Dealing with irate customers

Oct 1, 2001 12:00 PM, BY DON MERIT Contributing editor

IF NOT, FIND OUT WHAT WILL SATISFY THE CUSTOMER

Ask questions, such as: “What would you like me to do?”, “How would you settle this if you were me?” and “What will make you completely happy?” At this point, you may have to go back to production or upper management to get a more favorable solution for the customer.

AGREE UPON A SOLUTION

Naturally, if you cannot reach an agreement, you will probably have to bow out gracefully and turn the problem over to somebody else. If there is agreement, restate it, and make sure it is clearly understood. A letter of confirmation is also a good idea.

ENSURE FOLLOW-THROUGH

If, after all of that back-and-forth, there is no follow-through, you and your entire company have blown it. You should keep a close watch over events, and either you or the sales rep should call the customer with progress reports.

THE REAL SOLUTION

The best way to deal with irate customers is to avoid giving them reason to become angry in the first place. CSRs should enter complaints into a customer complaint log. A well-kept log shows the kinds of mistakes that keep happening. Sales, customer service, production and upper management should work together to eliminate poor procedures that lead to customer dissatisfaction. Then the new methods need to be implemented, applied consistently and improved upon.

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