Are we listening or are we complaining? I have discovered a blessing with unhappy customers. Some customers will never be happy. It’s who they are but some unhappy customers present opportunities for innovation and creation.
While working on a project, I had a unique opportunity to work with a customer group that is never happy. “They’re very difficult and it’s always something.” That group, outside of the project, I happened to be affiliated with that group.
I began to wonder about our perceptions of being unhappy. Do we simply choose to be unhappy? While giving my presentation that was failing miserably, I recognized why the customers were unhappy and agreed that their grievances were valid. I was required to answer in a way that was not apologetic. That’s very difficult when you do understand where they are coming from.
Conversely, we can choose to listen or we can complain about their complaining. Round and round we go as we all peruse through the media articles that are designed to promote a sense of helplessness with the negative points they all desire to highlight. Are they concerns? Of course they are, otherwise, the media wouldn’t be capitalizing on that subject for an opportunity to spin our emotions out of control. On and on it goes as we focus on the problem instead of focusing on the goal.
We lose sight and direction when our attitude embraces the sense of hopelessness because as our customers complain as we respond to those trouble tickets to find the resolution to try to make their complaints go away.
What I see with unhappy customers is the opportunity to shine with a team collaboration that can accomplish amazing things with lessons that have been learned. How can we make this better? Can 8+5 reach the answer of 10? Yes, it can. The question is how and are we willing to think out of the box of what we think the path really is to get to the goal of the answer of 10?
