An angry client is not always a client who loudly expresses his dissatisfaction, which can be mistakenly considered by the specialist as the absence of a problem. The key criterion of the scheme of work with working off negativity should be the fact when the client voices that he is dissatisfied with something. The worst thing that can be done after this signal is to reduce the significance of the situation for the person: do not react at all or start proving the opposite.
Solve the problem
This step is the most difficult, because the solution will depend on the problem itself, there are no universal recipes here.
It is necessary to understand what result the client wants to get in the end. What should be done from your side so that the negativity is exhausted? It may turn out that it doesn’t take much to fulfil the requirements and it really doesn’t cost the company anything.
There is a good chance that the situation is easily resolvable and arose because of a misunderstanding between the customer and the employee. It can be resolved in a dialogue format and requires no investment. Often people just want to be heard, to have their point of view accepted and to be punished.
If the cause of dissatisfaction is really serious and there are objective shortcomings on the part of your company, it is necessary to admit the mistake and agree on a plan of action to resolve the situation.
If the client behaves inadequately, if you can’t get a sane comment and agree on anything in the dialogue, it’s worth transferring the negotiations to an official format. Ask for a written statement of the situation, attach the necessary evidence and send the information to your corporate email. This way you will get the full picture and understand what “proof” the client has of your mistake. Then you can calmly sort it all out and respond to the client in the same formal way, offering a solution.
Think about what to do with the information you’ve received
It’s great to get positive feedback from customers, but it’s often the negativity that helps companies change for the better.
Dissatisfied customers are the best source of information about what places in the company are “sagging”. Often they point out what needs to be fixed in the processes so that customers will not face such a situation in the future. After all, every dissatisfied customer has a “pain”, and the company’s task is to eradicate it. And if a customer’s feedback has helped improve processes or products, it’s important to go back to them and thank them for helping the company become better.
Moreover, not every person, when faced with a problem, is ready to report it. So any indication of weaknesses should be treated with gratitude.
In our practice it happened many times that the client was dissatisfied with the functionality or interface of the product, and the first line manager did not formally remove the client’s negativity, but brought his wishes to the development.
It turned out that the client’s pain was quite real. There were probably many more users facing the problem, but only one of them reported the problem. We not only implemented what the client asked us to do, but also had a conversation with him where we thanked him for his valuable feedback and sent him a small but nice gift.
When a customer sees that a company is taking their feedback seriously and improving their work, that’s usually what makes them loyal. Because he is no longer just a customer, he has also had a hand in the internal processes. This not only feels good, but also motivates many to become brand advocates. After all, it is not easy to watch someone criticise something you have been involved in.
