Dealing with unhappy clients

For a Realtor®, the most important thing to understand is the lifetime value of a customer, advises Ron Kaufman, founder and chairman of Up! Your Service.

A satisfied client will continue to use you for future buying and selling purposes, and more importantly refer you to family, friends and coworkers.

However, as we all know, sometimes an unhappy client is unavoidable. Kaufman offers some tips when dealing with an unhappy customer.

If an unhappy client comes to you and explains their dissatisfaction, you are given a gift, said Kaufman.

“Unhappy customers can ignore you, tell everyone else and go viral online and possibly damage your reputation on any form of social media. The damage that someone can create to your reputation is enormous,” he said.

However, if they come directly to you, you are given a chance to respond. “You should take this as an opportunity. They want to continue to do business with you,” he said.

1. Check your attitude at door. An unhappy client will most likely be emotional and upset. It’s important for you to not become emotional as well and to start an argument.
2. Make complaining customer feel right about they value. “Everyone who complains to you is complaining because there is something they value they didn’t get. If they complain about how slow you are, they value speed. If they claim they weren’t informed quickly enough, they value timely information. You have to do the work to figure out what is it that they actually value so you can agree with them on the importance on what they value not necessarily present,” he said.
3. Fix the problem. Do what you can to please your client to the best of your abilities.
4. Show your concern. Let the customer know you genuinely and sincerely are sorry.
5. Do something extra. It doesn’t have to be big, said Kaufman. Do something surprising, a little touch to let the client you care and appreciate their business. Send them a bottle of wine, flowers or just give an extra follow-up call to check in.

Later this week, Kaufman will offer tips on dealing with unhappy clients who, instead of coming to you directly, have elected to go to social media with complaints.

Ron Kaufman is the founder and chairman of UP! Your Service. You can download the first chapter of his book Uplifting Service for free at www.UpYourService.com.