Football coaches have a saying: “When a quarterback throws a pass, three things can happen – and two of them are bad.” When customers aren’t happy, whether it’s because the product doesn’t work, they were oversold, or service was poor, three things can happen – and two of them are bad:
- The customer suffers in silence. Not good. The next time the customer is asked to purchase the product or service, he or she will have a negative attitude from the start.
- The customers switches in silence. Not good either. You know only that the customer switched and have no idea on how to get the account back.
- The customer tell you the reason for the unhappiness. Communication is the best possible outcome for you and the customer. It gives you the chance to resolve the problem and keep the customer.
Building bridges
The best approach is to treat the underlying problems and build a permanent bridge between your company and the customer. Rather than waiting for dissatisfied customers to get in touch, actively seek them out. Then pinpoint the reasons for the unhappiness and fix the problems as soon as possible.
Building bridges provides all of your managers and salespeople with measurable objectives such as:
- Ensuring that unvoiced customer dissatisfaction is as low as possible
- Satisfying customers individually by providing assistance and guidance, and
- Determining the causes of recurring complaints and recognizing customer needs that are not being addressed.
