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Dealing with Disgruntled Customers |
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No matter how hard you try, in business you simply can't please
everyone. You could have a highly trained customer service squadron and
an award-winning product, but still you'd have some buyers who just
weren't happy. The bad news is that unhappy customers are more eager to
share their experiences than happy ones which could spell disaster for
your business.
There is good news, however. Unhappy customers who receive satisfaction
can become your biggest allies. The trick, of course, is discovering
how to satisfy their needs so efficiently that they'll forget whatever
caused their disappointment in the first place. Here are some ways to
make that happen:
1) Be a Good Listener
When someone complains about us, our first instinct is to get defensive
and to distribute blame. Most of the time we start doing this even
before the other person has finished their argument. When that happens,
we may misjudge the situation, offer inappropriate resolutions, or
appear insensitive to our customers' feelings. Instead, we must work
hard to become patient listeners. We should stay focused on the
customer and not get distracted by anything else going on around us.
We should also pay attention to what is being said, not how it is being
said. Even a beligerant customer is trying to express a concrete
complaint, he just might not be able to do it as clearly or as calmly
as someone else. By listening patiently to our customers, we can take
the first step toward helping them more effectively.
2) Don't Let an Unhappy Customer Slip Away Without a Fight
Just because someone is unsatisfied with your service or your product,
you don't have to throw your hands up in the air and say "That's
another one gone." Take steps right away to resolve the situation. Most
customers who have a complaint just want you to take the problem
seriously, to handle it as quickly as possible, and to have it resolved
in a respectful and professional manner. If you can do that for them,
you will successfully mend the relationship.
3) Resolve the Problem to Their Satisfaction, Not Yours
When many businesses right wrongs, they do so by only considering what
is in their best interest and not what would satisfy the customer. That
simply doesn't work most of the time. Let me give you an example.
One young woman took her small children to a well-known fast food
restaurant for dinner. Because her youngest child was diabetic, she
ordered diet drinks for their child-sized meals. Instead, she received
regular drinks, and the extra sugar in the drink caused her child to
have to be rushed to the emergency room that night. When she called to
complain, the manager offered her a free meal to compensate her for the
near-death experience of her two year old daughter.
Why did the manager make such a ludicrous offer? Because that was what
the restaurant had decided to do in order to deal with customer
complaints in a cost-effective manner. It was good for them and that's
what mattered.
The reality is that customers will all have different ideas on how to
resolve these issues: some may want an employee to be fired or punished
for their bad service, others will want financial restitution, some
will want assurance that it will never happen again, and most will want
a combination of those things.
To determine how to satisfy your unhappy customers, just ask them how
you can make things right and then do whatever they ask for (within
reason, of course). By doing this, you will be showing how much their
satisfaction and patronage means to you.
4) Keep Your Head
When customers are angry with us, it can be very upsetting, especially
if we truly do care about their business. Yet, we may get so upset that
we aren't able to cope effectively with their problem and end up losing
the relationship which can be even more upsetting. Instead, take these
four steps to coping with your feelings:
A) Remember it's not about you - While it may seem that they are
yelling or complaining about you personally, they aren't. They simply
want what they paid for. Your customers don't know if you're a good
family man or a single mother struggling to get by; all they know is
that they paid for something and that's what they expect to receive. So
don't take their complaints personally.
B) Stop thinking "If only" or "What if" -- After an incident, you may
spend days going back over the situation and wondering what you could
have done differently, but this is futile. No matter how much you may
want to, you can't go back and change it now. Instead, you should be
looking forward and finding ways to prevent it from happening again.
C) Know you've done all you can - If you feel guilt because you weren't
able to satisfy an unhappy customer, you can shut your conscience up
easily if you know that you did everything within your power to right
the situation. After all, there are just some people who will never be
happy with anything that you do and they aren't worth stressing over.
D) Keep improving - In life, we learn more from our mistakes than we do
from getting something right. So each unhappy customer provides you
with a learning experience that will not only help you handle future
situations better but will also show you how to prevent future mistakes
from happening. Obviously, you don't want too many of these learning
experiences, but when they do happen, be sure to use them wisely.
While you won't be able to safe every relationship, you may be
surprised at how many you can rescue with these suggestions. It may
seem like a lot of extra effort, but if you care about your customers
and about your business, it's the least you can do for them and for
yourself.
Vishal P. Rao is the owner of Home Based Business Opportunities - One of Internet's leading website dedicated to starting, managing and marketing a home based business.
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