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Your business-to-business and business-to-client relationships can sometimes be as intimate and intense as a marriage. Your successes have a big impact on your clients, business partners and affiliates. And not surprisingly, your failures and mistakes affect your working relationships, as well.
If your business has somehow failed in its ability to provide adequate goods and services to its clients, it’s important that you address the problem as quickly and calmly as possible. For example, say you are a wholesale supplier of table linens to restaurants, and one of your regular customers is irate because his most recent shipment of linen napkins has been falling apart and fraying. He’s threatening to take his business elsewhere and expects you to resolve the problem immediately. What should you do?
First, it’s important to let the client know how important his or her business is to you. Offer possible solutions to the problem. In the above example, for instance, you could offer to collect the sub par napkins and replace them with a higher quality set. Or, you could offer to partially or fully refund the cost of the napkins. But keep in mind that what the client REALLY wants is for his immediate needs (high quality table napkins for his business that day) to be met. Consider the client’s needs when offering solutions to their business crisis.
Alternately, if you are unhappy with the quality of service or goods provided by one of your vendors, there are several ways of deciding how to proceed with (or end) the relationship. How is the vendor handling the problem? What kind of attitude do they have about your issue? Are they taking your problem seriously? Are they condescending or dismissive of the problem?
If everything possible to resolve the issue has been done, then it’s important that you separate your emotional response from the rational reality of the situation. While annoyance and aggravation are natural responses, they may not help you solve your problem. Keep in mind that your number one priority should be to resolve the problem; you may choose to fire the vendor later on, but in the short term, resolving your crisis is more important. Using abusive language or tones may, in fact, hurt your cause; just as an irate waitress may spit in your food if you’re obnoxious, incensed vendors may slow your service in the future. Sometimes mistakes are unavoidable, but it’s what you do to resolve conflicts that will be the true measure of your success. |
