Everybody makes mistakes sometime. It’s how we deal with them what makes all the difference. This article explains a little bit what to do when you make mistake and what steps to take to turn a unhappy and frustrated client into satisfied and loyal one.
I’ll be the first one to admit I make mistakes like everybody else. Most of the time they are small and easily fixed but once in a few years comes the odd cock-up that really sends a client spinning. Based on my personal experience, here is what to do when you have a client who’s angry and frustrated because you made a mistake.
1) Apologize
“I am sorry” should be the first thing you say in situation like this, even if you think you are in right. If you are being wrongly accused, you will sort it later.
2) Investigate
Find out what exactly happened. Make sure you have all the facts and you know where did things go pear-shaped. If you indeed find you made a mistake acknowledge it. Honesty, humility and genuine effort to fix the problem is the best approach when it comes to these unpleasant situations.
3) Fix the problem
Once you found out what went wrong, fix whatever can be fixed. It is important you are proactive and offer viable solution your client is happy with. If it only requires your time and minimal expenses on your part you might get through fairly unscathed. Sometimes you’ll just have to bite the bullet and spend some extra money to fix the problem, but it is still better than the alternative of having unhappy client in the wild, damaging your reputation.
4) Offer some compensation
Ok, you apologized, you fixed what was wrong, let’s offer some form of compensation to make up for the damage caused. We’re not necessarily talking financial compensation, that should be the last item on the list, but rather a free service or a product as a gesture of good will. If you can offer something that is low cost to you but has a high perceived value even better. Of course you don’t have to offer anything but if you do, it shows you really care and you want to make things right. In most cases you will be on the right track to a happy ending by now. There might still be a bit of hidden bitterness on both sides about the whole situation, but you should be able to shake hands and leave satisfied with the outcome.
5) Follow up
Make sure to follow up on the case with your client. Give him a ring in two weeks time to find out if everything goes as you agreed to. Let him know you care and that he is important to you. Describe what steps are you taking to make sure the problem gets resolved properly and if there are any holdups, make sure the client understands why they occurred. Also let him know when everything has been resolved to put his mind at ease.
6) Follow up again
That’s right, follow up on the case again in three months time. Just to say hello and to make sure the client has no other problems with your product or service.
You should follow the 90 day rule and keep in touch at least once every three months anyway. Anything longer that that and your clients will forget about you. The best way to keep in touch is either by phone call or just by sending our regular monthly newsletter. You might be surprised how much extra business you can pick up just by reminding people you’re there for them.
This should be it. Of course there is no guarantee the steps described above will work for everybody but I believe in most cases it will. If you keep humble attitude and show you really care and want to make things right, most clients will give you a fair go. Funnily enough you might even came out with better relationship with the client than before because you get to communicate more and he can see you are doing everything you can for him.
There is another benefit of making things right – if you keep your client loyal, you still have a bit of control over what he says about you. However if you parted ways and he left, you now have an unhappy client telling everybody how he wasn’t pleased with your service. And because he doesn’t want to talk to you, you have no way of convincing him otherwise.
The bottom line is – be human, be humble, show that you care.
What do you do when problems arise?
