By Mel Kleiman, president, Humetrics
Let’s face it — stuff happens. That’s a given. What’s up to you and your people is how you respond. Have you trained your employees what to do when something unfortunate or unplanned happens?
Case in point… A longstanding beauty salon client sent her teenage daughter in for a cut and style. The daughter left delighted. Two hours later, the mom came in spitting nails. She hated the result. The stylist mistakenly tried to insist that he only did what the daughter requested and, in the end, the client stormed out saying neither she nor her daughter would ever return.
What a shame when the manager could have trained her stylists to respond to customer complaints in a particular way. (For example: Remain calm, acknowledge the client’s concerns, offer an apology, ask what could be done to remedy the situation, make a realistic promise and thank the customer.)
While it’s improbable you could be prepared for everything that may not go as planned, be sure to use every untoward event as a learning experience and formulate a strategy to use should it happen again — and train your people how and when to use it.
