By Jeffrey Gitomer – King of Sales
How do you apologize to a customer?
When your company makes an error, or a customer is in some way offended, and an apology is in order, all kinds of options are available. Most of which only make a bad situation worse.
How do you respond when something goes wrong? How does your customer service department respond when something goes wrong? I am amazed at the billions of dollars spent on customer service training, only to breed pathetic responses that further alienates, and deepens the wound that bleeds from the wallet of a customer.
When it’s your turn to apologize for your customer’s perceived error, company wrong doing, or misdeed, here are the options:
1. Saying, “I’m sorry.” The most often used phrase. “I’m sorry” are two of the worst words you can use in the English language. They describe yourself and not your circumstance. If I had my way, I would abolish these two words from ever being used again. I’m sorry is a state of being. If you say it enough, eventually you’ll become it. A more appropriate response is…
2. Saying, “I apologize.” This is a better choice of words. It tells how you feel about the circumstance. You apologize for the occurrence. Caution: Many people say, “On behalf of… let me apologize.” This is insincere and wrong. If you’re going to apologize to someone, apologize on behalf of the most important person in the world…you. BUT I apologize by itself is weak unless accompanied by a solution (never an excuse).
3. Giving some lame excuse. No one cares about your problems or your excuses.