We’ve all dealt with complaints before, and if you haven’t then maybe you should’ve taken over Australia with child safety seat installations – but dealing with an angry complaint is not something we do every day (Thank goodness!).  This article will give you a brief overview on the why and how to manage an angry client.

If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail – Benjamin Franklin

In all seriousness, in this industry complaints will be few and far between if you are effectively managing communications with your end client, not just the client that has delivered the vehicle and seat for installation.  The reality that people don’t want to hear though is that if you aren’t preparing for a disaster, when the disaster hits it could be devastating if poorly managed.  In the ACRI Network, we’ve seen 3 types of members who aren’t prepared;

1. I’ve had things said here and there, but I actually wouldn’t know how to prepare for a complaint? This article is for you!
2. Never had a complaint, never will.  This is an incredibly dangerous and flippant attitude that is either arrogant, delusional or simply ignorant.
3. I’ve been installing car seats for the last 150 years, I even installed my grandmother’s car seat – I know what I’m doing.  Ok – this one isn’t common, but we’ve seen an attitude close to it and it was only revealed after there was a serious oversight on one of the installations.  No damage was caused, and there was no accident BUT – the attitude of the member involved is untenable and needs to be addressed because we are all human and at some stage we do make mistakes.  This attitude is reflected by Woody in this article here…

If you’re reading this article then you are more likely to fall into category 1 along with most members who haven’t had the time or ability to be able to prepare for negative feedback yet – this article is a part of a series of articles discussing public relations and will help you prepare, particularly for an angry client.

Do I really have unhappy customers?

The short answer is yes.  A study by the Lee Resources International revealed that for every single unsatisfied client who voices their opinion to you, there are 26 unhappy clients who haven’t…but they will be voicing their opinion/s in other ways to other people.  There is an old saying, “you can’t please everyone” and it’s a reality.  Since this industry’s focus is child safety pretty much every issue that arises, in the client’s eyes is a potentially deadly issue to someone they love – and your first step is to take this issue as seriously as they are.  You’re supposed to be providing “peace of mind” after all.

Ok so what does an angry customer do?

In context of an angry customer, which is different to an unsatisfied customer there is study from the Echo Research Group that focused on what customers do when they lose their cool.  It showed that 71% will ask for a supervisor of some sort which makes sense – Whether there actually is an issue or not is irrelevant, the client believes there is and that it shouldn’t happen again – so they will want to talk to someone who can bring change.

What does this mean in our industry?  This could be a great opportunity to build or strengthen your identity with the public and frankly, it’s one of the benefits of becoming a member of the ACRI Network.

Why would I want to bother dealing with it? Couldn’t I just move on?

You could – or on the other have you heard of the “Service Recovery Paradox”?  It’s the idea that if you can convert an angry customer into a satisfied customer they will also become one of the most loyal, vocal proponents of your services.  Unfortunately, according to research, this becomes more difficult the more severe a client sees the magnitude of the issue – More difficult!  But not impossible!  With the right, prepared customer service policies in place, your business may be able to recover quickly from a potentially diabolical PR scenario.

The other challenge is that you won’t be able to create a catch all plan that turns every service issue into a recover paradox.  Most customers, regardless of their anger, will give you the benefit of the doubt – giving you a chance to recover.  Others won’t, but this shouldn’t stop you from trying.

What’s first?

Prevention is better than the cure, always.  Of the calls the ACRI Network fields involving client’s concerned with a service provided by a member, literally nearly all of them (in other words over 99/100 enquiries) are related to the technician not completing the after service safety chat commonly due to the following reasons;

• Time constraints (Either client or member)
• Dismissive client undervaluing the service
• Partner or non carer attending the service on behalf of their friend

While the service/checklist cards and ACRI Network pamphlet are helpful in this, it is still vital you complete a safety chat that must include a way for the client to get back in contact with you easily to answer any concerns that get raised by any of their family or friends at a later date.  Consider the absent partner!

An apology goes a long way…

Your first goal when dealing with an angry customer is to deescalate the situation regardless of whether the customer is right or wrong – so suck up your pride for a moment and simply apologise to your customer, you can even be a little coy with your apology!

“I’m so sorry you feel that way, how can I help resolve this for you”

This sounds so simple but with a statement like this you are actually showing empathy to client, listening to their issue without engaging in DEFCON 4 defense mode immediately and that’s exactly what they are looking for.

In fact a study by Carey School of Business at Arizona State University discovered that when a compensation resolution was given with an apology it was over twice as effective in creating a satisfied client than when the compensation was given in the same way but without an apology!

Abusive customer?

You and your staff don’t have to put up with abuse – under any circumstances.  It’s a common attitude for customer service agents to politely do 4 things;

• Apologise
• Let the client know you are here to help and on their side
• If they aren’t happy with whatever result you can come up with they can get in touch with ACRI which your organisation is a part of
• You understand their frustrated however you can’t help them if they aren’t engaging in constructive dialogue – if they continue you are going to have to hang up and they are welcome to call back when they have settled down.

This approach can generally settle the situation down, and it’s extremely unlikely you are going to have to actually hang up on the client.  You’ll find after doing this the dialogue with your client will be much more conducive to finding a solution – and a chance at making this client a public advocate for your business!  A public relations gold mine!

A real life example?

There is a couple of standout internal screwups we’ve seen come across the desk over the years, but here’s one we’re not sure we’ll ever forget from quite a few years back.  An ACRI Network member had a client request their child seat be turned around.  The member, upon finding the seat tethered to an incorrect anchor point, decided it was in their client’s best interest to let them know their previous service provider had made a big mistake.  So with their chest puffed out with pride they broke the bad news to the client only to find out that particular service agent was themselves about 12 months prior.  If only the issue had stopped here – but the member had a brain meltdown, re-hooked the seat onto the incorrect anchorage and told the client they had made a mistake and it was the correct anchorage.  Needless to say the client was less than impressed, had no one to complain to, decided ACRI could help and it turned out the organisation was a member of the network!

Standard policies that would have dissolved this issue;

1. Never discussing other providers.  Ever. Don’t engage. Warning Warning.
2. Don’t deceitfully cover for mistakes – the truth always comes out.  Own it.  Fix it.
3. An apology at any stage would have helped dialogue.
4. ACRI Network Members Services Team ASAP at any stage. Give us a heads up so we can help.

Conclusion

First, congrats on reading this entire article – it’s a bit different to our bite sized ones, and only one part of an all round customer service policy you should have but it’s great to think about these things before you actually have an issue.

There is always hope for angry customers so don’t be discouraged if you get one – look at the situation as a opportunity to create a walking billboard for your brand!  Dealing with angry customers can rip apart your guts not to mention your whole day, but on the other hand it feels incredibly exhilarating to flip an angry customer to a vocal advocate with simple prepared steps.

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