If you work in the service industry, you know customer rage—that unavoidable situation when a customer vents full-force about their dissatisfaction. You do your best, but it’s virtually impossible to avoid negative customer experiences. What we can do, through good old-fashioned customer service and using the best mobile POS system and apps, is fix these issues when they arise, and it’s all about engagement. Here’s how.
Experts in customer service will tell you: the number one thing that the slighted customer wants is to be heard. To the chagrin of business owners everywhere, Yelp has practically built their business model around giving people a public forum to gratify that base desire to publicly express themselves.
Even during the holiday crunch (especially so), your team has to make sure not to forget this cardinal rule of customer service. Do your best to diffuse complaints by listening attentively and empathizing with their frustrations.
Feedback, both formal and informal, is key. Sometimes this is as simple as physically asking the customer if everything was OK. Say a customer to your restaurant had a negative experience, there was a complication with their order, for example. Brushing off the problem pushes the customer toward the Yelp app to vent their pent-up feelings. Opening up by asking about it allows them to feel heard. For some, this is enough. For others, a little more effort may be necessary…
Let’s continue the example. The customer expresses that they had a bad experience in your restaurant. You listen. You apologize. Then, you give them a slice of pie, and explain that you want them to have a good experience in your restaurant. In this simple, human gesture, which cost your restaurant the few dollars of a slice of pie, you have potentially turned a negative review into a positive review (or at least a 1-star review into a 3-star…). You may have even won back a returning customer—but most importantly, you treated a person the way valuable people should be treated. Mess-ups happen. If you have systems in place to address them, your customers will value your business for it. No matter your business, find your “slice of pie” solution and stick to it.
Giving your company the best mobile POS system out there opens up your business to new and more effective ways of relating to your customers and clients, which can effectively minimize complaints and negative reviews. Look at Poynt, which Moolah partners with to offer free Smart Terminals to those who sign up for a merchant account. Poynt opens up your business to a whole ecosystem of apps, from loyalty programs to CRM solutions, which can tear down barriers between you and your customers. The contemporary POS is not just about the sale—it extends beyond that, allowing you to relate to your customer, remember things about your customer, and stay engaged with your customer like never before.
It’s the solution to problem customers: the perfect blend of technology and common decency.