Be Different or be dead

July 6, 2015

Why people thank you when you’ve really screwed them over

Source: Pexels

How to screw people over and have them thank you for the experience.

You’ve just screwed over one of your customers.

You missed the delivery time you promised.

The product you sold them doesn’t work the way it should.

Whatever happened, you blew it.

What do you do?

This simple recovery process will actually turn an angry customer into a more loyal one who is prepared to spread your word to others more than if the service mishap never happened.

1. Apologize

Take responsibility for what happened and apologize regardless of whether you’re at fault in your mind or not. Failure to do this step and you can forget about the rest of the process.

2. Fix it fast

Fix the screw-up fast. This is critical. A leisurely response will kill you. Whatever the problem, bring all of your resources to bear to get it done (and make sure the customer knows you are doing it).

3. Surprise your victim

Do the unexpected. This is the key step. Everyone expects you to fix your screw up, but generally what they don’t expect is a little something extra to “atone for your sins”. Going the extra mile.

Doing something special that the customer isn’t looking for. But make it personal because if you merely throw your ‘trash and trinkets’ at them it will be perceived as cheap and in-genuine.

Find out something personal about the customer and play to that. If she loves going to the movies go there. If he is a cabernet sauvignon nut go there.

The critical thing is that the customer feels like you have gone out of your way to make them feel special after the way you have treated them.

If you commit to taking these 3 actions, they’ll say “Thanks so much for pissing me off. I really enjoyed it.”

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 7.6.15 at 04:33 am by Roy Osing
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