I recently received a complaint from a customer who thought the olives on her sandwich tasted like bleach. What’s worse is she said it was the second time in two weeks the olives tasted like that. Needless to say I was alarmed and wanted to investigate the claim right away!
Now first of all, we don’t use bleach in our stores so I knew nobody accidentally mixed bleach into the olives. I also knew that we didn’t have any other complaints about the taste of olives. In addition, Subway uses specific suppliers held to a high quality standard, product is rotated in the store according to fifo (first in first out), and when placed on the line, product is labeled with the date of prep and date of expiration.
Just to be sure that something strange wasn’t occurring with the olives, I called the store manager and asked her to taste the olives (I didn’t tell her why). She said they tasted good, as usual (I knew they would, but I like to double check).
So, as a result of my investigation, I concluded the customer was WRONG; maybe even a little off her rocker! Bleach? Are you kidding me?!?!? I could feel my blood starting to boil… here we are, working our tails off, and out of nowhere comes Bleach Lady. Honestly, how do you deal with a customer who is complaining about an imaginary problem that you have no control over because it could not possibly have happened?!? Ah, the joy of business ownership… Sometimes it feels like you’re in the twilight zone, doesn’t it?
Anyway, I knew the customer was wrong. The next step was to decide how to handle it, or rather, to decide if proving her wrong (my need to be right) was more important than losing the customer’s future business.
What would you do?
I hope you didn’t answer that you would call the customer and tell her what you suspect she might be full of… Although we might want to sometimes, I’m sure you would agree that could really hurt your business.
Here’s what I did once I collected myself:
I called the customer and when she answered I said, “Hi Mrs. Jones (not her real name), my name is George Morse and I’m the owner of the Subway on Wilder Road. I’m calling about the problem you had with our olives tasting like bleach. Could you tell me a little about what happened?”
The customer then told me the whole story and I listened with empathy, trying to understand the situation from her point of view. When she finished I apologized. “I’m really sorry that happened.” I said.
I then explained how, as soon as I got her complaint, I called the store manager and had her taste the olives. I also explained how the olives are packaged and the great lengths Subway takes to ensure high standards are maintained by suppliers, as well as how we take steps at the store to rotate and label the olives so they are always fresh. Finally, I explained that we don’t use bleach in the store.
I wasn’t explaining all this in a defensive excuse-making way, but simply to provide the customer with some background information to demonstrate how important quality, freshness, and food safety are to us. I then suggested that the taste difference she was experiencing might be due to a particular crop of olives (something out of our control) to which she remarked how different brands of olives at the grocery store do not always taste the same.
I finished our call by thanking the customer for letting me know about her visit and for giving us the chance to resolve it. I then asked if I could get her address to send her some free tickets to use the next time she came in. The customer happily rattled off her address (who doesn’t like free Subway?). I gave her my phone number, inviting her to call me if she had any problems, comments or questions in the future, then apologized one last time before wishing her a great day!
On this call the customer was open to what I had to say, because I listened to the customer first and apologized for the negative experience she had. I was able to get her on my side by first taking her side; listening with empathy and offering a sincere apology. By the end of our conversation she had decided to trust that our olives were safe to eat and promised to continue patronizing our store.
Now if I had called her to tell her how wrong she was, the outcome would have been much different and not in a good way.
To assist you and your staff further, I’ve identified the key elements of successfully handling a customer complaint, from the example above, and listed them here.
• Prior to calling the customer, investigate complaint and correct any mistakes immediately.
• If you determine the customer is wrong, consider the value of their future business and let go of your need to be right.
• When the customer answers the phone say hello, give your name, position, why you are calling and ask the customer if he or she would tell you a little about what happened.
• Listen with Empathy. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. Try to see it from his or her point of view.
• When the customer is finished don’t say one word until you have apologized.
• Explain what steps you took as soon as you received the complaint.
• Educate about how your company operates (if applicable).
• Reiterate how important it is to you that customers have a good experience in your store.
• Describe the steps you have or will take to ensure the problem does not happen again.
• Ask if you can get or confirm the address to send free coupons.
• Thank the customer for his or her comments and for giving you the opportunity to make things right.
• Invite the customer to call you if there are any future concerns.
• Apologize again and wish the customer a great day.
Keeping ALL of your customers happy is an important part of running a profitable business. Give up your need to be right and you’ll turn angry customers into paying customers every time. For questions on this or any other business related subject, or to schedule training for your group contact me here.
Have a magnificent week!
Coach Morse
