The Quality Of Your Communication

I was on the phone recently to a company about a mistake they'd made. Now being a large, relatively faceless, global corporation, I was expecting it to be a "it's your problem, not ours" conversation.

After jumping through hoops with the inevitable voice response system, I was put through to a very polite person in customer services who dealt with my complaint in an efficient manner, acknowledged that there had been a mistake and was able to fix it. None of the "There's nothing I can do ... it's not company policy" attitude that we so often encounter.

That's what makes the difference between a company who treats it's customers with respect, admits their mistakes, acknowledges any complaints and deals with them in an efficient manner and one where a company is difficult to get hold of, has an arrogant, couldn't care less attitude and assumes they're always right and doesn't listen to their customers.

It comes down to the quality of communication. There are certain situations where if handled correctly a drama is prevented from turning into a crisis, however when handled incorrectly a storm in a teacup can become a hurricane. When emotions are running high, it's even more important to ensure that communication is clear, direct and timely and this can make a real difference to the outcome. Make it easy for communication to happen both ways and remember to listen and understand and don't just wait to speak.

Turning a bad situation round can save a relationship and maintain a reputation, making a bad situation worse will damage both the relationship and the reputation and it won't stop there. A disgruntled customer will tell more people than a happy one.

So keep your customers happy.