What do you do if your Business SCREWS UP and your Customer suffers?
Do you POINT blame at your staff, do you blame the ECONOMY, do you look to DEFLECT blame on to anyone but you?
Do you find it DIFFICULT to say “I’m SORRY”?
At the end of the day, if you OWN the Business, EVERYTHING that happens within its framework IS your responsibility. Lets face it, things do go WRONG in Business and deep down ALL Customers understand that as long as the situation is HANDLED well.
So how should you MANAGE the situation when it arrives?
- ACCEPT blame quickly. Don’t wait until all avenues are exhausted.
- Have (genuine) EMPATHY for the Customer and what affect it has had on them.
- Re-act immediately and devise a PLAN to resolve the issue as quickly as possible with the LEAST amount of fuss.
- Over COMMUNICATE every step with those involved.
- DEBRIEF soon afterwards and determine the CAUSE of the issue.
- Put a plan in place to MINIMISE the possibility of it occurring again.
- COMMUNICATE this plan back to the customer.
If you follow these simple steps with GRACE and DIGNITY, you will not only
Very true! Things do go wrong once in a while. Taking the blame, even when sometimes it is not your fault completely, helps in building customer relations. It gains more trust of the customer that your business deserves to be given a second thought.
My policy is that, ‘We want to do business with a customer again and again, not only once. So whatever it takes to retain the customer is worth it in the long run.’
Very wise policy Parminder, keep up the good work.