Coming up against an unhappy customer can be unpleasant at best and downright damaging at at worst- threatening to drive away other customers and derail your efforts to run a successful business. But it is an inevitable part of doing business. You just can’t please everyone all the time.
That said, there are many ways to bring the majority of your disgruntled customers back over to your side. Here are five steps to diffusing even the most toxic of customer service snafus:
Step 1: Listen to your customer. The very first step to turning an upset customer to a happy one is to stop and listen to what he or she is saying and get the information you need to offer a solution. It’s also important that you understand how the customer sees the problem. If you do speak at the beginning it should only be to ask clarifying questions or to make statements of empathy and understanding. It is usually a mistake to open the conversation up with an apology since you generally will not even know what to be sorry for, and your apologies will come across as insincere anyway.
Step 2: Analyze the problem. Once you make the effort to listen you will be able to discover the reason behind your customer’s unhappiness. At that point you need to assess who or what was the cause. Was there some mis-communication between the customer and one of your employee’s? Was there a logistical problem? Is the customer upset about the quality of your product or service?
Step 3: Decide what actions to take. Once you understand what went wrong and why the customer is unhappy, you need to come up with a strategy to make rectify the situation. Vague assurances are exactly that- vague. You stand a greater chance of winning over upset customers if you present them with a specific solution to the problem at hand. Just a caveat: make sure the solution matches the level of discomfort or money lost.
Step 4: Address the problem sincerely. When you communicate the solution to your customer, remember attitude is everything. If you try to rectify the situation with an air of disdain or in a condescending way then even if the solution is appropriate, you will only end up doing more harm than good.
Moreover, if you are not a solo operation then you may be able to pick someone who is naturally good at identifying and defusing a dispute, and being sensitive where needed, yet being able to set boundaries, and make this person the go-to customer service rep for difficult customers. I once was in a store where an employee stepped away from a disgruntled customer and called in a co-worker. The co-worker swiftly and skillfully handled the situation that involved a considerable amount of discomfort for the customer with little recourse.
Step 5: Evaluate your response. One of the biggest mistakes that a business can do when dealing with an unhappy customer is to walk away from the situation the minute it is either solved or deemed unresolvable. Doing this is like leaving money on the table. You have a lot to gain from evaluating how the issue was handled, how long it took to deal with it, and how successful you were at resolving it. Where possible, you should even turn to the disgruntled customer for feedback. By doing so you’ll be in the best position to learn from any customer service mistakes, identify areas in your business that are constantly drawing negative responses, and know how to bring that unhappy customer back in the door.