This week, I'll give you 26 small ideas that will make it easier for you to deal with complaints and difficult customers. I call these ideas the "ABCs of Customer Recovery."
A. Act as if every customer you lose takes money out of your paycheck.
B. Expect the best from your customers. Don't make the mistake of thinking that most customers just want free stuff. In reality, less than 1% of customers who contact businesses have something else in mind when they do so.
C. Talk to people with tact and diplomacy when you have to say "no" and when you're explaining company policy.
Don't tell a customer she's making a mistake. Customers will never want to agree with you if you tell them they are wrong. It just forces them to go back to where they were before.
Empathize with unhappy customers and let this understanding shape how you respond to them.
Find a way to tell your customers "yes." Instead of telling the customer "no" or what you can't do, you should think about what you can do.
D. As a concrete way to say you're sorry, give a small item like a coupon.
H act like time is running out. Show through your words and how quickly you respond that you care as much as your customer about getting to the bottom of the problem.
I have customers help me figure out how to solve a problem. Sometimes it helps a lot to just ask, "How do you think we can solve this?"
Write down the customer's name and the details of the problem they're telling you about so you don't have to ask them to tell you again.
Keep customers informed of how long it will take to solve their problems and how far along you are.
Listen to your customer with the goal of really understanding them, not interrupting, answering, or correcting them.
M maintains a friendly, helpful, and willing tone on your customer service calls.
Negotiate solutions that meet the needs of both your company and your customer.
Open the door with questions that can be answered in any way. Make sure your questions show that you really want to know more about the customer's problem or experience.
Put yourself in the shoes of the customer. How would you feel if you were in the same situation?
Q quickly apologizes. Say you're sorry both when the company is at fault and when the customer did something wrong. An apology goes a long way toward making things calm again, calming anger, and getting people to like you again.
R recognizes that the question is not the question. The real problem is how the problem is dealt with.
Say "no" in a nice way that doesn't make people angry. The best way to do this is to tell the customer what you can do right off the bat.
E. Thank customers for telling you what they think.
You can help your customers by suggesting products or services that add value to what they are already buying.
F. Think of the customer as the reason you do your job, not as a distraction.
G. Customers who use W.
H. Examine the root causes of problems and try to solve them at their source.
Each customer sees you as the company. Don't ever think that you can't affect what the customer buys in the future.
I. Focus on what the customer wants and needs.
