{"id":5313,"date":"2013-07-29T17:05:49","date_gmt":"2013-07-29T21:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/?p=5313"},"modified":"2019-06-07T13:39:03","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T17:39:03","slug":"marketing-monday-unhappy-customer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/marketing-monday-unhappy-customer\/","title":{"rendered":"Marketing Monday: How do you handle an unhappy customer?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure id=\"attachment_5325\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5325\" style=\"width: 256px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/traderjoesreviewer.blogspot.com\/2011\/11\/review-trader-joes-salt-and-pepper.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-5325 \" alt=\"The manager at Trader Joe's made me feel he wanted me to have a good experience and it only cost him a new bag of chips. (for a review of these tasty treats, click here)\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/trader-joes-potato-chips.jpg\" width=\"256\" height=\"342\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/trader-joes-potato-chips.jpg 320w, https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/trader-joes-potato-chips-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 256px) 100vw, 256px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5325\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The manager at Trader Joe&#8217;s made me feel he wanted me to have a good experience and it only cost him a new bag of chips. (for a review of these tasty treats, click here)<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nMarketing boils down to making a sale.<br \/>\nWinning a customer, keeping a customer and getting a customer to come back can all lead to making a sale.<br \/>\nBut I think there&#8217;s a unique opportunity in how you deal with a problem. That&#8217;s when I learn how much you really value me and my satisfaction with my purchase.<br \/>\nI&#8217;ll share two very similar experiences, both at grocery stores in our neighborhood that we shop at frequently:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We bought a bag of potato chips. When we opened the bag, we discovered they were totally smashed. We were pretty sure we hadn&#8217;t done that, as we only traveled a block on foot with them. We took them back to the store, where a manager apologized and asked if we&#8217;d like to get another bag or have him refund us.<\/li>\n<li>I bought some mashed potatoes in the deli case. (I&#8217;m not sure why potatoes are the common element here.) When I opened the container, they smelled bad, like rotten milk. I&#8217;d bought them because I was sick and wanted easy comfort food, and I didn&#8217;t have the energy to go back out to return them that night. The next day I went to the store and told the manager the potatoes smelled bad. He asked when I bought them. He told me the problem was I should have eaten them the day I bought them. They smelled bad the day I bought them, I said. &#8220;What do you want me to do?&#8221; he asked. I said I wanted a refund, and he gave it to me.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Two different stores, two low-grade problems, two managers who resolved the problem. Why do I feel so much better about the first than the second?<br \/>\nBecause in the first store, the manager showed concern for my satisfaction instead of blaming me and getting defensive.<br \/>\nIn both experiences, the solution cost the store something. But in the first, the manager bought my loyalty because he made me feel heard.<br \/>\nWhen I&#8217;ve dealt with unhappy customers, I&#8217;ve often felt that a simple &#8220;I&#8217;m sorry&#8221; changes the tone of the entire conversation. It&#8217;s so simple. Just an apology for whatever the frustration or confusion or problem is. Start there.<br \/>\nFrom there, you can offer an explanation if it&#8217;s helpful. Sometimes understanding how something went wrong might allow the customer to see you as human. As long as you don&#8217;t go past explaining into excuse making, you might reinforce that you&#8217;ve heard the customer. Yes, I hear that you have a problem, I know how it happened &#8212; and how we&#8217;re going to keep it from happening next time.<br \/>\nThen when you get to crafting a solution, I love <a href=\"http:\/\/www.inc.com\/guides\/2010\/04\/handling-customer-complaints.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this suggestion from Inc. magazine:<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>A particular four-letter word usually does the trick when seeking a solution to a customer&#8217;s complaint: fair. &#8220;One of the key phrases, which not a lot of people use, is: <em>what would you think would be fair<\/em>?&#8221; Morgan says. &#8220;That word <em>fair<\/em> does seem to bring out in people a sense of, <em>OK, this is reasonable<\/em>.&#8221;<br \/>\nOtherwise, Morgan cautions, customers may jump at the opportunity to demand inappropriate freebies, like a fully compensated meal when a free dessert would be enough. Beside, the customer&#8217;s main priority is resolving the issue. Once that&#8217;s done, extra benefits or compensation are just filigree \u2013 albeit important measures to take if you want the customer to come back.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Want more inspiration for how to do it right? There are loads of pointers online, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/saleshq.monster.com\/training\/articles\/2719-6-rules-in-dealing-with-unhappy-customers\">6 Rules in Dealing with Unhappy Customers &#8211; SalesHQ<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/article\/65768\">30 Ways to Show Your Customers They&#8217;re Always Right<\/a> &#8211; Entrepreneur<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mindtools.com\/pages\/article\/unhappy-customers.htm\">Dealing With Unhappy Customers &#8211; Communication Skills Training <\/a><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/Handle-Angry-Customers\">How to Handle Angry Customers: 13 Steps (with Pictures) &#8211; wikiHow<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/www.strategicmarketingadvisors.com\/resources\/articles-library\/tactics\/95-the-12-best-tips-for-dealing-with-unhappy-customers\">The 12 Best Tips for Dealing with Unhappy Customers &#8211; Strategic Marketing Advisers<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mycustomer.com\/blogs\/billhogg\/customer-service-astonishes\/7-tips-deal-unhappy-customers\">7 Tips To Deal With Unhappy Customers | MyCustomer<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/retail.about.com\/od\/marketingsalespromotion\/a\/disgruntled.htm\">Dealing With the Disgruntled &#8211; Customer Service Tips to Save the Sale<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Colleen Newvine Tebeau is a former reporter and editor who then <em>earned her MBA at University of Michigan with emphases in marketing and corporate strategy.\u00a0<\/em> <a href=\"http:\/\/colleennewvine.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">She is a marketing consultant <\/a>who helps small and midsized organizations with strategy and tactics, including social media and communications.<\/em><\/p>\n<h6 class=\"zemanta-related-title\" style=\"font-size:1em;\">Related articles<\/h6>\n<ul class=\"zemanta-article-ul\">\n<li class=\"zemanta-article-ul-li\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.business2community.com\/customer-experience\/social-customer-service-5-tips-for-handling-negative-comments-0564860\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Social Customer Service: 5 Tips for Handling Negative Comments<\/a> (business2community.com)<\/li>\n<li class=\"zemanta-article-ul-li\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.business2community.com\/customer-experience\/whats-a-good-customer-experience-worth-trader-joes-knows-0559453\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">What&#8217;s a Good Customer Experience Worth? Trader Joe&#8217;s Knows<\/a> (business2community.com)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marketing boils down to making a sale. Winning a customer, keeping a customer and getting a customer to come back can all lead to making a sale. But I think there&#8217;s a unique opportunity in how you deal with a problem. That&#8217;s when I learn how much you really value me and my satisfaction with my purchase. I&#8217;ll share two&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":11551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[53],"tags":[609,610,1114,1703],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Marketing Monday: How do you handle an unhappy customer? - Newvine Growing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/marketing-monday-unhappy-customer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Marketing Monday: How do you handle an unhappy customer? - Newvine Growing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Marketing boils down to making a sale. 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