Why You Shouldn’t Turn Angry People Into Your Biggest Fans
One of my super powers is turning any angry customer into a raving fan.
The only trouble is that sometimes it’s quick and sometimes it takes all day.
An important realization about this:
There’s the 5% of people who won’t be happy no matter what.Maybe it’s more, maybe it’s a little less—that’s not the point. The point is that no matter what you do, a small percentage will always complain, ask for a refund, or just won’t be soothed.There’s a name for them.
They're called haters.
Trying to make them happy is futile.
Then there’s everyone else.
They could be split up into the groups of “people who just want their money back,” or “people who just want a manager to hear them out,” or “people who are trying to game the system so they can get free stuff.”
There are a lot of people in this category and it’s up to you to decide who to spend your time on.
And that’s the lesson.Are you going to make a customer for life with your effort to transform them? Will empathizing and listening and collecting their feedback make them feel heard enough to give you a second chance?If the answer is “they’re going to be unhappy no matter what,” then it’s probably time to bail.
2 Minute Action
Whats something that’s taking up 80% of your time right now?Now is a good time to prioritize fixing that.Make a call, make a list, send an email, whatever you need to do to start fixing that.Its usually the bottom 20% of your tasks that take up 80% of the time required to complete it.
This Prestigious Award That No One Knows About
Have you ever heard of the Gold Award?
The Gold Award is the highest achievement within the Girl Scouts of the USA, and it’s only earned by Senior and Ambassador Girl Scouts.
Only 5.4% of eligible Girl Scouts successfully earn the Gold Award.
It’s not easy.
But who knows that?
If you had a “Jesse” with a “Gold Award” on their resume and then you also had another “Jesse” but they had “Eagle Scout” on their resume . . . who would you hire if you had to choose?It’s simple.
This problem is two-fold.
Its . . .1) a branding/marketing problem and2) a straight up sexism problem.
There are things you can control right now and there are things you can’t.
The marketing part of the problem is solvable relatively quickly.The other one will take multiple generations to eradicate.
2 Minute Action
Here’s a framework I learned from a mentor last year and I use it all the time:CAPACorrective Action (what will I do right now to make this better?)Preventative Acrion (how will I stop this from happening again?)For the Girl Scouts it’s straightforward.Take 2 minutes to look at a problem with CAPA today.It should NOT take more than 2 minutes to run through this exercise.If it takes more than 2 minutes you may need a consultant or expert.
This App You’re Using Is No Better Than CDROM
Have you seen this one in every hotel?
Control this TV with your phone
The benefit of the app can’t be that it replaces the remote. The remote works just fine. Why do we need to replace it?
If we’re going to build an app, it should be doing more than the remote. It should beat the remote.
The magic of an app can’t be that the same capabilities of the remote are now on a shiny screen!
We already went through that!
That was CDROM in the 90s!
How is that better?
A lot of resources go into technology products and if we’re developing with a lean mindset, this product really needs to justify why it exists.
That product really needs to justify why it took so many developer hours and venture capital.
There are a few times it’s okay to invest in something to achieve “feature parity.”
Feature parity just means that the new thing has the same capabilities or features as the old version.
This can be okay but only under certain conditions, like when it enables you to build more or better future features at less cost or more stability or by using less computer processing hours.
That’s an investment. That’s justified.
Having a lean mindset means that tasks, features, and innovations are all fighting for their lives to stay on your task list.
2 Minute Action
You have a list of things to do?
Great.
Spend 2 minutes right now, going top to bottom.
Everything must fight for its life to stay on the list.
Good questions to ask:
What might happen if I put this off?
What might happen if I never finish this?