Things break, problems crop up and employees have bad days. Everyone makes mistakes but it’s how you deal with these mistakes that keeps customers coming back. A good recovery can turn angry, frustrated customers into loyal ones.

With the viral nature of the Internet, and this new age of social media, customers can broadcast their opinions to thousands of people online in a very short span of time. There’s a title of a book that goes, “Satisfied customers tell three friends, angry customer tells 3,000”.

These days, what happens when a customer is dissatisfied or unhappy with a move?

He or she might most probably rant on social media; on their personal Facebook pages, Tweet about it or post reviews on generic business review sites such as Yelp, Angie’s List, Google+, to name a few. By the time you find out about the negative review (if you even hear about it), it’s usually weeks late and you might have already received some negative publicity as a result. Some of these review sites also leaves the customer with the last say and you can’t post your comments to defend yourself.

Do you know what your customers are saying about you?

You can’t respond to conversations you don’t see or don’t know about. So for starters, invite your customers to review your services on a neutral third party platform which allows you to post a management response. Give them clear instructions on how to leave reviews and tell them to be honest.

Customers who raise concerns will still find an outlet to complain, even if they don’t post it online. If the review is published where you can see it, at least you have the opportunity to address the customers’ concerns and respond publicly.

Always listen to the message and try to ignore the tone in which it was communicated. People are sometimes rude if they are dissatisfied with a situation. Instead of looking at angry frustrated customers as critics, start seeing them as frustrated fans that may have some worthwhile ideas.

And if you respond positively with empathy and transparency, the situation can usually be reversed.

E + R = O

Instead of treating them like the problem, see them as an opportunity. Jack Canfield, author of Chicken Soup for the Soul series, talks about E + R = O. E being the events that are beyond your control, R being your response that you can control and O the outcome. When you focus on the R (response), you will have an amazing power over the outcome.

Handled correctly, a negative comment is a great opportunity to draw attention to your business’s many positive qualities. You can turn the comment around by highlighting your strengths.

For e.g , “I’m sorry you had a bad experience. We’ve been in business for over 30 years, we manage hundreds of relocations a year, and we strive to create the best possible moving experience for all our customers.”

Responses are a great way to frame your story while still making the person feel heard and acknowledged. “Never be defensive, even if a customer is clearly incorrect. Online, the customer is always right,” said Shama Kabani, author of The Zen of Social Media Marketing, “even when they’re wrong.”

In most cases, if your customer is taking the time to give you negative feedback, it is because they believe the problem is something you can fix.

Act quickly

When you receive negative comments from an angry customer, time is of the essence and it is extremely important that you determine if it’s worth a response and act quickly.

It is critical that you use your interactions with your unhappy customers as an opportunity to turn them around. Unresolved complaints tend to escalate and the louder an online conversation gets the more negative publicity it attracts.

When you treat a tough customer well, you allow them to become vocal advocates that will spread the good word about your company.

Customer conversion depends on the right customer conversation.

Own it and offer a real apology

Every call or message on social media matters, and the way you handle the conversation from the very beginning can go a long way towards diffusing the situation.

Taking responsibility and apologizing is a simple step and can make customers feel better. Make sure the reply is real, sincere and human. It would be wise not to use pre-written templates in such situations.

Think of every negative review as an opportunity to earn your customer’s business all over again, and you just might.

Don’t sweat the negative reviews

A few negative reviews will actually lead people to place more trust in the positive reviews. People expect to see a mix of good and bad and are suspicious if they don’t.

One negative review on its own can be damaging, however, one negative review amongst many other positive ones won’t have much impact at all. It helps keep things authentic and gives your good reviews a ring of truth. Building an arsenal of positive reviews is the best way to neutralize any effects from less than stellar feedback.

So how does this work for the Relocations Industry?

We’d like to introduce MoveAide; a cloud based social media platform and customer feedback system designed specifically for the moving and relocations industry.

With MoveAide, we’re putting the control back in your hands. We’re providing you with a platform where you can build your arsenal of reviews so that anyone who’s moving can read all about you.

All your reviews (good and bad) are published on our neutral platform. Unlike some generic public review sites where you can’t post a management comment, you have the option of responding to each and every single published review with MoveAide.com.

You can make a difference by simply engaging the customer, showing that you care enough to listen and are willing to help. This will also build your brand reputation online and it’s the perfect way to kick-start a social media or word of mouth marketing campaign.

To get started, all you need is a computer with an Internet connection. MoveAide is cloud based and it’s really easy for your customers to post their reviews on your services. With powerful real time analytics to help you measure service quality, quick snapshots of your team’s performance is now available at your fingertips, 24/7, 365 days a year. It really can’t get any easier than this

By truly listening to your unhappy customers you can generate the most pleasant outcome possible. Better yet, you can turn an experience with an unhappy customer into an opportunity to drive profitable change and growth for your business. You now know every complaint is your opportunity to minimize future negative publicity and convert an unhappy customer into a devoted and loyal fan who will spread the word about your superior service.

So the next time you have an unhappy customer on your hands, you can smile and say warmly, “Thank you for reaching out,” and mean it.

Interested to find out more about how you can turn unhappy customers into a valuable online resource? Reach out to us at info@moveaide.com