There was a saying, not that long ago, that if someone had a good experience with your business, they'd tell a friend. But if they had a bad experience, they'd tell two.

We all know that social media has changed that equation for better and for worse.

But today's guest on The Get Ya Some Radio Show, Subi Ghosh from Stream Companies, says that the ability for our customers to share their experience with two or three hundred friends is really just the tip of the iceberg.

The nature of social media is that we may start the snowball at the top of the mountain, but it's our friends piling on,  the friends of our friends chiming in, and us responding to and reinforcing those opinions that create the avalanche.

Back in the days of yore, if we had a bad experience with a local business, we might tell a friend or two, then basically forget about. Eventually even giving the business another chance. But social media's feedback loop has empowered the consumer and led them to the conclusion that their opinion matters and they have the right and the responsibility to tell the world about the crappy way you treated them - loudly!

And once they've put themselves on the record, they're actually too embarrassed to do business with you again even if they wanted to.

The best way to fight that is remembering that your employees are part of the community too. You can't scream at your employees about how worthless and lazy they are and then send them out on the sales floor expecting them to treat your customers like royalty.

My phrase of the week is "Fecal Gravity." Shit flows down hill.

But so does sunshine. Subi says that happy employees create happy customers.

Everyone likes the warm and fuzzy stuff, staff picnics and dance offs. But she says building a happy workplace can be as simple as creating accurate job descriptions so that everyone knows what is expected of them. That's a good place to start.

Connect with Subi Ghosh