By: Shiva Vinneza – PR Consultant of Fortune PR
At some point, all business has to deal with upset customers. The challenge is to handle this bad situation so your customer will still think that the company is still great.
Let’s take a look at the most recent customer complaint case from Lion Air. Just last week on August 11th, a number of passengers conducted a demonstration in Lion Air’s customer service division operating in Juwata International Airport, Tarakan, North Borneo. The masses filed complaints because they were supposed to be on board on a 6 AM flight, but the plane left a total of 120 passengers behind.
Clearly, dealing with a huge number of customer complaint is a major crisis for Lion Air. To do this, the company’s PR department must handle the situation quickly.
Always listen to your customers
Listen carefully to the customer and let them finish what they have to say. Don’t get defensive. The customer is not attacking you. They have a problem and they are really upset about it. They want to know if the company truly cares for them or not. So repeat back what you are hearing to show that you have listened.
Be caring & concern
Ask questions in a caring and concerned manner before jumping to conclusions. The more information you can get from the customer, the better you will understand their perspective.
Respond by showing empathy
Put yourself in their shoes. Your goal is to solve the problem, not argue with them. The customer needs to feel like you are on their side and that you empathize with the situation.
Simply apologize
When a customer senses that you are sincerely sorry, it usually diffuses the situation. Don’t blame another person or other department. Just say that you are truly sorry and that you’re trying to fix the situation.
Solve the problem
Provide the customers with an acceptable solution quickly. When complaints are moved up the chain of command, they become more expensive to handle and only add to the customer’s frustration.
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