Beware of the “The silent complainer..”

I cannot claim this phrase as my own. I wish I could give proper credit but I have since forgotten who coined the phrase.  It always rings in my head. In business and in personal life. The “silent complainer” will knock you upside the head and you won’t know what hit you.

What is a “silent complainer”(SC) you ask? The SC is someone who receives unsatisfactory service or a poor quality product and gives little to no indication. Unhappy with a smile. The great nice customer who accepted the little mistakes you made then one day quit using you. THEY NEVER SAID A WORD!!! There are those that truly are nice customers and understand mistakes happen. There are also those that scream at the littlest thing. And there are those that just leave.

How to identify them. The first step in knowing how to identify the SC is to know your product and what customers expect of your company. Knowing when your product is not perfect is the point when the hairs on the back of your neck should stand up. The customer knows something was not correct. The classic SC response is “ Don’t worry about that.. its ok.. thanks for trying” if they say anything at all. The truth is that if you are dealing with a SC it is not OK!

How to recover in 4 steps.

First, identify. Second, evaluate. Third, explain. Fourth, compensate

Identifying the problem is not always easy. Make sure everyone in your company knows what is expected and have a plan to transmit that information upwards to the correct manager.  Second, evaluate the customer and situation then make your determination of what actions to take. Go into the situation with a plan, the facts and the ability to be flexible.  Customers want to know that you realize you made the mistake. Third, explain to the customer what happened and the changes you will take to correct the situation. Let the customer know that you can fix mistakes and reassure them that the changes will prevent the error in the future.  Finally, provide a benefit to the customer for their inconvenience that will encourage their return.  Take positive and deliberate actions. Some business owners like to give a free service the next time they return. Some might say to give a discount on the current service. A combination of both I think is best. The severity of the situation would also determine the gravity of the reaction.

Recently I had a situation that is classic. I was dealing with a new customer who requested a complete detail job on a GIV, including bright work, wash, interior and carpet cleaning. I received notice of the order at 7am to be completed the same day. For us this is not a problem. Usually… We were delayed getting on site due to a couple of other jobs. We had a misunderstanding about the availability of the hangar we were using. And our attempt to impress the new customer caused us to over extend ourselves taking into account the morning schedule. When all was said and done the workmanship was outstanding. However, we got the Director of Maintenance in hot water with the owner of the hangar.  The customer gave the typical SC responses. “Don’t worry about it… I felt bad for the hangar manager “

What did we do….Identify: That was easy. My phone was ringing off the hook. Evaluate: Important new customer with multiple people inconvenienced. I immediately called my crew collecting facts while I was enroute to the site. Explain: I had an answer for the customer the next morning as it was late at night when the situation was resolved. I informed the customer that we had an error in how the crew was dispatched and the miscommunication about the hangar. We changed procedures that with any new customer we will have detailed discussions about normal parking locations, hangar facilities and off hours operations. Finally, we compensated the customer by not charging for the carpet cleaning and giving them a free wash and bright work maintenance cleaning the next time the aircraft is in need. Additionally, I sent a crew of 4 the next morning to wash the hangar and the car of the hangar manager. We informed the hangar manager it was our misunderstanding in an attempt to repair hard feelings toward the DM. I am still working on the recovery.. I will have to let you know how it turns out.

Side Note..  Is that customer worthwhile?

Is this a silly question? Are not all customers important in this economic environment? I say no. There are some customers that will never be happy. Time is a limited resource and should be directed to the 80% of the people that will react positively to your effort. Evaluate the customer. Is it you or are they a problem customer for other was well. Do the research. We had a customer who spent little money with us, always tried to get things free and always gave the SC classic responses.  I was dedicated to the customer and was working on education the customer about saving money in the long run by spending more money on a regular basis and avoid the large services all together. This customer had a major occurrence that damaged the image of his aircraft. I explained the process of recovering the image and how it would require multiple steps. We completed the first step and received the typical silent complainer rhetoric. The customer wanted something for free. I chose not to pursue this customer further.

Jerry Gemma

Pro Guard Aircraft Detailing

President

Boing 767-757 type rated.

10,000 hours flying.

A&P

MBA