Love Your Irate Customers Copyright 2002 lessworkmoremoney.com By Armand Melanson Everybody hates the nit-picky customer who is never pleased. When an irate customer emails or comes in to tell you how bad your service or products are, you want to let them have it right between the eyes right? Well don't do it. Love your irate customers. They're one of the best things that can happen to your business because they tell you exactly what 100 other customers are thinking but haven't said. For every complaint you get, many more people likely felt the same but didn't say anything about it. So when a complainer makes their views known, perk up your ears. They are about to do you a big favor. Even if you think the complaint is unjustified or outrageous, don't react. Listen. Ask questions. Find out as much as possible about what was unsatisfactory about your product/service. Take the comments of every dissatisfied customer with the utmost seriousness & concern. Of course, there are limits to what anyone should take: abusive hreatening language or behavior should not be tolerated. But 99% of complaints don't come in that form. Most customer complaints give you the very feedback you need to make your business better. When dealt with properly, complaints generate enhancements of your products & services. Furthermore, a well handled complaint will often turn the complainant into an ally. Let me illustrate. I often use popups to ask visitors why they didn't buy at my website. Here's the response I got from one guy ( we'll call him John Doe ): "Too many gimmicks on the net. I didn't even bother to read. Plus I make it a habit to not buy from ANY site that uses popups. I believe in MY CHOICE of what I click on and choose to browse! Plus you don't even know how to make popups come to the front of the screen. They remain hidden behind until you start to shut down. Get a new profession." John Doe My 1st instinct was to tell John Doe to get bent. But I didn't. I instead sent him an article on how popups can generate significant revenue for a website. I also sent him some info on the benefits of my e-marketing "how to" product. Remember this guy had just been to my site & was not only not interested in buying, but he went out of his way to tell me that I was an idiot (in so many words). Here's his next email: "Armand, as you know, I was the jerk that wrote you a note telling you that I did not buy from sites that used pop-ups. Whoops!!!! After your personal email back to me with all the information as to why I should, and also your convincing money back guarantee, you had convinced me I had nothing to loose! I bought. Then paypal didn't get my order to you correctly, and 24 hours later, I fired off another email, which again, got me a personal reply. Well, to make a long story short, I've learned more in one evening with your material, found more suppliers that interested me, and am convinced that anyone would nuts not to buy your information. I too have been searching the internet for about three years, and am convinced that if I can't make my share of the bucks with this info, it can't be done. Thanks for the personal attention to all my needs!" John Doe So from an initially negative situation, I got 2 positive outcomes: 1) I made a sale 2) I got a killer testimonial for my website So when your customers (potential customers) start heaving the lemons your way, send them back glasses of fresh lemonade. It may do more good than you think...

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