No products in the cart.
Unhappy customers generally fall into 3 categories:
1. Those that are genuinely unhappy, something has gone wrong, they have a genuine complaint.
2. Someone that just wants to be heard – complaining for the sake of it, they are that type of person and sometimes they just want to vent. There could be other things going on in their life that you don’t know about.
3. Someone is complaining and they are with someone – they want to be seen to be superior in front of that other person.
You would deal with each of these scenarios differently.
1. Legitimate complaint – things go wrong, the speed of response is very important, acknowledging they have a legitimate complaint, apologise and offer them a remedy and involve them in that solution process. For example – we would like to remake your breakfast, that’s going to take about 8 minutes, but would you prefer us to get you something that will take less time to prepare. This shows problem solving and collaboration with our guest. 9 times out of 10 this will diffuse the situation and will make the guest focused on the solution and appreciate you have gone the extra mile.
2. The venter – sometimes there is little that you can do in this situation to diffuse the situation, they are on a rant and won’t stop until they stop. Acknowledge that you understand and empathise with how they are feeling, that they have a right to be feeling as angry as they are. Mirror their language, their body language – “you have very right to be angry, if I was in your position I would be too”. This tells them that they are right and sometimes this is all they are looking for. Then focus on the solution and on more positive language. If we could remedy that for you quite quickly would that be an outcome you would be happy with? If they say yes, then they have shifted into a more positive state of mind.
3. The show off – its about understanding the group dynamic and that they want to feel important in the eyes of those other people. Be aware of that and direct solutions to them and the group.
