Love Your Irate Customers

Love Your Irate Customers
Copyright 2002 lessworkmoremoney.com
By Armand Melanson

Everybody hates the nit-picky customer who is never pleased.
When an irate customer emails or comes in to tell you how bad
your service or products are, you want to let them have it right
between the eyes right?

Well don't do it. Love your irate customers. They're one of the
best things that can happen to your business because they tell
you exactly what 100 other customers are thinking but haven't
said.

For every complaint you get, many more people likely felt the
same but didn't say anything about it. So when a complainer
makes their views known, perk up your ears. They are about to do
you a big favor.

Even if you think the complaint is unjustified or outrageous,
don't react. Listen. Ask questions. Find out as much as possible
about what was unsatisfactory about your product/service. Take
the comments of every dissatisfied customer with the utmost
seriousness & concern.

Of course, there are limits to what anyone should take:
abusive hreatening language or behavior should not be
tolerated. But 99% of complaints don't come in that form.

Most customer complaints give you the very feedback you need to
make your business better. When dealt with properly, complaints
generate enhancements of your products & services. Furthermore,
a well handled complaint will often turn the complainant into an
ally.

Let me illustrate. I often use popups to ask visitors why they
didn't buy at my website. Here's the response I got from one guy
( we'll call him John Doe ):

"Too many gimmicks on the net. I didn't even bother to read.
Plus I make it a habit to not buy from ANY site that uses
popups. I believe in MY CHOICE of what I click on and choose to
browse! Plus you don't even know how to make popups come to the
front of the screen. They remain hidden behind until you start
to shut down. Get a new profession."

John Doe

My 1st instinct was to tell John Doe to get bent. But I didn't.
I instead sent him an article on how popups can generate
significant revenue for a website. I also sent him some info on
the benefits of my e-marketing "how to" product.

Remember this guy had just been to my site & was not only not
interested in buying, but he went out of his way to tell me that
I was an idiot (in so many words). Here's his next email:

"Armand, as you know, I was the jerk that wrote you a note
telling you that I did not buy from sites that used pop-ups.
Whoops!!!! After your personal email back to me with all the
information as to why I should, and also your convincing money
back guarantee, you had convinced me I had nothing to loose! I
bought. Then paypal didn't get my order to you correctly, and 24
hours later, I fired off another email, which again, got me a
personal reply.

Well, to make a long story short, I've learned more in one
evening with your material, found more suppliers that interested
me, and am convinced that anyone would nuts not to buy your
information. I too have been searching the internet for about
three years, and am convinced that if I can't make my share of
the bucks with this info, it can't be done. Thanks for the
personal attention to all my needs!"

John Doe

So from an initially negative situation, I got 2 positive
outcomes:

1) I made a sale
2) I got a killer testimonial for my website

So when your customers (potential customers) start heaving the
lemons your way, send them back glasses of fresh lemonade. It
may do more good than you think...