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We’ve all done it. We’re guilty of doing or not doing something to or for a customer that resulted in poor customer service, and they weren’t too happy about it.

Sometimes it could be debated as to whether or not we actually wronged a customer and on other occasions it’s fairly clear that we dropped the ball. The old school of thought used to be that “the customer is always right.” Wrong. Customers make mistakes, make ridiculous demands and stretch the truth with salespeople all the time. But if you have an upset customer, they think you are responsible; they don’t think they had anything to do with the problem. If the customer is a strategic customer you don’t need to worry yourself with evaluating the legitimacy of their complaint; you’re going to fix the problem and not ask too many questions. However, if the offended customer is not a strategic customer and there is a clear indication that they are making unrealistic demands, then you will most likely ration what you are willing to do to set things right in their mind.

Below is a quick reference guide for responding to customer complaints and problems.

1. Immediately acknowledge the problem and accept responsibility. Not being defensive is critical here; it will only make things worse.

2. Don’t try to refocus the blame on your company, your boss, other employees, “those stupid people in the shipping department,” etc. The customer needs to be mad at someone and you represent the company at this point.

3. Ask them what you need to do to fix the problem. Just asking this can be a balm to their anger and in about 99% of all cases that I’ve been involved in they will ask for less then what your company would be willing to do.

4. If you are going to provide some kind of remedy to the customer then tell them what you are going to do and do it quickly. While you’re delaying about what kind of remedial action your company is going to take, the customer is stewing. If you wait too long you’ll permanently damage the relationship even though you’ve decided to provide them a remedy. Talk about a lose-lose.

5. Stay in touch after the dust has settled. Once you’ve worked through a problem with the customer it’s especially important for you to stay in close touch with them for a while. The problem and its resolution can be viewed as major surgery in the customer’s eyes and you need to provide post-operative followup to rebuild the damage inflicted on the relationship.

Remember when you were growing up and you had a fight with your best friend? In most cases you worked your way through things and were even better friends afterwards. The same is also true for upset customers. Effectively handling the problem head on can result in a better relationship with the customer on the other side.

Tags: service

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