’s streets and highways? Can Toyota’s reputation ever recover?

If you want to monitor what is happening on the web with your brand, your organization, your executives or your name, the challenge is enormous. Some excellent data exists in a blog post called Internet 2009 in Numbers on a site called Pingdom. These numbers are staggering and surprising and highlights the need for monitoring.

1. 126 Million Blogs
2. More internet users in China and in Europe than in North America
3. 350 Million people on Facebook
4. 27.3 Million Tweets per Day in Nov 2009

Another Toyota recall announced on Jan 22, 2010, of 2.3 Million Toyota vehicles has further damaged Toyota’s Quality reputation. Toyota does not refer to an investigation that is ongoing in Southlake, Texas where 4 people died in a Toyota Avalon. The pedal acceleration problem could have been the cause. Sadly, one of the people who died was a business associate of mine at IBM. This article covers that investigation. It also contains a link to a video on the Tundra rust problem.