How To Manage Customer Relationship Crisis

How To Manage Customer Relationship Crisis

Introduction

How to handle customer relationship crisis was the topic that I and my friends debated about during the just concluded Easter break. You will agree with me that crisis is part of existence. There is no relationship that is free of crisis, rather what we have are loads of relationships with well managed relationship crisis. The aim of this article is to explore those things that we have to do in order to ensure that LASTING, FRUITFUL, and MEANINGFUL customer relationship is maintained. Let us start by exploring the reasons why customers become irate in the first instance.

Reasons why customers get dissatisfied

There is always a cause-and-effect to every single thing that happens and that includes being dissatisfied as a customer. This section of how to manage customer relationship crisis focuses on the causes of customer relationship crisis.

• More attractive offers from competitors
• Poor products or services
• Poor attitude of customer facing staff
• Difficulty in finding products in the open market or online
• Not caring about customer’s needs
• None existence of customer service team
• Failing to deliver on promise
• Not giving customers reason(s) to return .i.e aiming to go above and beyond expectations

Ways to keep customers

Keeping customers happy is not an easy task especially in this information jet age that we now live in. companies now struggle with both human and business technology gadget just to keep customers happy. Below are some tips that can be easily applied to keep your customers happy.

• Always exceed expectation
• Have listening ears
• Be easy to deal with
• Have a philosophy of CUSTOMER FIRST
• Absorb their complaints and exhume solutions
• Communicate constantly and regularly
• Render customised service
• Be the number one ambassador of your products

Handling customer dissatisfaction

This section is the bread and butter of this article on How to manage customer relationship crisis. Care should be taken to ensure that every single step taken in this direction is carefully thought out. Highly trained customer care professionals are needed to execute the points listed below.

• Let them vent
• Acknowledge the problem
• Apologize for it
• Kill procrastination
• Use questioning skills to obtain required information
• Take remedial action
• Get the customer involved
• Follow up with another apology and obtain feedback

Turning angry customers into lifetime loyal customers

Angry customers can be a goldmine when converted into ambassadors and loyalists. The good thing is that turning angry customers into lifetime loyal customers does not take too much to achieve. Below are some simple things that can be done to help turn angry customers into helping hands.

• Empathise with the customer
• Recap what you understood back to the customer
• Delight your customers
• Be proactive in handling negative press
• Leverage on your positive reputation
• Seize the opportunity to improve while providing solutions
• Be personal
• Respectfully responds to customers complaint – especially when they are upset
• Ask for a review

I am sure that the points listed in this article will help solve many problems of How to manage customer relationship crisis. As simple as the tips listed here might appear, testimonies abound to prove their effectiveness. Customers will play their role in the survival of your business if you can just play your card well.