Customers usually can find a reason to be unhappy. Some have unrealistic expectations, and others may just have lousy dispositions. However, others may have a legitimate gripe. We may have been the catalyst that took them from annoyed to cranky to downright unhappy.
Unhappy customers are bad news for any company. It only takes one of them to shatter a perfectly good day at work for everyone. And it only takes one of them to steer many more prospective customers away from you.
While the customer may not always be right, he or she will always be the customer that we want and we need. That’s why we need to take control of customer complaints and turn them to our advantage.
Shopper Approved’s proven, automated customer resolution software is one of the most effective tools for business owners to resolve issues with their clients.* Here are seven steps to help business owners and their support staff resolve customer complaints.
1. Listen Carefully: Listen to your customer. Do not interrupt them. They need to tell their side of the story. They need to feel that they have been heard.
2. Thank Them: Thank the customer for bringing the problem to your attention. You can’t resolve something of which you are not aware.
3. Apologize: Sincerely convey to the customer your apology for the way the situation has made them feel. This is not the time for justifications or excuses. You must apologize for not reaching their expected level of satisfaction.
4. Seek the Best Solution: Determine what the customer is seeking as a solution. Ask them how they would like the situation to be resolved. Often they’ll surprise you for asking for less than you initially thought you owed them, especially when they perceive your apology and desire on making them happy is genuinely sincere.
5. Reach an Agreement: Seek to agree on the solution that will resolve the situation to their satisfaction. Your best intentions can miss the mark completely if you still fail to deliver what the customer wants.
6. Take Quick Action: Act on the agreed-upon solution with a sense of urgency. Customers will often respond more positively to your focus and urgency on helping them immediately versus than on the solution itself.
7. Follow-up: Follow-up with them to ensure the customer is completely satisfied. This is especially true when you have had to enlist the help of others for the solution delivery. Everything up to this point will be for naught if the customer feels that “out of sight is out of mind.”
Problems happen. It’s how you honestly acknowledge and handle them that counts. Customers will remember you and happily give you another chance to delight them when you correct problems with the very best you can offer, proving that you value them and their business.
* Shopper Approved’s well-regarded complaint reversal system can make resolving customer complaints easy, quick and acceptable to both the business owner and the customer.