Whether you are late with a delivery or your product or service is not performing the way it should, it is beneficial to know how to deal with this situation when it arises. How you deal with an angry customer determines if you strengthen your relationship or sever it and most of it depends on how you respond and when.
Situations like this are your opportunity to show your customer what you and your company are made of. When you made the sale you promised great customer service, now is your chance to prove it. Anyone can handle a customer when things are going well. It is the most successful of us that can handle the customer when things go wrong.
The first step in handling an angry customer is contacting them promptly. If the customer has contacted your customer service department or has left you a voice mail directly is it ultimately important that you respond immediately. This is the first step in turning a big problem into a manageable one.
Greet them in a cordial, but concerned tone, acknowledging you know they have a problem. Ask them what the problem is and let them express their displeasure! Take notes, but do not offer explanations at this time. Express to them that “you have a valid point”. Even if their complaint is not totally fact based, you must agree that they “have a point” to let them know you are hearing what they are saying.
The next step is to agree with them and that you would most likely feel the same way if you were in their position. This will displace quite a bit of the anger. Take a minute to digest this psychology. It is much more difficult to be angry with someone who agrees with you then with someone who does not. If you validate their concern, you are half way there.
Keep in mind that you can not resolve the problem while the customer is upset or emotional. Until you diffuse the anger, do not try to solve the problem. Your customer wants to make sure that you see his or her point of view prior to letting you move forward, if you attempt to do otherwise chances are you will make a bad situation worse.
Once the customer has calmed down, start to gather facts about the situation. What departments were involved, what was the time line, what were the major issues. Let the customer know that you will get back to them with a solution and give them a specific time for follow up. Make sure you adhere to it!
Never, and I mean NEVER, tell a customer that you guarantee that this will never happen again. This is a death trap and you must never go there. What you can guarantee the customer is that you will do everything you can to minimize the chances of this happening again, but if it does, you will take care of it in a prompt fashion with as little inconvenience to the customer as possible.
Most customers will appreciate your honesty. And if they want a guarantee that it won’t happen again, be sure the chances of it ever happening again are zero, otherwise you will lose the account the next time it happens.
Well placed customer service is a great way to solidify your business! Some businesses skimp on customer service and create a great inroad for you and your business. Customers realize that mistakes happen. It is how you handle them when they occur that will decide whether they stay with you or go elsewhere.
The keys:
- Contact the customer promptly
- Acknowledge their issue
- Agree with their point
- Gather the facts
- Correct the problem
- Follow up, follow up, follow up
Gregg Zban is a General Manager with Coca-Cola Enterprises and has created a website dedicated to better Time Management, Sales Training, Interview Coaching, Leadership Development and more!
To learn more please visit http://www.choice-time-management.com
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