Elon Musk, the successful entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and other companies, often highlights the importance of negative feedback: “You want to be extra rigorous about making the best possible thing you can. Find everything that’s wrong with it and fix it. Seek negative feedback, particularly from friends.” Managing customer feedback inevitably involves handling negative feedback. And to Elon Musk’s point, take steps to encourage it.
The first rule of the road is show up. Imagine a customer walks into your office and says, “Hey, I have this problem,” and no one even looks up from their work. That’s how customers feel when they don’t get any kind of reply. Negative feedback can be a ticking time bomb, so be sure to establish response time objectives.
Next, thank the customer for their feedback. Resist the urge to be defensive. When you demonstrate that you value the customer’s time and opinion, it often changes the tone of the dialog dramatically. A friend who golfs told me he recently posted a mildly negative review of a course. It was genuine and pointed out things that could be improved. Instead of thanking him, the head pro insisted the poor experience was my friend’s fault. That didn’t go well. It led to more vehement feedback from him on other review sites. My friend went from passive detractor to genuinely ticked off and actively warning others to avoid that course. Remember, being “right” is far less important than disarming the situation.
If your organization messed up, acknowledge it in a sincere way. And use plain language. How often as a customer do you hear the words, “We regret any inconvenience this may have caused”? As writing coach and trainer Leslie O’Flahavan advises, “If you would never say something to a customer face-to-face, don’t write it.”3 Instead, say something like, “Thanks for letting us know we let you down, and for giving us a chance to make it right.”
The next step is to take ownership and resolve the issue—fix it! What would it take to earn back the trust and loyalty of the customer? This could take the form of a refund, a credit, a gift, or just resolving the problem. Customers will often tell you what it would take to make it right. Contrary to popular belief, most requests aren’t unreasonable. If the customer is asking for the undoable, at least give some options; they often feel better just having some say. Some things shouldn’t play out in a public forum, and you may need to move the discussion elsewhere. Finally, document what happened; problems tend to recur until a root cause is identified and resolved.
How you respond to negative feedback will, as much as anything, show the character of your organization. It’s a tangible reflection of the commitment you make to be there for your customers.
Excerpt from Leading the Customer Experience: How to Chart a Course and Deliver Outstanding Results by Brad Cleveland.
