This week’s Quick List* is written in support and celebration of Mistake Management Month.

Whether you and your colleagues work in a call center or an airplane or what – I’m sure you have had to deal with an angry customer or two.  Hopefully, your products, services and systems are so good that you don’t get a lot of practice at it.    The bad side of that is that you don’t get a lot of practice at it.

As you might have read in my commentary on the Quote of the Week, I was first taught that the customer was always right but I soon decided that was wrong.    I decided, “The customer is NOT always right, but the customer is ALWAYS the customer.”

This approach was far better for productivity, morale and overall business performance.  It allowed us to take care of our business while still being respectful to the customer.    And if a time came that we couldn’t do both of those things, we learned the value and importance of letting a customer go.

While our customer-is-not-always-right-but-always-the-customer approach made it easier for most of our reps to work with angry customers, it didn’t help everyone on every day with every customer.    There was a process we followed.  Maybe I’ll share that process another day, but an overview of it was:  “Just listen.  And then your goal is to make him or her smile before the conversation is over.”     In order to do that, a mind shift is often needed…one that makes it possible to hear customers in a different way.  It’s amazing how resolutions change when the customer feels heard.

Here are 10 quotes, thoughts and stories that often help people make that shift.  But remember!  That shift is usually not a one-and-done deal.    Busy-ness, exhaustion, stress – can often kick us out of gear.  Hmm…maybe that’s what’s going on for that angry customer.

10 Reminders About ANGRY Customers

1. The customer may not always be right, but the customer is always the customer (and he contributes to your paycheck).
2. It’s not about you.
3. Remember the man on the subway.
4. “Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.”  Anonymous
5. “Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says ‘Make Me Feel Important”.   Mary Kay Ash
6. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”   Eleanor Roosevelt
7. “No one has a finer command of language than the person who keeps his mouth shut.”  Sam Rayburn
8. “Your temper is one of your most valuable possessions.  Don’t lose it.”  Source Unknown
9. “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”  Mahatma Gandhi
10. Go ahead.  Make their day. Like Antwon does.  See story #1 in Don’t You Love It?

Do you have any to add?   Please send them to us via the Comments section below.

Meanwhile, feel free to share these with others.   Not just once…blend them into your every day.

• Post them on computer screens, on bulletin boards,  etc.  (PDF file)
• Talk about them at staff meetings.
• Ask team members to share stories about how they put these thoughts to work.
• Ask team members to talk about the things that try their patience.
• Give them a way to call “time out”.
• Give them a place to escape when they’ve “had it”.   Make sure it’s safe and legal (not an inflatable escape chute)!
• Cheer for anyone who stays calm and listens to an angry customer who ends up smiling by the end of the conversation.
• Let them know that’s the sign of a master at work.
• Be sure to write and tell me about it!

copyright 2010 – Business Class Inc



Jan is a coach, teacher, speaker and author who is passionate about performance management and corporate culture.

Her coaching specialty is working with women in leadership to take charge more effectively, make things happen and inspire others to do the same.

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Here’s a PDF of 10 Reminders About ANGRY Customers.

We also have four of the above quotes in our Quote Library read to use as wallpaper for your computer.  See instructions below.  PDF of each quote is also available in Quote Library.

Post the above quote as wallpaper for your computer screen in 3 easy steps:

1. Click on the image above.
2. Right click on the image that appears.
3. On the pull down menu that appears, select “Set as desktop background”.

*Note:  10 by 10 on Tuesday (also know as a Quick List) is a weekly feature is for managers who don’t have time or don’t want to make time to read lengthy articles or even short paragraphs.    Here you will find 10 tips or questions or steps or ways to Get 2 Goal or Be a Better Manager, etc).  And it will be posted by 10 (AM – EST) on Tuesdays.   Here’s our collection of Quick Lists to date.

Other Recent Articles on Mistake Management:

• Theme for the Month:  Mistake Management
• Quote of the Week:  On Mistakes & Discovery
• 10+ Benefits of Masterful Mistake Management
• They Turned Lemons into Lemonade
• They Beat the Heat and Turned Lemons into Lemonade
• Yes! We Celebrate Mistakes!
• Action Action We Want Action
• Brainteaser of the Week #45
• Making Things Right at UNC
• Movie of the Week:  The Lemonade Stand

• Quote of the Week:  It’s Not Our Fault
• 10 “Mistakes” to Maximize
• Hooray for Viking Travel
• Hooray for Zane’s Cycles
• Brainteaser of the Week #46
• Satisfy your customers unless it’s hard
• Hooray for Sugarland
• Movie of the Week:  Do you have a Delores?

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