About 25 years ago I worked in retail as a service tech for a flooring store-I could fix floors but not angry customers so a guy sat me down and laid this out-
- Do not defend the problem, beat around the bush or make any excuses whatsoever- go look at it right away. Time may heal wounds but it won’t caulk anything.
- When you arrive thank them for having you out and let them show you and describe in their words what their concerns are. If you are an industry professional you will see a number of things that may catch your trained eye but that may not even be close to being their concern- You can quickly compound your problems if you start pointing things out.
- Relax. If you get uptight they escalate. Remember one rule -IT IS NO BIG DEAL. Even if the guys burned down their house, we have insurance. Do not help people magnify things- it doesn’t help at all. Also never be dismissive or ridicule their concern - show class.
- learn to say repair, correct or adjust. Once you say “replace” you have sank your boat - when you leave you will think of 20 ideal solutions but anything you do will be viewed as an effort to avoid the more costly repair that you deemed was unfixable.
I was amazed at how well this approach worked and still use it today
At the same time, I don’t let people bully or run over me, about once a year I will tell somebody “ this is ridiculous, what you are are trying to do is wrong” if they are on the take, basically trying to get something out of us for the wrong reason.
- Do not defend the problem, beat around the bush or make any excuses whatsoever- go look at it right away. Time may heal wounds but it won’t caulk anything.
- When you arrive thank them for having you out and let them show you and describe in their words what their concerns are. If you are an industry professional you will see a number of things that may catch your trained eye but that may not even be close to being their concern- You can quickly compound your problems if you start pointing things out.
- Relax. If you get uptight they escalate. Remember one rule -IT IS NO BIG DEAL. Even if the guys burned down their house, we have insurance. Do not help people magnify things- it doesn’t help at all. Also never be dismissive or ridicule their concern - show class.
- learn to say repair, correct or adjust. Once you say “replace” you have sank your boat - when you leave you will think of 20 ideal solutions but anything you do will be viewed as an effort to avoid the more costly repair that you deemed was unfixable.
I was amazed at how well this approach worked and still use it today
At the same time, I don’t let people bully or run over me, about once a year I will tell somebody “ this is ridiculous, what you are are trying to do is wrong” if they are on the take, basically trying to get something out of us for the wrong reason.
