Is the Customer Always Right?

I'm going to make the radical suggestion that whether the customer is right is of
absolutely no importance.

What is important is how you handle the situation of an upset customer.

This is important from both a practical and spiritual perspective:
Spiritually speaking, if you can maintain your calm and professionalism in the face of upset, you're going to feel better about yourself, and attract more great customers.

Practically speaking, you'll succeed in business more if you handle customer upsets well.

In fact, even if you did make a mistake, it may actually be GOOD for your business!

When a business owner makes a mistake, and then handles the situation well, studies show that customer satisfaction is higher than it is if the mistake never occurred!

The key here is that the situation has to be handled well.

Here are some tips for making the best of a tough situation. (HINT: These tips are great for other relationships, including friendships, marriages, and more, not just business relationships!)

Don't get angry in return. If you're on the phone with someone, you can use calming methods, such as tapping (EFT - Emotional Freedom Techniques), if you feel yourself getting upset, and taking some deep breaths. If you've received an angry email, DON'T respond to it until you're calm. If you're in person, remember: their anger is about THEM, not about

you. You have the opportunity to be the consummate professional - take it!

Apologize, first thing! This is a terrific way to calm an upset customer. Even if you don't think that you're at fault, you can still say 'I'm sorry that you had that situation' or 'I'm sorry that was so frustrating for you. Let me see how I can help.' An apology costs you nothing, but is priceless in value.

Don't make them wrong. People get upset largely because of unmet expectations - they expect something from you, and that something didn't happen. Perhaps you didn't keep a deadline, or there was a misunderstanding about a deliverable. Their understanding is as valid as yours, so you'll come across as more professional and helpful if you treat it as a misunderstanding, rather than a 'wrong interpretation' on their part. If you did make a mistake, or miss a deadline, don't expect them to hear your reason for the delay as valid - they may, or they may not. Just apologize. Taking responsibility is very powerful and makes
you look more professional.

Focus on the problem they are presenting, not how they are presenting it. Work to resolve the issue, and don't respond to the angry part of the conversation. If you can resolve their issue, they'll either calm down and thank you, or they'll at least go away. Either way, you've handled the situation. If you've been pleasant, you may even get an apology from them! (It's happened to me.)

Most upset people really want to be heard. So allow them to voice their complaint, and sympathize if you can. you can always sympathize with their upset, even if you won't take the action they desire on the complaint. For example, if a customer wants you to do something outside of your policies that you are not willing to do, you can still sympathize while remaining firm that you are willing to take some action, but not THAT action.

Here's one situation that happened to me recently. My new books have been sold through my website. Out of the many hundreds of orders, a couple of people wrote me angrily to tell me that the shipping was too high and that I was wrongly over-charging for shipping. When you first get to the page, the shipping is set at a default, and then when you enter your address, the shipping is calculated for your location. These people didn't enter their addresses, they just saw the default and got upset.

Fortunately, these came in as emails, so I could consider how to respond. The first thing I did was to agree with them that the default shipping was quite high, and apologized for the confusion that caused.

I then went on to explain how they could get the lower shipping quite, and ended with saying that I hope they would try again, and to let me know if there was anything else I could do. And I apologized again for the confusion.

This cost me nothing (except the time to write the emails) but resulted in several more book sales, and mollified customers. And I felt good about who I was being in the interaction.

When you handle a customer with grace and compassion, you'll feel great about yourself. That's the best reward!

Tapping Tips for Success

(If you are not familiar with EFT, please download and read the EFT basics guide on my What

is EFT? Page before doing the following.)

Setup statement (tap the KC point):

Even though _______________ is angry at me, I choose to stay calm and professional.

Even though I want to defend myself, I choose to create something powerful out of this situation.

Even though I'm tempted to get angry myself, I choose to stay calm and professional.

Do several rounds, tapping on each of the tapping points, using the following reminder phrases, or make up your own:____________ is so angry.

The anger feels uncomfortable.

I want to defend myself.

I don't want _________________ to be angry.

Why are they angry at me, anyway?

They should just calm down.

I don't want them angry at me.

Their anger really isn't about me.

I don't have to respond to it.

I could if I wanted to.

When the intensity of your upset has dropped to a 5 or below, do one round, tapping on each of the tapping points, using the following reminder phrases or make up your own:

I can choose to stay calm and professional.

I can choose to have compassion for ________________.

It must be uncomfortable to be that angry.

I can sympathize with the upset.

I can help with the solution, even if it's not my fault.

If you did make a mistake, you may find yourself feeling guilty, or beating yourself up.

That's a different issue, be sure to tap on that if necessary.

Alternate the negative and positive rounds (always end with the positive!) until you feel excitement at the idea of living more in alignment with your dream, goals and vision.