As business owners who think about more than just the bottom line, what we love most is happy customers. We are hearing more stories each week about businesses going the distance to really support their customers and respond to the feedback they’ve been given, which is awesome and encouraging. Businesses and their owners and employees have lots of challenges that they have to navigate between the idea of their business to the delivery of their business and then any follow up afterwards (whether checking if changes are needed or a regular newsletter communication). During that whole process they have to consider the people who will be buying from them and using their products or services. Without the customers you can’t be successful.
Whether you’re a B2B or B2C business one of the hardest things to swallow, but also one of the most relieving is that you can’t please everyone. I don’t believe there are any businesses that exists that can truly serve everyone. Everyone has different preferences, goals, timelines and different people involved in one way or another in the buying process that make it too time consuming and expensive to truly serve everyone. Making the decision on who to serve is one of the most important you choose. Even once you’ve made that selection and it’s a good fit for you there will be mistakes made and unhappy customers to work with. In most cases there is something very simple you can do to resolve the issue, and at least half of the issues should give you an insight into something you could improve in your business. Sure, they may tell you what they think of you and what you offer (correct or uninformed) while asking for the refund or fix, but at least they’re willing to work with you on it.
But what about those few people that just aren’t happy? There are a percentage of people around the world who are inclined to be angry. These are the people who leave a negative review in a public place having said absolutely nothing to you and not asking for a refund. These people like to encourage the rest of the world to be as miserable as they are. First, you know it’s not healthy to be that angry all the time. You can’t possibly expect your karma, attitude, relationships and longevity won’t take a serious hit being that angry at the world all the time. Second, do your best with the customers who do appreciate what you offer so that when you do have one super angry review posted people can see it as exactly what it is: someone who’s just angry at the world and complaining for the sake of it, posted among a sea of positive reviews.
Take time this week to make sure you’ve got your customer selection made and are doing the best you can to please those customers, and don’t get too discouraged if someone chooses you as their target for their angry rant of the day, because it’s not about you or what you’re selling.