Open, Regular, Honest Communication Key to Customer Relationships

Yesterday President George W. Bush held his final press conference of his presidency. It was his 47th conference in eight years. That’s about one opportunity to communicate his message every OTHER month.

In contrast, the President Elect, Barack Obama has held 16 press meetings since being elected November 4, 2008. That’s about one every four DAYS!

Times are tough. Questions from the audience are challenging. The news isn’t good.

Our natural instinct, when the news is bad, is to avoid confrontation, ignore the situation or hope someone else will take the heat. Whether the audience is the American population or one single customer – the surest way to build a relationship is to communicate early, honestly and on a regular basis.

Even when you don’t have all the answers.

I started with Pearle Vision as a store manager.  We sold and made the glasses.  Some prescriptions were easy to make and some were more challenging.  At the time of the sale we would give a time or date when the glasses would be ready and invited the customer to return for their custom-made glasses.

On occasion, there would be a problem with the glasses – the frame wasn’t available, the lens broke in the edger or the completed product didn’t pass the final inspection; any of these occurrences would cause a delay in the product delivery.

As a new manager, I soon learned that some of the employees failed to notify the customer in the case of the delay.  I don’t know if they hoped the customer would forget about the due date or if they feared a confrontational discussion but for whatever the reason – they failed to communicate to the customer.

I quickly changed that process. 

Building customer relationships requires open and honest communication – ESPECIALLY when the news isn’t good.  Customers are willing to understand and forgive if we keep them in the loop.  So when it comes to communicating with customers:

• Share the information available
• If you don’t have the answers – be honest and then let them know how you are going about getting the information
• If you’ve made a promise (deadline or product) that you discover you can’t keep – call immediately to let the customer know
• Set realistic expectations.  Customer would rather know the truth than to be told what you think they want to hear.
• Under promise and over deliver
• If customers are left to guess – they will think the worst so keep them regularly informed

Regardless of your political viewpoint – hopefully you can respect Obama’s desire to keep us informed rather than in the dark.  Follow his example and keep your customers informed.