In any type of retail business, whether it be automotive or fast food, employees are told the customer is always right.
Well, today, I’m here to tell you that simply isn’t true. There are many instances where a customer needs to be fired, just like a bad worker.
Even if you bend over backward, you can’t please everyone. Although customer satisfaction is the goal of any respectable dealership, sometimes it just isn’t possible – or profitable.
Research suggests that people who are happy with their service experience will return in the future and refer up to 5 other people to you. But most customers who are unhappy will never come back, and they’ll tell up to 8 people not to do business with you. And that’s just the offline results – just think how many people get wind of a negative experience through online reviews.
What’s worse is that, when an unhappy customer comes back over and over again, they have multiple opportunities to spread unfavorable reviews.
While most people deserve a second, third and even fourth chance, those who are just miserable with life do not. Unreasonable and irrational individuals are the ones you want to cut loose.
1. Your team’s attitude could be affected because they dread working with the customer or on their car.
2. You could lose more money by trying to appease the customer every time they come in. You could also waste a lot of valuable time on them.
3. Other customers will overhear the constant complaints by both the customer and your team.
4. The customer will continue to bad mouth you to other potential customers. This is advertising you don’t want or need.
There are a few key tactics the service manager used to extract Mrs. Smith from his department professionally.
2. He stood up for his employees. Any customer who berates your team needs to know that behavior is not acceptable.
3. He offered an alternative by suggesting she take her vehicle elsewhere.
Another useful tactic for making a clean break includes apologizing (even if you have nothing to be sorry for). Something along the lines of, “Our team strives to make every customer happy, I’m sorry we couldn’t achieve that for you” relieves some of the guilt the customer is feeling and helps them stop being resentful.
The final result of the Mrs. Smith ordeal was that, after recovering from the shock of being fired, she stormed out of the service manager’s office. And while she tried to create some trouble for them with the manufacturer, they brought a final resolution to the situation by buying her out of her car. It was nearly ten years old at the time, but in the long run, they all considered it to be one of the best investments they ever made.
As this example demonstrates, breakups can be painful. But in the long run, they’re worth it. Staying in a bad relationship does nothing but leave both parties wallowing in misery and sorrow.
So, next time you have an unreasonable customer, don’t be afraid to cut them loose.