Customer Retention: Approach with Honesty
Posted by Hoyt Mann on Mon, Oct 06, 2008 @ 09:42 PM
"Above all - honesty"
"Honesty Above Reproach"
"To thine own self be true"
With the Presidential election swirling around us, the RPM's of the spin machine are ramped up to maximum. Heaven forbid that any communication about one candidate (the one who wants to win) be negative and anything about the other candidate be positive. Any and all communication is spun to take best advantage of whatever the topic is. Even if it is a stretch to do it.
Some businesses tend to do this, too. In an effort to retain customers and/or keep regulatory agencies at bay, many businesses try to strip all negativity out of their communications so nothing attached to them ever sounds anything other than perfect. Or at least soft pedal anything that might be wrong. Weasel wording is rampant.
"Problems" become "Issues". Products are never badly designed, it's just that the manual needs an update. Or else, the customer can't follow instructions. A new lot was put into use causing results to fluctuate.
Granted, if told the bald truth, customers probably would think you didn't know what you were doing. But being honest while retaining customers is possible when the truth is offered in the correct way.
First, an abject apology. Whether you get on your knees is dependent on how big the gaffe was. Then tell the customer, honestly, what happened. Then ask the CUSTOMER how it could be made right. They know what they want. People can tell when they are being given the run around and they will tell all their friends. On MySpace. All 10,000 of them.
Is running the problem through the spin machine worth that much negative publicity?
I didn't think so.