Everyone in business has dealt with an upset customer. With the introduction of the Internet, dealing with customer complaints has become even more important. Businesses must understand the severity of what one bad online comment can do to your business. When dealing with upset customers here are some tips to follow:
- Listen closely to the person and do not overact or get emotional.
- Be clear and honest at all times. Sincerity will win you a lot of points.
- Take the criticism as a learning experience and be happy the customer cares enough to tell you.
- Be real! Don’t talk in big terms and do what many people would misunderstand as talking down to an already upset customer.
- Leave the customer with the message that you are going to fix the problem that they had and you are going to implement a change to minimize the chance of the problem ever happening again.
- Thank them! Taking the time to thank the person for bringing your attention to the problem leaves them feeling heard and appreciated.
Finally when you are dealing with a potential online complaint don’t nickel and dime. If you have sent your product through the mail and it was damaged and your product is not hugely expensive, make a quick decision to send another one free of charge. The cost to do this will be very small in comparison to the sales that will be lost due to a poor online comment.
Remember the customer is always right and you either have to give some very good reasoning about why something happened or go good for the cost of the problem.
