Sometimes things go wrong. Even with best practices in place, mishaps will occur, and sometimes these mishaps involve the customer. When they do, you have an opportunity to show your customers how much you care about them, whether it’s a little or a lot. Damage control situations have the potential to foster even deeper customer relationships. They also have the potential to drive a wedge between you and your customer. The way you and your team handle yourselves in the midst of these situations makes all the difference.
Put yourself in the shoes of your customer. How would you want to be treated if you were your customer? If you were the customer, you would want to know what happened, why it happened, what you’re going to do to fix the immediate problem and what you’re going to do to prevent this from happening again in the future. Most customers expect mistakes to be made from time to time. They know nobody is perfect.
When communicating with customers, provide as much detail as possible. This is no time to cover up your missteps or failures. The more you can help them understand what went wrong, the more they will realize you have a solid grasp of the core issue, and the more confidence they’ll have in your solutions. Short explanations, like “we’ll take care of it” or “this will never happen again,” are meaningless without more information. When it comes to dealing with customers, it’s always best to over-communicate.
One more thing: When things go wrong, apologize. It amazes me how difficult this is for some people when the results are so beneficial, and all it requires is nothing more than swallowing your pride. In fact, a heartfelt apology sometimes is all it takes to mend a relationship. When combined with the explanations above, you can’t go wrong.
Damage control is unavoidable. Be prepared for it, and be the professional by taking to heart the steps I’ve outlined above. You’ll be glad you did.
