Customer Loyalty - 4 Ways To Use A Bad Situation To Build Customer Loyalty

Entrepreneurs and small business owners build businesses based on providing value and personalized customer service. But if you have been in business very long, you know that sometimes a bad situation occurs with a customer despite your best intentions. When that happens, entrepreneurs can handle the situation in ways that actually help build customer loyalty. Here's how:

1. Don't stonewall. Tell your customer exactly what happened and why. If you believe that the less said, the better, you're wrong. Customers have a keen sensitivity for being brushed off or handled. They won't respond to whitewashing a situation or stonewalling, but they will respond to explanations and details that are provided as soon as you have them. If you don't know yet what's going to happen, say so. Say what you're doing to find out, and then tell your customer what's happening just as quickly as you know. Frequent updates personalize the situation and help keep lines of communication open. This practice is contrary to what many larger businesses do, and it gives a small business owner a distinct advantage.

2. Don't assume that details of what is going on are too small or not worthy to share. In a recent experience I had with having to change planes due to a maintenance issues, the gate agents followed through with small details. Wheelchair users were carefully informed to wait at the first gate and a cart would come to haul them the very long walk to the new gate. Customers were reminded to stay in the gate area several times, so as not to miss updates. A flight attendant who had helped an elderly flyer hoist his bag to the overhead was waiting for the gentlemen on the second plane, ready to help a second time. Sharing details and providing the same level of customer service when your fix to a situation occurs helps customers feel connection. They feel held by you rather than dropped. Even if you are busy, take the time to share details.

3. Assure your customers that you're working actively on preventing this situation happening again, either to them or to other customers. Make sure they understand that what happened isn't acceptable to you. This is key. It personalizes you and your business to them. From past experiences with other businesses, many customers assume you want their money but don't care if they are left holding the bag when something goes wrong. You've got a great chance to prove how much you attend to your customers and how often you are willing to change your systems to prevent problems occuring.

4. Most of all, apologize. Make sure anyone in your business who touches that customer apologizes. As an example, when the airline had to replace aircraft and caused a long delay, the gate agents apologized (at both the old gate and the new). The flight attendants apologized when they had to kick us out of the first plane and apologized again when everyone was settled into the replacement plane. The captain apologized when we took off and again, once in the air, apologized that he could only make up about 4 minutes of the lost time. In situations that cause customer discomfort you cannot apologize too much.

Along with word of mouth buzz that you truly care about your customer, the benefit you'll get is that your customer will not get irritated, nasty, or threatening. When customers feel heard and treated well, they don't push back with demands that take your time and energy. Great service builds loyalty. Great service when there is a bad situation builds even more customer loyalty. You can benefit from a bad situation by using these four points next time something falls short for a customer.