The circumstance:
Your customer has reached you to disclose that they aren’t content with your service delivery and they may even wish to end their agreement with you. So what do you do or not do? These are some lessons I learned the hard way through my career growth path.
Your Client isn’t happy with your service
What not to do:
Try not to become agitated even though you have every reason to be panicked, particularly when you’re depending on that customer for a certain % of income on an annual basis. There are specific measures to take care of this situation and as a matter of act, you must try not to send petrified or ‘beggarly ‘ messages in the expectation they’ll take pity and remain with you – trust me, you don’t need that sort of relationship.
The correct reaction:
Appreciate your client for opening up to let you know that they are having issues with you, and apologize that it has now gotten to the point where they believe the relationship should be ended. This will show them that you are a professional and value their input.
Ask to meet with your customer; in person is ideal, however, in the event where a physical meet is not possible, a virtual video meeting works as well. You must note facial expressions and body language as this will help you decide if you still have a chance with your client or not.
Learn to ask the why questions which you must painstakingly work through to get to the root of the issue. It is very important you do this as the 5 Whys is a critical thinking procedure that various organizations find useful in deciphering the root causes of problems and proffering solutions accordingly. In such terrible situations, you may want to get in senior team members from both organizations to act as mediators. Recall, the main objective of the meeting is to resolve conflicts to see if the relationship can still be salvaged.
A practical accounting software provider scenario plays out like this:
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First, the customer is asked, “Why are you so unhappy with us? And they could react with something like “Your service quality and delivery is poor.
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Then, the customer is asked, “Why do you feel, think or say, our service quality is poor?. They may respond and say “It takes too long for you to revert on mails when we have issues with the accounting software and this makes us in turn look inefficient to our own customers
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Next, the licensed Service provider is asked, Why does it take you so long to respond to emails when there are issues with the accounting software? Their response could be, every time, I get their mail, I actually type out an acknowledgement email but don’t remember to send back the response.
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The Service provider is still asked, why do you forget to mail back and they may react with something like “Since I close my emails when I work on other Client requests and then I forget to return to the mails later on.
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The Service Provider is then asked, but they are also your clients, so why will you forget to attend to them? They may react with something as “I have over 20 client requests daily with over 100 mails to attend to and there is always so much on my table!
The “Why Process” appears to be a long cycle, however, you can see here that the next steps and way forward become clearer. It is okay if some clients do not want to be involved in this process and may tell you bluntly to go fix your internal issues. Hopefully, you previously had a fantastic relationship with your unhappy client hence they may just be obliged to be part of this process. Getting them involved will put their minds at ease as they get to understand your process more and can feel your challenges. Your being open and straightforward can assist both parties with salvaging the situation with the strong tendency that your clients will confide in you more.
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