Have you ever taken “NO” as a customer? It is painful, right? When you don’t get what you asked for, the conversation leaves a bitter taste even though the person offers an apology. However, you might still stick with the brand depending on the way you are being treated. Here in this post, I am sharing my experience on how to handle objections without hurting the sentiments of the customers

Loyal customers are valuable to any business. Most companies might not have what the customer have requested for. A simple plain “No” would turn off the customer excitement and may lead to disowning the brand. At the same time, accepting all requirements from the customers might deviate the brand for its vision. So, agents who handle the customers should be trained to handle the situation without committing false promises.

I have shared a few steps which I follow to ensure that customer leaves with a positive note after the discussion.

Acknowledge

When the customer comes with his requirement, be graceful and appreciate them for bringing it to your business notice. This simple gesture would build an initial connect and trust. But, let your response not sound scripted. Be genuine in your reply.

Empathize

You have to show some gratitude to the customer which is one of the most important things in the customer service and customer success field. When you use a sentence like “I do understand why you need the feature” that will show the customer that your company is not degrading or criticizing them for asking a certain feature.

Reiterate

This is something many of the agents failed to do so in the conversation. Reiterating the details and why it is important to the customer will give them a sense of relief. It guarantees that someone had not only listened but understood what has been requested by them.

Be Direct

Here come the difficult part. When the requested feature or item is not in store, be direct in informing that it is not available. False promises or excuse is a strict No-No. Be honest on why you are saying no to them. Only then the customers would understand the reason on why it is not available. Or else, they will get easily frustrated and a bad impression is stamped against your business.  

Workaround

Workaround works. When you can’t help the customer as per their request you can offer them the alternate option recommended by your company. If that, works for the customer you can buy sometime until the actual feature is made available provided your org accepts it.

When the requirement doesn’t align with business vision, I have recommended a few other companies that can be of help to them.By doing so customers feel good that you are taking care of their needs. Maybe you lost one customer now but you gained a good or positive relationship with them. Also, you have avoided the negative review from them.

Notify Business

Requirement or features requested by customers should be documented in central repository. So, organization should set policies and provide tools that can help them collect the data. When the demand is high, there are possibility that it may become a part of the product soon or it might pave way for new opportunity. Let the customer knew that this has been updated in the system which gives some kind of assurance that business listens to customer needs.

Follow-through

Once you recommend the customer a workaround or referred them to another company, don’t wash-off your hands. Follow up with them once in a while about how things are work now. This would make the customers think that you still care more about them.So don’t think that you lost their business but focus on the relationship which would take boost the brand value.

Objection handling is an art. Presales engineer, Product consultant and customer service manager should master this art as they are the ones who come across such situations frequently. Package your “No” in such a way that the news is taken positively. And, don’t drop the ball as soon as conversation is over. Keep them in the loop. Stay in touch with them through social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. so that you can share the content, blog post, articles that are useful to them. Build relationship and grow your brand.

More about objection handling in this link