Handling Unhappy Customers

For many, their worst nightmare is the thought of being faced with an unhappy or complaining customer. When that happens we feel threatened and that causes us to either fight or flee. Most of us have learned that neither of these work very well but if we knew how to turn an angry customer into a raving fan, we wouldn't be so scared. In fact, we might even look forward to the challenge!

Of course, we want unhappy customers to complain so we can put things right for them. We also want to find and fix the problem that caused the stuff up. But most importantly, we want them to tell US about their bad experience and not everyone else they meet.

The good news is it is not hard to turn unhappy customers into raving fans. You just need to treat them with a LAUGH. Of course, I'm not suggesting you laugh at them. The letters in LAUGH tell us the steps we need to follow.

L stands for: Listen and empathise

You know from your own experience that when something goes wrong you have a story to tell - and customers want to tell their story and vent their feelings. It is important we let them do that. Zip your lips, open your ears and listen to what they have to say. The key thing about listening is to accept what your customer is telling you. You might not like it. You might not understand it. You might not agree with them or you might not know why things went wrong but you must accept that what they are telling you is how they see the world. If you do not, they will stop talking to you. While they are talking, show them you understand how they feel by nodding your head, saying things like: Oh no, Gosh, that's awful, how frustrating. It is easy to do this if you put yourself in your customer's shoes.

A stands for Acknowledge the wrong and apologise

This is the most critical step and the place where most people blow it. When we hear the customer’s story we will be tempted to defend ourselves and justify why it all went wrong. But customers don’t want to hear that. They want to hear some acknowledgement they have been wronged. For example, if your partner agreed to meet you after work and showed up an hour late, you wouldn't want the first thing they say to be about what they bought on the way to meeting you. You would want to hear: "I'm very sorry I'm late. You must be fed up with waiting. I should have called.” Customers are no different. They want to hear the word, 'sorry," then an acknowledgement they have been let down or inconvenienced, and finally that you will put things right for them as soon as possible.

U stands for Understand and take ownership

One of the most powerful ways to calm an irate customer is to show you understand their problem. Ask who, what, why, where, when and how questions to show you are taking the matter seriously. But first explain why you are asking these questions by saying: "So I can understand what’s gone wrong, can I please ask you some questions." After the customer has given you the information you need repeat back they key points you have learned. This shows the customer you really do care and understand their situation.  Now what the customer wants to hear is that you will take personal responsibility for helping them get the problem sorted. They don't want to hear you are passing them on to someone else. They want to hear something like: “I’ll start sorting this out right away!”

G is for Give a solution and do something extra

At the end of the day, unhappy customers want their problem solved. They do not want excuses, explanations or justifications. They want results! Your task is to help them get a solution. It's that simple.

But just putting it right for the customer is not enough. We need to give the customer something extra to make up for the inconvenience and stress they have experienced, and the extra time and effort they had had to spend because we stuffed up. So, what should you give them? Ask them! If you ask your customer, "What would you like us to do to make up for the trouble we have caused you?" You will find they ask for less than you would have expected. That's because when things went wrong, your customer lost control and by asking them that question you are giving control back to them.

H is for Hit home with a follow up and learn from the mistake

There are two reasons why you want to follow up with your customer. First, it shows you care. Secondly, you can make sure everything has been put right to the customer’s satisfaction. You do not want the customer to still be unhappy after you have done all the hard work to put things right and you certainly do not want the customer to experience a second product or service failure and then have to call you again to tell you about it. It takes only a couple of minutes to make a phone call or send an email and it is well worth the trouble.

After you have followed up with the customer, follow up and find the root cause of the problem so you can learn from the mistake. That way you can prevent it from happening to other customers.

Don't be scared of unhappy customers. Treat them with a LAUGH and you will both be delighted with the outcome.