When You Can't Help...
There are rare
occasions when, despite the best will in the world, you won't be able to help a
customer. How you handle this makes the
difference between keeping their loyalty and seeing your business’ name in
print for the wrong reasons.
I recently had an experience with the supplier of an app
that I had downloaded from the iTunes Store.
The app had been updated and I wanted to update my version. For some reason, it wouldn't update, so I
contacted the developer whose response was, “you know it’s best you contact iTunes Customer Services, they will
advise.”
I
wasn’t impressed. I had paid for the
app, and felt that I had been “fobbed off”.
After a short correspondence with the developer (during which my emails
seemed to be forwarded progressively “up the line”) I finally received a
response that made sense.
The
issue was, the developer, whilst absolutely in the right, failed to explain why
this wasn’t their problem. I may have
been handled by an inexperienced member of the support team, but that is the
developer’s problem, not mine.
As
I stood my ground, I finally received a sensible answer. How many customers will do this, though? Most of them will walk away and post a bad
review of your business because of the way in which they were handled.
Having
worked in customer service, I’ve experienced all too often the frustration of
being the one trying to explain to an irate customer why we simply can’t
help. The reasons are many: the law, the customer’s own actions, lack of
technology, or others. Our natural
instinct is to help; no one gets up in the morning wondering “How can I ruin
someone’s day today?” Luckily, these occasions are rare, but the
sense of helplessness one feels is overwhelming.
The
skill is in knowing how to explain
the situation and being able to suggest at least a partial solution. This needs knowledge, diplomacy and a
highly-tuned sense of interpersonal dynamics.
It’s something most of us acquire as we grow in experience, although
some people seem to be “better” at it than others.
What
I would recommend is that people who face customers are trained, have a sense
of what the customer is going through and an appreciation of the impact of any
answer they give. Finally, these “impossible”
situations might have to be referred to someone more experienced than left to
junior staff.
I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to offer solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email . My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Customer Care, Selling
posted by William Martin @ 09:39
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