1-16-14 Business owners want to hear from their customers when something isn’t right

Have you ever had a friend tell you about poor service they experienced at a restaurant or a retail store and learned that they were telling you something they never said to the owner of the business?

Mistakes occur in any business situation.  The challenge is to learn about these mistakes and then to do something to acknowledge the error to your customer and apologize.

If you’re a customer and you’re not satisfied, ask to talk to an owner or manager and let that person know about the problem.  If it’s a business that really cares about customer service, your comments will be appreciated and responded to.

If you’re the business owner and you hear of a problem, or you are aware that something has gone wrong (for example, if you have a restaurant and the service hasn’t been efficient), if possible, talk directly to the customer, acknowledge the problem, and offer something as an apology.  You can also make it clear to your employees how important it is for them to say something when there’s a problem and to give your employees the authority to do something to rectify the mistake.

Good customer service means no one ever leaves your business dissatisfied.