The phone rings and you have a very unhappy person on the line.  Your order went out late, was damaged, incorrect and the customer has a deadline he’s bound to miss because of it.  It ripples because this was part of a larger project, and this minor glitch is now affecting his entire plan.  He’s got his boss breathing down his neck, and he’s breathing down yours.  You check your supplier, it can’t be replaced fast enough to make his date. 

What do you do to calm, assure and retain your customer? 

You learn the three R’s of an apology. 

Customer retention is vital to a company of any size, for several reasons. First, it’s more expensive to land a new customer than to keep an existing one.  Existing customers who are satisfied with your product or service are likely to become repeat customers. And they’re apt to recommend your business to friends and colleagues.   64% of customers who leave, leave because of poor customer service—and when they do—they tell 5 others why they left. 

Delivering good news to customers is easy.   Delivering bad news is hard.  Finding and generating the customers is exhilarating.  We like it when they’re happy with us.  But sooner or later, we are going to experience a situation where we will have to apologize for something—and it may be something that is not your fault. 

Customers want partnerships; they want to be assured you’ll be there when there are bumps in the road.  Walking into an angry hornets nest is never pleasant.  It can leave you emotionally drained, frustrated, and with a hurt ego if you aren’t looking at it from the customers point of view.  Emotion is the biggest single issue in dealing with angry customers—yours and theirs.  Putting off handling the situation is a losing proposition.  There is always the chance the customer may decide it’s not worth the aggravation and cool down.  However, there is also the possibility they’ll drop you as a supplier, or go all the way to legal action.  A good salesperson would never let that default to chance. 

What a customer wants is for you to acknowledge their anger and have empathy.  The faster you recognize they’re upset determines how quickly you can diffuse the situation.   It may not be your fault—your supplier may have been the one who’s created the problem.  But to a customer, you’re the key focal point, you are the person of record and the responsibility of the apology has been laid in your lap for the damage done.  You can show concern and acknowledge you understand how upset they are—and keep that customer.