Wonder if you should apologize to a customer? I say "yes"!

“Once I said the words, ‘I apologize,’ I noticed that the customers’ demeanor did an about face. They instantly stopped yelling and calmed down.”

From The Napkin, the Melon & the Monkey

The controversy over whether to offer an apology to a customer surfaced recently during a seminar I did for the Tampa Chapter of the Help Desk Institute.  I recommended apologizing to customers for the inconvenience caused by a problem as a way to reduce tension.  A woman stood up and in protest. She said that she had been instructed to never apologize to a customer because doing so would be an admission of guilt by the company.  If the matter ended up in court, admitting fault could result in a judgment in favor of the customer.

Whoever said that apologizing to a customer is wrong missed the point.

I learned about the value of an apology from some service reps at an electric utility early in my consulting career. I was working with the call center manager on re-vamping the call handling process for high bill complaints. My first step in the process was to capture the best practices of the best reps. I wanted to know what these high performing reps did that enabled them to resolve complaints in a minimum amount of time and generate high marks for customer satisfaction.

What I discovered from listening to their calls was that these reps did one thing consistently: at the beginning of the call they showed empathy for the plight of the customer. I noticed that, as if by magic, when he or she began a sentence with, “I am sorry that happened –” “I can see how frustrating this must be for you –” or “I apologize for the inconvenience –” everything changed. These reps understood one of the Basic Truths of customer service: all any customer wants when he or she calls with a problem is to have someone listen to them and take responsibility for fixing it.

In my workshop on dealing with irate customers (irate customers are considered service reps’ number one problem), I give them the following assignment: create a phrase that you can use when you are faced with an angry, frustrated customer. The phrase should contain language that lets the customer know three things:
•    You have listened to him or her.
•    You empathize with his or her plight.
•    You are committed to doing everything you can to find a solution.

This week, if you don’t already have a handy phrase you use to reduce the anger of a customer (or any one) and communicates empathy, consider creating one. You will find that showing compassion for the suffering of another person works wonders for your relationship.

Make it a wonderful week,

Marshall Goldsmith Update. For those of you who caught last week’s Monday Aha! you may be interested to know that Marshall Goldsmith delivered on his promise to write an endorsement for my book, The Napkin, the Melon & the Monkey. In his email to me, he thanked me AGAIN for asking him to write an endorsement. What a guy.