The customer complaint about her product being burned yelling from across the room and requested a refund. Rather then going over to the customer to listen and talk with the customer my assistant yelled back to the customer asking if she wanted the order remade. I don't want to bore you, but needless to say the situation escalated and the customer became upset.
Today is Tuesday and I am still dealing with this situation and now my supervisor is involved and the corporate side of the company will most likely also become involved.
How could this have been prevented? First I would advice to plan the shift ahead of time, which means thinking about who works which position. As a manager you should always be in a position to step away so if you must handle a customer complaint or other problem the store still operates. You are the director and must have a vantage point to notice what needs to be done.
A good manager is able to notice problems and change with each shift in business.
When complaints do occur the best thing is to listen to the customer and hear them. Most of the time a customer wants to be heard. The next step would be to acknowledge the problem and apologize. After that is a good time to solve the problem and thank the customer for bringing it to your attention. With each failed attempt at recovering an unsatisfied customer make sure to revisit the events and note what could have been done different, it's trial and error that will lead you to great customer service. My last piece of advice - Don't take things personal
