This article is part of the Manager’s Guide series. To read other articles in this series, please go to the main blog page, click the filter button, and select the Manager’s Guide category.
Q: What should I do if customers are disappointed?
A: There are three things you should do, i.e.,
1. You Must Fix Mistakes.
Do:
If you make a mistake, fix it.
Say sorry quickly.
Try to make things right if you can.
Pull through service recovery (i.e., reaching out to customers who had a negative service experience to rectify the situation).
Be humble.
Don't:
Deny or excuse wrongdoing.
Make excuses for bad behavior.
Don't let your pride stop you from doing the right thing.
Trying to cover things up or hide mistakes instead of fixing them.
Not admitting their mistakes until they are forced to.
Let shame hinder you.
Say:
I'm sorry. It was my mistake.
I apologize for…
I made a mistake when...
What should I do to fix this?
Tell me what you need help with.
What will it take to get things right?
What could I have done differently?
What lessons can we learn from this?
We promise to do the following...
What can I do to make it right for you?
2. You Must Fulfil Your Commitments.
Do:
State your intentions clearly and follow through on them.
Be cautious when making promises (especially implicit ones) and uphold them at all costs.
Make honoring promises a mark of your character.
Don't:
Breach pledges or commitments.
Break their trust and lose their confidence.
Try to use public relations to get out of a promise you've breached.
Making too many promises and not keeping them.
Being lax about commitments.
Making so unclear and imprecise pledges that you cannot be held accountable.
Not making any commitments because you are afraid of breaking them.
Say:
Will I be glad I kept this promise instead of that one in ten years?
Do I really want to make this promise?
Am I going to do this?
I'll...
I'll do...
I promise to...
I commit to…
You can count on me to...
This is why I'm making this promise...
I promise to deliver by...
I'm ready to make this new commitment, but we've already agreed on other commitments. Which one should I put off or stop so I can deal with this?
3. You Must Continuously Improve.
Do:
Keep getting better.
Get better at what you can do.
Never stop learning.
Use both formal and informal channels for getting feedback.
Do something with the feedback you get.
Thank people for sharing their feedback.
Don't:
Deteriorate.
Become complacent/useless/irrelevant/out of date.
Think of yourself as better than feedback.
Assume that your today's knowledge and skills will be enough for the challenges and difficulties of tomorrow.
Making changes that are "hot" temporarily but don't last.
Always learning but never producing anything.
Talking a lot about how you want to get better but never doing it.
Trying to make everything fit into what you're good at.
Say:
Where can I get better?
How am I doing these days? Where can I get help?
What particular things (systems, structures, procedures) must we improve?
How are we currently doing?
What advantages would this improvement bring? What are the disadvantages of inaction?
How will we get consistent feedback?
How likely are you, on a scale of one to 10, to tell others about our product or service? Why?
We appreciate your feedback and will take action on it.
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