Customer Issues
When on the sales or business development journey, I occasionally come across customers who have had a bad experience with the company I am representing. Although we all strive for excellence in customer service, by the sheer nature of working relationships there can always be bumps in the road, that if not dealt with can leave a bitter taste in our customers mouth.
As hard as companies work to perfect their customer journey, these bumps test the strength of our relationships. Here are my top tips to dealing with testing times quickly and effectively;
Face the problem head on - Big or small, don’t hide away or delay, pick up that phone and speak to your client. Let them know you will do everything in your power to correct the problem as quickly and effectively as possible.
Honesty is the best policy - Tell your customer the truth, don’t waffle, untruths often catch up with us and are more damaging to customer relationships than the original problem. People respect honesty.
Learn from the error - Make sure you learn from this mistake. Let your customer know you have learn’t from it, re-assure them that you have put in place the necessary measures to ensure that this will not be an ongoing issue.
I strongly believe that if dealt with in the correct way that these “commercial bumps” can help strengthen customer relationships.