Tim Osborn’s Blog

Oops, something has just gone wrong. What now? Is your company’s (or your personal) credibility relying upon your defense of a perfect, unapologetic image? Perhaps to the point where you will never admit fault, or only begrudgingly do so when it is wrapped in an accumulation of excuses or misdirection? If so, you are missing an opportunity to build credibility and loyalty.

According to John Fleming (Chief Scientist for Gallup’s Customer Engagement and Human Sigma practices)

Gallup research shows — and studies by psychology and sociology researchers confirm — that a genuine apology can actually strengthen a customer’s bond to your company, leaving him or her more loyal than customers who never had a problem. For example, when Gallup surveyed retail banking customers, only 26% of those who had not recently had a problem considered themselves extremely satisfied with the bank, vs. 51% who had experienced a problem, but were extremely satisfied with the way it was handled.

Here are some simple (in terms of complexity, yet ironically so seemingly difficult to execute) tips to turn a negative issue into a loyalty-building opportunity.

Be Proactive - Quickly

You can’t swallow all of your own exceptions in a generic try/catch block. Don’t wait for customers to discover an issue you already know exists - quickly analyze the situation, gather improvements and bring the issue to them. Resist the temptation to "let it slide" if no one discovers it. Someone eventually will, and trust will be eroded.

Own your Stuff, Unconditionally

Resist the cultural norm to excuse - "Things have been crazy here and I haven’t been able to get to that." Excuses communicate that you aren’t in control. Don’t try to place the blame back on the customer, as if it were their fault for taking offense:

If (I’ve done anything to offend anyone)

{

   // Customer problem - they were somehow offended

   Message.Out("I’m sorry that you were offended.");

}

else

{

  ActAs("Nothing Happened");

}

Be Specific

Be clear and acknowledge the failure or behavior that led to the issue. "I’m sure there’s something I could have done better," doesn’t cut it. If you can’t demonstrate clear understanding of the root cause (a skill developed by frequent team retrospectives) how can the customer trust you when you say, "We’ll fix/improve this"?

Demonstrate Understanding of Impact

Compare, "We’re sorry for the inconvenience," with "We are sorry that we didn’t deliver your top feature as we committed. I know that we won’t be able to deploy and the delay will cost you time and possibly reputation with your customers." You are not a robot and your customers aren’t either; they’ve been impacted and likely have an emotional reaction tied to that impact. Show them you get it.

Be Brief

Don’t go on and on with how badly you feel, attempting to abate their anger by switching it to empathy for you. Having customers witness some penitent rite of self-absolution is not a valid strategy to build emotional satisfaction. They were the ones wronged, don’t turn this into an encouragement therapy session for yourself. Similarly don’t go on and on trying to cover all potential issues or concerns on your customer’s behalf, as if you will leave them with no objections if there is nothing new left to cover when they speak. Just the opposite - they’ll have plenty of pent up emotion, and if it doesn’t come out now, it will only grow stronger. 

Actively Listen and Empathize

Let them talk. Don’t interrupt, but with body language and occasional phrases ("Yes, I can see that,") show them you genuinely care. Disinterest and defensiveness have no place. The customer may have very well have contributed to the failure. Focusing on that at this time will appear as if you are minimizing your own responsibility. Rebuild trust first.

Be Generous

Make things right. Not just the way they should have been, but even better. This will reassure them your company can meet their needs now…and in the future.

Last night I went to dinner in beautiful Puerto Madero with my colleagues Shaggy, Wholian, JuanAr, Lito, and SebaRen. We spent time discussing what to order (well they did, in Spanish), but when the waitress came she turned it all around - first for drinks, then for the main course - and we ended up eating and drinking according to her plan. When it came time to decide on dessert, Shaggy commented, "I won’t spend time on this, as she’s going to tell us what to have anyway." Funny at the time, but also revealing. Such a statement exposes a disconnect - intellectual and emotional - between a business and its customer.

Unfortunately behavior like this is not unique to restaurants, all companies are susceptible to a belief that they know what’s best for the customer. And when that happens, your eggs are all in one basket: the final delivered good. But as Agile methods have taught us, the odds of building what the customer wants without their involvement is slim to none. And even if the good/service is 100% on target, the cost is typically still too high. By excluding the customer is the process, you’ve sacrificed opportunities to build emotional satisfaction. In this experience economy (hat tip to Matias), you’ve regressed to competing on goods, instead of services or experience. Finally you risk customers viewing you as arrogant and self-serving, rather then being there for them.

Be on the lookout for behaviors that signal you know what’s best for your customers. The distance between the Exit door and, "What’s the point, I won’t spend time on this because it doesn’t matter," may be shorter than you realize.