Turn Bad News Into Good News
It only takes minutes to do!
It’s happened to all of us. We get started in business or a new job and we want everything to go perfectly, but there’s always that mistake that happens at the worst, possible time. Maybe it’s a customer you’ve been trying to win over for a very long time or someone who was referred to you. It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is something went wrong, and this is going to affect his or her first impression of you.
But fear not. This does not have to ruin a relationship. In fact, it could have just the opposite effect. The reality that most business owners don’t want to face is this: Most new customers expect to have a problem with your service — especially the first time they work with you. What they really want to find out, though, is how much aggravation, frustration, or inconvenience they will experience when they do have a problem with you and how you handle the situation when something goes wrong.
Many years ago, I was invited to host my seminars in Reading for the very first time. I didn’t have a big following in that area. Ironically, most of my attendees drove from York and Lancaster to attend the seminars in Reading. But I specifically remember how I got my first customer in that area. There was a large fitness club on the same street where the seminar was being presented. I stopped in and left a seminar schedule for the owner, whom I didn’t get to meet when I stopped in. I called him to follow up and he asked me to fax over the seminar flyer.
As luck would have it, the fax would not go through. I kept getting an error message. I called him back and told him what was going on. Instead of being upset, he asked me if I could let him know what the error message read. As it turned out, he was also having problems receiving faxes from his customers. By taking a little time to help him solve that problem, he became grateful enough to listen to what I had to say and started sending his employees to my seminars.
When you are faced with a problem, turn it into an opportunity to demonstrate how you rise to the occasion to make things right and convenient for your customers. Remember, people love to tell and listen to underdog, customer service, success stories. And here’s another secret: If you make the solution fun, they will tell even more people about what you did and how you did it.
Susan Chinault of Calling All Customers has turned listening into an art form. Besides consistently getting great results in sales and appointments for her customers, she’s made communicating with professionalism, manners, and credibility her unique selling proposition. As a result, she’s created a niche where she gets better results for her customers than they do on their own — and the clients love it! All it takes is a willingness to develop a good system and provide customers with a valuable service that you are passionate about delivering.
“Customers that have a problem and then receive an eloquent solution to that problem are more loyal than customers that never had a problem with your business.” – Tom Connellan
This excerpt is taken from my seminar entitled Legendary Customer Service II: How to Make Customer Service Fun. I encourage you to
click here to register for my live in person Legendary Customer Service II: How to Make Customer Service Fun seminar on Thursday, January 26, 2023 from 9 AM to 12 noon Eastern Standard Time at the Comfort Suites in Manheim, PA. This event will also be available through live streaming.
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