Issue Resolution and Prevention Specialists
Blog Layout
Top 6 WORST Things You Can Say to a Customer
Saying the wrong thing at the wrong moment can turn a challenging situation into a catastrophe. We've found that many teams struggle to maintain customer confidence during issue resolution. Let's examine what not to say (and why).
The 6 worst things you could say to a customer while dealing with an issue:
6) "It couldn’t be our fault"
Jumping immediately to a defensive position only causes the customer to push harder. Approach problems with an open mind - maybe the problem is on our side, maybe it's on the customer side – we're going to systematically explore the possible causes until we find the offender. You're going to need to collaborate with your customer to collect relevant evidence during your root cause investigation - don't alienate them right from the start.
5) "My supplier made the mistake, not me"
Excuses don't fly. You selected and qualified your supplier, therefore you are responsible for your supplier's performance. Managing your supply chain is your responsibility. Finger pointing is not going to help your position. The customer wants to see you taking responsibility. Note: This applies to both external suppliers (another company) and internal suppliers (your company but a different functional team, site, or department).
4) "We’re waiting for…"
The customer is in crisis due to an issue involving your product or service and your contribution is WAITING?!?! This will irritate the customer. Customers want to see proactivity. If you are in a situation where you need inputs, show the plan for how you're going to get the needed info/parts/etc. and the expected timing. "Waiting" is never a good look when there's a problem at hand.
3) "We're too busy..."
You're resource constrained. So is everyone else. This is not your customer's problem. Telling your customer you were too busy working on something else to help them will infuriate them – you're basically telling them they aren't important. That's the fastest way to get them looking for a new supplier. Instead, escalate within your organization to shift priorities or get the needed resources to address the issue with urgency.
2) "No"
If the customer has asked you to do something unfeasible, not valuable, distracting, or otherwise ill-advised, "Yes, but..." Is a much better strategy than "No." Show the customer the trade-offs involved in their request and focus attention on what you can do. "We could do [customer suggestion] but that would take resources away from [current plan] which we agreed was the best chance of success. Our recommendation is to stay the course until if and when the data suggests otherwise."
1) "Yes"
Many teams are quick to give in to customer demands and wind up over-promising. You might get out of the first meeting unscathed, but you're set up for tough times ahead when you can't deliver on commitments. The best strategy here is actually the same as for #2 above. Lay out the various options and collaborate with the customer to develop and agreed plan of action. Involving the customer in the planning helps them see what's involved in the investigation and issue resolution and tends to keep their requests reasonable.
If you've got a favorite way of communicating (perhaps by text, email, or in-person) that you use most of the time, you are undermining the effectiveness of your communication! If you've ever been frustrated that your team or manager isn't taking action on what you've told them must be done – this post & infographic is for you.
Not all modes of communication are created equal. The way you communicate should be selected based on 3 situational factors: who you're communicating with, the gravity of your message, the outcome you're trying to achieve. Choosing the the mode appropriate to your purpose will greatly enhance the impact of your messaging. Choosing the wrong mode can undermine what you're trying to accomplish by communicating.
CAEDENCE has developed a novel improvement to overcome the communication-based shortfalls in existing methods. Applicable to all structured problem-solving approaches, Visual 8D™ enables teams to execute the familiar problem-solving steps (with no additional effort), while capturing plans and progress in easy-to-follow diagrams. Visual 8D™ puts teams in the position of providing answers to management and customer questions before being asked, resulting in improved control of the situation and minimizing time wasted on extraneous actions.
Danger is lurking around every corner in a new product development / new product introduction project. Avoidable risks wind up blindsiding teams, always at the worst possible moment. Risks blow up into problems because teams misjudge their nature and origin, and lack the right tools and processes to effectively identify, assess, and mitigate them. Let CAEDENCE introduce you to a systematic approach and toolkit for managing and reducing risk in new product development and introduction
There are dozens of tools for reducing risk in new product development and introduction. We know because we've used them to successfully launch dozens of new products in highly demanding industries like automotive and aerospace. Let CAEDENCE show you a few of our favorite tools that you can use immediately to dramatically reduce the chances of disaster on your next NPD/NPI project.
Risk is inherent in new product development and introduction. Regardless of your personal risk tolerance, it's critical to understand that unmanaged risk could ruin your business. We're not saying "don't take risks". We're saying "take risks with your eyes open". Let CAEDENCE introduce you to a systematic approach and toolkit for managing and reducing risk in new product development and introduction.
Many risks in NPD & NPI are visible. New process steps that must be implemented with caution and back-up plans. Unique product features that are challenging to accomplish. But there are other risks lurking. Things that can derail your project before you even realize. A bit nervous now? You should be! But, don't worry. Let CAEDENCE introduce you to a systematic approach and toolkit for managing and reducing risk in new product development and introduction.
Successful new product development and introduction projects require carefully balancing dozens of critical parameters, any one of which could sink the ship. At the end of the day, each of those dozens of NPD/NPI success measures relates to an aspect of just 4 main stakeholder care-abouts: Launch timing, Project budget, Product margin performance, Quality / delivery (customer experience). Learn the systematic method to reduce risks in your new product developments.
CAEDENCE has decoded decades of business experience to reveal the intuition and practices of top performing teams and individuals to radically accelerate people and teams toward excellence. We know the theory, but we've also lived everything we teach and honed best practices for decades. This arms us with tons of real-world examples to engage students and clarify techniques. We often help clients out of crisis situations, but our passion is preventing crises from occurring in the first place. This means (a) establishing robust systems, (b) empowering leaders, and (c) upskilling teams.
We challenge our problem solving classes to play “20 questions” – can we guess a randomly selected word using just 20 yes/no questions? Engineers often say it’s impossible. But, 99 out of 100 times, we find the word! How? There’s no magic: what’s on display is the power of binary decision making, what we call “splitting the dictionary”. And you can apply it to all sorts of real-world problem-solving scenarios. “Splitting the dictionary” is a problem scoping technique of asking the right questions to eliminate as many incorrect possibilities as you can, thus focusing your root cause search in the right area. Effective scoping is key to efficient problem-solving. Once the problem is clearly defined, think of the root cause as a needle in a haystack. Before you start examining hay, first ask “Am I on the right farm?”, then, “Which haystack should I search?”, then “Which portion of the chosen haystack is most likely to contain the needle?” Scoping out the possibilities with a simple tool or test can radically acc
Many teams and companies struggle to get the most out of structured problem solving methodologies because they make one or more of the common mistakes shown, and they don’t even realize they’re doing it! (We’ve shown the 8D process here, but whether your company uses 8D, Six Sigma DMAIC, PDCA, A3, or another paradigm doesn’t matter.) The issue is HOW any of those methodologies are used by real teams in real time in the real world.
Copyright © 2021 - 2024 CAEDENCE Consulting LLC, All Rights Reserved.
