No matter the strength of customer relationships, there will always be times when decision-makers are uncomfortable or unhappy about how things are going. Their unhappiness can be specific or just general discomfort. Sometimes, they just need to vent.
That venting can come in the form of complaints, or angry rants. Oftentimes the critique is unfiltered and can seem very personal. You might hear problems attributed to you—appropriate or not. No matter what you hear, the best you can do is to listen. The worst you can do is to be defensive and/or make excuses.
(Note: There will be time for calm discussion but not when the customer is too angry to hear you.)
Remember that decision-makers count on you to make them right. They choose you to help them succeed and when the unexpected happens, their peers hold them accountable. When challenged, even the strongest customer relationships can devolve into anger which uncovers more personal motivations. When you listen, you learn about those motivations and you communicate that you’re standing with them.
Experience
I had cold-called Montana State Credit Union four times, asking for their president. I got no, both polite and angry. On my fifth attempt with the president’s assistant I heard a man yelling, “Is that the @#$%*@ check guy again? Put that @#$%*@ through!”
The president railed about how I was wasting their time and how nobody in Montana wanted our checks. That I needed to find a real job, if that was possible. He said I had no value and no clue about his challenges. He said, “I need members to get more loans and credit cards. Unless you can do that, stop calling. Got it?” In seconds, my twenty-three-year-old naïve voice said, “If I can help your people get more loans and credit card accounts, would you buy our checks?”
He went silent and then angrily said, “I should let you try to prove how ridiculous you are.” I offered views on why people are uncomfortable with selling and how our training addressed that. Long story short—the president agreed to one training.
(Another note: We were trained to conduct day-long trainings in person. I wasn’t budgeted for travel so I had to do the training on a con-call and they gave me 90 minutes on a Saturday.)
Nobody in Montana was happy to be at work on Saturday but a nearby Dunkin’ Donuts agreed to deliver to the credit union if I bought six dozen donuts and coffee. That calmed emotions, slightly.
I conducted an abbreviated session and their supervisor agreed to a follow-up call in two weeks. Surprisingly, the next Friday the president called saying his people were already selling more services. He asked for another training. He also mentioned our training to his peers in the Montana credit union community.
In less than a year, Montana went from no business to our checks being available at almost half the credit unions in the state. I did Saturday morning trainings about twice a month. They weren’t buying checks; they were buying more new loans and credit card accounts, as vented by the credit union president. The checks were simply how they paid us.
I eventually met that president at a convention in Valdez, Alaska. I was managing our booth and he introduced himself saying, “I wanted to shake the hand of the pest who helped us sell more services.”
Customer Relationships: Being dressed down can dress you up.
©2016 Rick Wong, The Five Abilities® LLC
