| | Selected Past Issues: Sound
Like You Mean Business
Get Any Audience To Love
And Admire You
Improve Your Breathing
Breaking Bad News |
Breaking Bad News to Customers:
Five Tips
to Soften the Blow
By Susan Berkley
Voice Mastery and Vocal Persuasion for Professionals Involved in Public Speaking.
copyright 2001, The Great Voice Company | All Rights
Reserved
Breaking bad news to customers is not an
easy task. However, occasionally, it's a duty that many business people must carry
out with empathy and professionalism. Here are five strategies for delivering
the message with compassion: 1. Tell the truth. People tend to fear
what they do not understand. Put the situation into perspective for your customer.
Give as much information as you can about the who, what, when, where and why.
2. Put yourself in the customer's shoes. It's useless and naive to tell
customers not to worry or expect them not to get frustrated. They ARE worried,
and maybe even angry at how the events will affect them (or their companies) personally.
Don't leave them guessing. Give them all the facts. 3. Acknowledge their feelings.
Don't invalidate their feelings by suggesting the situation is ănot that
bad." This is also not a time for humor. Let them vent. Negative emotions
must be dealt with before they can be replaced with a positive plan of action.
4. Take charge. Outline a specific plan of action that you and your
company will take. Assume ownership for the customer's situation. 5. Follow
through. Make it your priority to track the progress on the customer's
problem within your company. Make frequent status reports to the customer until
the situation is resolved to his or her satisfaction.
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