Everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes they are small ones that only affect you, like not moving your car on street sweeping day and getting stuck with a ticket. But sometimes you'll make a mistake that will affect a customer or prospect, big-time. In those cases you'll need to act fast in order to salvage the relationship.
Don't think that an error on your part means that the sale is a goner. If you handle a mistake gracefully and create a resolution that satisfies the customer, they are likely to be more pleased with you than they would have been if they'd had a problem-free buying process.
Let's say you close a prospect on the understanding that you can have the product delivered next week. When you get back to the office you find out that oops, there's no way it's going to happen.
The first thing to do is get in touch with the customer and let them know about the problem immediately. Usually the more warning time they get, the better – because they'll be able to take action themselves to cope with the situation.
Second, always accept responsibility for the problem. Admitting that you're at fault is never easy, but it takes the wind out of the customer's anger better than just about anything else you can do! It's also a far more professional approach than trying to pass the blame off on someone else. In fact, admit fault even if you weren't 100% responsible for the problem – as far as the customer is concerned, you represent your company, so you're responsible for their errors. And don't forget to apologize.
Third, fix the problem or if you can't, make it up to the customer in a big way. In the example from earlier, if you can't get the product delivered on time you might arrange for a courier to do the delivery for you so that the customer gets it as soon as humanely possible. Throwing in a little something extra like a discount on their next purchase or a free gift can also go a long way in fixing things.
Fourth, once the problem is resolved more or less to everyone's satisfaction, keep an eye on that customer and be especially careful to get them excellent customer service. That doesn't only extend to your interactions with the customer; they will almost certainly end up dealing with other representatives from your company, from billing to tech support. Stay in touch with the customer and assure them that if they have any issues with other departments, they should let you know so that you can help. Then prove you mean it!
By Wendy Connick
http://sales.about.com/
Don't think that an error on your part means that the sale is a goner. If you handle a mistake gracefully and create a resolution that satisfies the customer, they are likely to be more pleased with you than they would have been if they'd had a problem-free buying process.
Let's say you close a prospect on the understanding that you can have the product delivered next week. When you get back to the office you find out that oops, there's no way it's going to happen.
The first thing to do is get in touch with the customer and let them know about the problem immediately. Usually the more warning time they get, the better – because they'll be able to take action themselves to cope with the situation.
Second, always accept responsibility for the problem. Admitting that you're at fault is never easy, but it takes the wind out of the customer's anger better than just about anything else you can do! It's also a far more professional approach than trying to pass the blame off on someone else. In fact, admit fault even if you weren't 100% responsible for the problem – as far as the customer is concerned, you represent your company, so you're responsible for their errors. And don't forget to apologize.
Third, fix the problem or if you can't, make it up to the customer in a big way. In the example from earlier, if you can't get the product delivered on time you might arrange for a courier to do the delivery for you so that the customer gets it as soon as humanely possible. Throwing in a little something extra like a discount on their next purchase or a free gift can also go a long way in fixing things.
Fourth, once the problem is resolved more or less to everyone's satisfaction, keep an eye on that customer and be especially careful to get them excellent customer service. That doesn't only extend to your interactions with the customer; they will almost certainly end up dealing with other representatives from your company, from billing to tech support. Stay in touch with the customer and assure them that if they have any issues with other departments, they should let you know so that you can help. Then prove you mean it!
By Wendy Connick
http://sales.about.com/
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