When They Stop Complaining, Start Worrying
The most dangerous point in a customer relationship isn’t when they’re complaining. It’s when they stop.
Take your own relationship
When you’re furious, you’re still engaged.
You argue. Complain. Perhaps slam a cupboard door.
But you’re still trying to change something.
One day, you stop.
Not because everything’s marvelous.
Because you’ve stopped believing things will change.
Psychologists call it indifference.
Less intimacy. More boredom. A need for alternatives.
You’ve start looking around.
Which brings me to bacon and eggs.
I ordered some in a café this morning.
Nothing complicated.
Not to à l’orange a duck…
Twenty-five minutes later, I wondered whether the chicken had actually laid the egg yet.
Around me, people were leaving.
Nobody complained.
Just that peculiarly British combination of checking your watch, raising an eyebrow and putting your coat on with unnecessary force.
They’d stopped caring.
74% of consumers say they’ve quietly stopped doing business with a company after a frustrating experience.
Silence isn’t always satisfaction.
Sometimes it’s goodbye.
But what if your customers can’t leave?
E.g. housing repairs.
Average end-to-end time: 24 days.
Upper limit: 59.
A tenant reported a problem.
A tradesperson arrived. Did a bit. Didn’t have the materials or needed another trade.
So they left.
Job closed. Green.
Problem still there.
Another job raised.
Another tradesperson. Another bit done.
Job closed. Green.
But not fixed.
Then something worrying happened.
Tenants stopped reporting repairs.
They stopped believing anything would happen.
Windows were boarded up. Doors patched. People improvised.
The estates began to deteriorate.
That’s when senior leaders noticed.
The terrifying bit?
Their dashboards looked magnificent.
Jobs completed. SLAs hit. Contractors paid.
Green. Green. Green.
The customers had become indifferent.
The organisation had become blind.
So we changed the clock.
Start: “I’ve got a problem.”
Stop: “My problem has gone away.”
And suddenly the problem came back into view.
The waiting. The repeat visits. The missing materials. The poor diagnosis. The unnecessary journeys.
Leaders could finally see what customers were experiencing.
And once they could see it, they could do something about it.
Remove the causes and average repair time fell from 24 days to under 7.
Nobody worked harder.
They responded better.
I call it THE RESPONSE RULE.
RESPOND WHILE THEY STILL CARE.
Listen while they’re still talking.
Act while they’re still asking.
Fix it while they still believe you will.
Because when someone stops complaining, don’t assume you’ve solved the problem.
They may simply have stopped believing you can.
Make the problem visible before the customer becomes indifferent.
Think END TO END JOURNEY.
Do it before your customers are putting their coats on.
And the chicken has flown the coop.
Have you ever stopped complaining and just left?
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