I have attended many training and seminar regard to handle guest complain. Most of the training provides me similar content; especially the steps of handling guest complain. I am sure, many of you can simply name me the step that was commonly share, such as listen, apologize, empathy, ownership, resolve and follow up. They are not wrong. In fact, these are the most effective way to assist a guest while in situation of complain.
However, today we will be focusing on “APOLOGIZE” & “Empathy”.
Most of the training I have attended provides me some phrase to use to express my regret and empathy; “If I was in the same situation, I will also feel uncomfortable”, “I am really sorry for the condition, and I truly understand how you feel”, and etc. I am sure, they sound very familiar.
Anyway, don’t use them, PLEASE.
One will never truly understand how one another feel, due the difference between man to man. By using words to express your empathy would not work in any scenario, particularly when guest complain. Because no guest believes you are truly sorry for your company for the things happen to them. Therefore, by saying you understand or feel how they feel, it normally will only make things worst.
“Apology”, is definitely the answer to calm a guest when in difficult situation. Though many of people do not know how to apologize to one another. “Sorry” is just a word without any meaning. Person you apologize would actually want to know the “Reason” behind your “Sorry”.
“I am sorry for the inconvenience caused by the faulty air condition in the room”, “I am sorry to know that your purchased computer did not meet your expectation”, “I am sorry for the inconvenience resulted by our return policy”, and etc. Above are some examples to perform a proper apology to your guest.
It works much better than pretending responsiveness by saying you understand how one feel in the situation given, and of course better than just “Sorry”. Most of guest knew that you are not the cause of their problem, and they were actually mad at the situation or at your company. In such case, apologize to the cause would identify your understanding to the guest feeling. It will also assist one to portrait an image that “I” stand on guest’s side in such situation.
Next time before you say sorry to someone, don’t forget to understand the cause of it and apologize to the cause. Let me know if this helps you.
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