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Business Apology Tip #8: Listen!
By Lauren | May 22, 2009
Continuing with our series on how to apologize effectively to an unhappy client or customer, let’s assume that you’ve taken the first several steps. You investigated the error, notified your attorney if necessary, then decided what you would say and how to say it. Now, you’re with your unhappy customer. You’ve said a sincere “I’m sorry,” taken responsibility for the mistake, and expressed appreciation.
Now, it’s time to listen. And most people would rather have a root canal sans anesthetic.
Why? Because being berated by an unhappy client or customer is no fun at all. It is, however, absolutely essential to give the person who’s receiving your apology a chance to have his or her say. No matter how good your intentions might be, you or someone in your company did something to make that customer very, very unhappy. Your customer will probably have an intense need to tell you exactly what happened (from his or her perspective, of course), and will likely want to describe at considerable length, in excruciating detail, and maybe at an uncomfortable decibel level just how inconvenient, aggravating, and upsetting the whole debacle was. Bite your tongue, pay attention, and let your customer vent until both of you completely understand exactly what your customer thinks happened and why he or she is quite so unhappy about it. Until your customer runs out of steam, just sit there and listen.
There are a couple of good reasons to do this. First, of course, is that it shows your customer that you care about him or her as a person and are willing to take a verbal drubbing to make things right. Second, you need to know what your customer thinks about what went wrong so that you can take the next step to make your apology effective. What is it? More next Friday.
Topics: Apologies, Business Ethics, business communications, customer relations, ethics |
May 28th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
[...] presents Business Apology Tip #8: Listen! posted at The Business Ethics Blog, saying, “Stand still, shut up, and open your ears. [...]