My whole career has been focused on 1 thing: building customer loyalty.
But it goes just beyond customer loyalty – it’s about creating so much value for the customer that they can’t help but share your brand.
Every company would like to have this, right? And in theory, it sounds pretty easy.
But it’s a little more difficult in practice, because it often requires giving up ground in the short term so that you can gain even more ground in the long run.
Angry Customers
Here’s an example.
I once had a customer reach out and they were really upset. I had gotten something wrong, and they let me know it.
Instead of getting defensive and justifying the issue, I agreed with them. I owned my own mistake, I outlined how I was going to fix it, and then I gave them an incentive to come back.
The Secret To Dealing With Conflict
The secret to dealing with conflicts like this is two fold: 1) don’t take things personal, and 2) own your part and chart a path forward. And this is the secret sauce to all relationships: business, marriage, family, or any other kind.
Most people want to have good relationships with others. But sometimes we let life get in the way and we take out our anger or frustrations on the person who happens to be in front of us at the moment.
But if we can understand that every single person does this, it can help us see that when a customer (or a spouse) gets upset at us, they’re not usually upset about what they’re griping about. There’s usually something else going on that we might not be able to see.
So if we can approach situations like these and hold back our tendency to get defensive, we can reach a resolution much faster.
Then, we’ll also be in a better mental space to figure out a way to fix the problem, like a product replacement and a discount code for the future (what I ended up doing).
When people feel heard and valued, they’re more likely to trust you. But when they don’t, things can go south for your business.
What Not To Do
Having spent most of my career focused on customer relationships, I can easily tell when a company has a very poor regard for their customers.
I recently ordered something for my wife online. It was from a brand she really likes.
I pre-ordered a product, so it was going to take a while to arrive. I was prepared for that.
But then it took longer than they said.
And then it took even longer.
And then they said they actually didn’t have any in stock. So reluctantly, I decided to go with a different, but similar product.
It arrived pretty quick, but it wasn’t quite the right size. So I asked to exchange it.
No response.
I reached out several times and heard nothing back. They ghosted me.
What Are Your Relationships Worth?
Having run a small DTC brand myself, I understand very well that these things can be costly.
But so can not having customers return.
The product this company makes is awesome. My wife loves it, and so do I.
But how can I justify spending more money with a company that gets their inventory wrong and then won’t help when I can’t even use the product I paid for?
That’s a lot of money I was willing to spend with this company that they will never receive.
Unfortunately, many people don’t realize that relationships are make or break for a business (or a family or marriage). They’re so focused on the product or the cool AI systems that they forget that the focus should be on the customer or client.
If you don’t treat them well, they’re going to walk. And they won’t come back.