No matter what business you?re in, eventually, something will go wrong and you?ll be forced to let a customer down.? When that happens, the way you respond will be what decides whether or not that customer comes back to place another order.? If you do things right, you?ll have a customer for life.? If you don?t know how to manage a crisis, you could end up with a bitter ex-customer bad mouthing you to anyone that will listen.
Stand By Your Products
One of the best ways to generate goodwill is to stand by your products.? If something breaks, fix it.? If you can?t fix it, replace it.? If your product is good, then returns and repairs should be required for only a small percentage of the items you sell.? The people who call up because of a problem will be very happy when you replace the item for them, and will tell their friends about your great customer service.
In contrast, if you don?t replace the item ? or try to charge the customer for the replacement ? you will end up with a customer that will vow never to buy your products again, and they?ll be quite vocal about your poor customer service. ?Winning an angry customer back is a lot harder than persuading a satisfied customer to purchase from you again when they come to replace or upgrade their product.
It doesn?t have to cost a lot of money to communicate well with your customers.? You don?t have to advertise a no quibble, lifetime guarantee ? in fact that could well backfire if someone calls you up expecting a like-for-like replacement of a now discontinued product.? What you do need to do is manage the expectations of your customers, and work with them to find a solution that will make them happy.
Reputations Are Fragile
It takes a long time to build up a good reputation, and in this age of social networking, just one heated exchange to destroy that reputation.? For this reason, it?s vital to ensure that every single person in your company that deals with members of the public knows how to manage a crisis.
If a staff member gets a message from an angry customer, they should know how to deal with it, and know what to say if they feel that they?re out of their depth.? It?s much better to say ?Thank you for your complaint, I?ll pass it on to my manager.? He is out of the office at the moment, but will be back on Tuesday?, than it is to lie and promise a fast response that will not happen.
Managing expectations, putting the customer first, and standing by your product will make your company stand out amongst the faceless corporations that make up so much of the business landscape today.
This was written by Crispin Jones on behalf of Insignia, experts in business communications and how to manage a crisis.
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