Running a business obviously implies coming in contact with people and transacting with clients. It does not matter whether you personally like it or not, you have to do it. You are here to sell something, engaging in monetary dealings, getting remarks on your product and else. Your clients are after all humans and the latter is a body of emotions, feelings, actions and thoughts. Since every action begets a reaction, when you are on for it to sell your product, expect a reaction from the other side, whether negative or positive.
While we always look for praise, compliments, approval and accolades, many times we encounter negative comments, frantic behaviours, anxious attitudes and unhappy faces. The way we love to receive compliments and recognition, in a similar way, we have to take the negativities in our stride, deal with them wisely and find a prompt and permanent solution. Your customers may feel cheated after buying something from you and it really becomes an emotional issue that needs to be handled with care for ensuring long term association.
So the concern here is when you come across a dissatisfied, angry or unhappy customer, what is the best thing you can do to calm him down and overcome such a situation without compromising on your reputation?
The following are some of the measures you can adopt to get going smoothly even in tough times:
1. Be calm and composed – First of all, while the customer is trying to communicate with you and tell his or her problem, you should remain calm and composed. Give them a little time to vent out. Don’t lose your temper while they are speaking. Keep your body language in coordination with the fact that you understand the problem.
2. Deal with it professionally – You should always remember that it is not you the person is shouting at or is angry with. It is the company or the product he or she is upset with and has got nothing to do with you. Hence never take the complaints personally and deal with the matter professionally.
3. Be a good listener – What the customer wants is that you hear his or her problem out and give a solution. The customer is horribly upset with something and wants somebody to listen to him or her. Hence be all ears to whatever he or she is speaking. They want you to listen to their problem.
4. Show that you care while asking questions – Ask relevant questions by first being clear on your side about what the real problem is and what does the customer want. Repeat whatever the concern of the customer is, to make sure you heard and understood him right.
5. Empathize with your customer – Put yourself in their shoes to understand what turmoil they are going through. Empathizing would give you an idea that what you must have exactly felt and what solution you would have sought had you been in such situation. When you will truly empathize, finding a solution would become easier.
6. Make an apology – Don’t shy away from making a sincere apology. When the customer sees that you are genuinely regretting for the trouble caused, he will calm down and give you a chance to correct that.
7. Look for a resolution – Ask the customer what he would like to have as a solution that would satisfy him. If it’s possible for you to fulfil it then go ahead. Else you can give him an alternative or two, in accordance with the company rules, that would serve the purpose.
8. Stay away from negative publicity – Social media is ruling the present era. A dissatisfied and unhappy customer can take the opportunity to malign your reputation through social networking. So ensure a great customer care service before the damage is done.
Protecting your brand from the negativities is crucial. Instead of viewing these complaints and grievances of the customers, you can react to them with positivity and take it as an opportunity to transform an unhappy customer into a loyal enthusiast for your brand. Criticisms, at times, are good. They help you know the basic problems and issues with your product or service, that you are offering and give you a chance to improve on that by providing a way to make the product better.
Let me put it this way: A dissatisfied or unhappy client is your chance to be different from your competitors. Manufacturing a product or providing a service can be similar with other companies and organizations but taking care of the customers can be your uniqueness. Your customers will surely understand some common problems that might happen but their trust that your out of the world customer service can fix that will bring them back to you and many more of them through word of mouth promotion of your awesome customer service.
Having said that, you should also draw your limits on pacifying those customers whom you can never satisfy! Handle these irritating clients tactfully and keep them away!
Problems would always remain but how you deal with them reflects your attitude. With a great customer care service you can overcome the situation triumphantly by gaining a devoted customer for life whose testimonials would serve as a good promotional strategy for attracting other customers as well, which would make your business flourish!
