Let’s face it. Nobody likes dealing with an angry customer. Yet, despite your gallant efforts, there will inevitably be situations in which you simply can’t keep everyone happy. When this happens, the best approach is to find a way to learn from the experience. Next time you’ve got a customer expressing their displeasure, consider the following ways it can actually benefit your property management business.
It Helps You Capture Emotion
There’s one thing that most successful marketers tout and that’s the importance of making a personal connection with your target audience. The best way to do this? Tap into emotion. When a customer complains, they’re typically responding to emotion rather than logic. By tuning in to this, you’ll gain valuable insight into what matters most to your clientele. You can then channel that emotional insight into your marketing efforts.
It Gives You Perspective
From the inside looking out, it can be easy to see things through rose colored glasses. When a disgruntled customer takes the time to reach out and tell you about a bad experience, however, you get the unique opportunity to view how your property management organization runs from the outside in. This can help you identify areas that could use some improvement that you might otherwise not have recognized.
It Helps You Avoid Making the Same Mistakes
If you don’t know what your property management company is doing wrong, how can you fix it? Even though negative feedback may not feel very good at the time, if you view it as an opportunity to identify the mistakes you’re making and correct them so you don’t keep making them, you’ll come out better on the other side.
It Helps You Weed Out Problems
The occasional customer complaint is to be expected, but when you start to see a pattern with different clients raising concerns about a certain employee, it can give you a heads up that something’s not right. Perhaps some additional training is in order, or maybe that particular worker just isn’t a good fit with your firm. Without external feedback, you might not have realized this until it was too late.
It Allows You to Win Over New Customers
Imagine that…an unhappy client providing the means to acquire new business. Think about it. Today’s customers typically take to the internet to voice their displeasure. By responding in a way that is positive, professional and – most importantly – presents a solution, you’ll ultimately demonstrate that you’re listening, you care and you’ve corrected the problem. When future prospects come across these exchanges online, they’ll feel more confident about doing business with your property management firm. Voila!
No business owner ever wants to hear about a bad customer experience, but these things happen. When you look at unhappy customers as an opportunity rather than a burden, you can begin to transform and improve your property management organization to become even more successful down the road.
Take your customer service to the next level!
