During more than 30 years of working with America’s top corporations, we have amassed quite a bit of experience helping our clients resolve customer service issues. Here is a list of some of the most important questions we hear when it comes to dealing with dissatisfied customers who are threatening to take their business elsewhere, and some good tips for how to address them:
Questions:
What three things should you know about a dissatisfied customer?
Understand what their underlying need is that caused them to do business with you in the first place, understand what they are upset about and why, and understand what they want you to do to fix the problem and why.
Should you attempt to frame things through the customer’s perspective? How does this help you in getting the customer back?
Always, because it doesn’t make any difference to the customer what your perspective is; they want assurance that you understand their perspective.
Should you decide to concentrate on seeking solutions or search for ways to apologize?
Both. Always apologize first – even if it is not really your fault (I am sorry you are having that problem), and then move to find solutions.
Once you’ve decided on a plan of attack, should you set up a meeting with the customer just for the purpose of mediating the problem or should you take a wider perspective?---If so, how do you go about mediating the problem without making it topic number one? Is there some way to combine addressing the problem with asking to do business again?
Forget about doing business again until the problem is addressed. The customer will not risk doing future business if they think you don’t care about their needs.
What do you do if your customer doesn’t respond favorably to your approach?
Don’t be surprised if the customer doesn’t initially respond favorably. They need a chance to vent, so let them take all the time they need. Don’t defend or explain as long as the customer is in “warpath mode.” Continue to listen, continue to search for solutions.
Should you include some “peace offerings” that will help offset what occurred? If so, does the cost of the incentive need to be commensurate with the initial cost (to your customer) of the problem?
This will depend on the nature of the problem and how great the loss was. Sometimes the problem was minor and it is just the nature/behavioral style of the customer to give you what we call a “$500 reaction to a $5 problem.” They may even be using a negotiation tactic on you to see how much they can squeeze out of you. Don’t over react to their reaction and do more than you really need to. Stay calm and remember that you have your own bottom line to take care of, too. Short answer: yes, you want to do something to demonstrate your desire to make things right. Small, simple problems can be addressed through refunds, discounts on future business, upgrades, etc. Beyond that, the scope of your response to bigger problems could hinge upon warranties, insurance, formal investigations and even lawyers. Sometimes you just have to let the system work.
What approach should you take if you find out the customer is part of the problem, perhaps because they don’t allow sufficient lead time, make unnecessary changes that slow things down, etc.?
Don’t hesitate to bring these things up, in a professional and constructive way of course, AFTER you have let the customer vent until they have calmed down. It is all a part of finding a solution. Without getting defensive, carefully explain the whole chain of events, showing how one thing led to another. Explain that because of these mitigating circumstances, you can provide X as a solution but you can’t do Y.
What should you say if you realize there’s a chance the problem that caused the dissatisfaction could reoccur, despite your best efforts, due to things beyond your control?
Just be honest. Be clear about what things might affect the deal that are beyond your control: weather, market conditions, labor unrest in Cameroon, Somali pirates, failure of customer to provide timely data; whatever it is, spell it out in the contract and define options, rights and redress for each one.
Finally---If you get this customer back, what can you do to make sure you don’t lose them again?
Keep the lines of communication open. Call them between deals just to see how things are going. Make sure you go through an exhaustive questioning process each time a deal is done to ensure that you have a complete understanding of the customer’s needs and expectations. All customer problems start when the customer’s expectations are not met. You must confirm and clarify with the customer what their needs are and what their expectations of you are in providing the solution. Don’t promise, or allow the customer to infer that you have promised, something you can’t deliver. Be crystal clear in the contract language, so that there is no doubt what will happen next; when, where, how, how much, how long and redress options if something goes wrong.
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