Transcription
This is Unchained CEO. We talk about how to set up your own location-independent business that sets you free from your 9-to-5 job and your collapsing Western country. And today, I'm going to talk about how to handle upset customers. If you ever get any.
Now, here's the good news. If you follow the models we talk about here at Unchained CEO, where you're going to start a B2B business and you're going to sell to other businesses, disgruntled upset customers is going to be extremely rare for you, if ever. When you sell B2C, different story. People are [ __ ] you're going to have problems over there. A percentage of your customers is always going to whine and [ __ ] because that's how people are. But when you sell to companies, having a real problem where a customer is really upset, legitimately, or even not legitimately, very rare.
Um in my consulting practice, I've been a consultant for almost 30 years, and I can count, I mean, maybe two two or three times, and I've worked with bazillions of companies, did I have upset customers. And 100% of those times, we turned it around in like a day or two. It wasn't a big deal. So, in a B2B environment, not B2C, cuz you shouldn't be doing a B2C business for your first business, but in a B2B business, this is how you handle upset customers.
First is if you screwed up or if someone in your team screwed up, cuz that happens, you immediately apologize. You assume blame. Hey, I'm really sorry. You're right. We screwed this up. And then you tell them how you're going to fix the problem of whatever they're upset about. And you give them a specific plan with specific dates. Hey, by tomorrow at 4:00 p.m., we will da da da da da da da da da da da da. Or I will da da da da da da da da da da da da. You don't just say I'm sorry, and we'll work this out, and we'll figure this out. No. You give them a You say, I'm sorry, And you give them a specific battle plan for what you're going to do to rectify whatever they're complaining about by a certain day and a certain time, whatever is reasonable. You may not be able to fix it in one day. It might take you a week. Fine, whatever is reasonable. And I'm telling you, in a B2B environment, 95% of the time people go, "Okay. Oh, great. That's great. That's great. Thank you." And they're good, and they're off to the next thing. They're busy. They don't want to dick with you. What about the 5% are still mad? Cover that in a second.
So, that's the first thing. Uh the second thing is, should I offer a refund? Well, it depends. If you're doing a consulting or service-based business, like we teach, then the answer is no, not really, because you already spent time doing their thing. Now, the only time that a customer a B2B B2B customer is valid in requesting a refund, B2B now, not B2C. B2B customer is that you [snorts] didn't do what you promised you would do. So, if you did what you promised you would do, and they're upset about something, and they want a refund, no. Sorry, that's the way it goes. Now, if you didn't do what you promised you would do, well, then yes, you absolutely owe them some money. Or better scenario is, "Hey, again, I apologize. My fault. I will get X, Y, and Z done by this date and time." And see if they go for that. And again, usually they will. Sometimes they won't. Rarely they won't, but usually they will. So, specific battle plan again on how to resolve the problem. Cool? Cool. Okay. So, other than that, no refunds. So, that's how this works, unless you literally didn't do what you promised. That's different. But that is very unlikely. Are you going to make a bunch of promises and not do them? Probably not. That's probably not the scenario.
Now, so that brings up the topic of that remaining 5%. What if you get a legitimately psychotic customer who is mad for no reason, and you did nothing wrong, and you try to fix it, and they're still screaming their heads off? What do you do? Now, first of all, this is not quite, but almost a 2% rule scenario. This is extremely rare. Um this is almost unheard of in a B2B environment. B2C different story. But in B2B environment, this is, you know, you should So, what I'm saying here on that is don't worry about that and don't plan on that happening. What if I get a completely psychotic customer who just screams and yells, wants their money back, even though I did everything I promised, and everything's fine, and they're just insane. What do you do? What if that happens? You end the relationship. That's what you do. You say, "Hey, um looks like this isn't a good fit. I've done my best. Uh I apologize if you feel bad. Let's just end the relationship on good terms. Um I can refer some other people to you who may be able to help you. Maybe you'll have better luck with them if you'd like. If you don't want that, then that's fine." But the point is, when you deal with psychopaths, this is B2B or B2C, you end the relationship and you move on. And you end it as quickly as you can, as politely as you can, and as professionally as you can. That's it. You just And you just move on. But you end it amicably. You either say this on the phone, or in a voicemail, or in an email, or text, or any communicating. "Hey, um I've done my best. Um I'm happy to And you can also throw in there, "I'm happy to do X, Y, and Z." But if they're truly psychopaths, you don't want to deal with psychopaths. You can't You can't fix a psychopath. You can't do that. Or someone who's It's a collapsing Western world, right? You have people who are on prescription drugs that make them insane. This happens in the work world all the time. Not all the time, but in these scenarios, it's possible. So, you just need to end the relationship. And you do it as amicably as you possibly can without having to give refunds. Now, if they threaten to sue you or something, then maybe you'll have to. Or maybe you have to give them a partial refund. Again, extremely I have never had to in my B2B life had to refund someone money cuz they got mad for some psychotic reason. I've never had to do this in my life. And I've been doing this for 30 years.
Okay, so again, don't worry about those scenarios. I'm telling you 95 to 99 to 100% of the time you have disgruntled customers in a B2B environment, if you tell them what you're going to do by a date and time you're going to do it, and you then you do it, they're going to be fine. They don't care. Here is a secret is that people who work with you in a B2B environment want to continue to work with you. It is a pain in the ass for people to switch vendors or fire vendors. It is. People generally don't want to do it. That includes me. I don't like switching vendors. It's a pain in my ass. It takes time. I'd rather just deal with what I got. So, they are when they're upset with you or complaining, they're hoping that you will fix it so they can keep working with you. Just assume that frame because it's usually the case. So, this is not a big deal. And some of your closest B2B relationships will be people who maybe complained a long time ago and you fixed the complaint and they go, "Wow, this is great. Wow, this is" Sometimes they're super impressed because most people in the business world when they get complaints they go, "Yeah, yeah, we'll fix it." Nothing ever happens. Right? Right. So, don't make this a big deal. Do exactly what I said. You will virtually never or probably literally never have a problem.