Handling Negative Customer Experiences

Welcome to Pelby biz podcast. I'm Dr. Kelly Alhui. I have grown and established brick and mortar practice in Northern Virginia called Ortho Pelvic Physical Therapy and also founded Pelvibiz, which is an online business consulting company that helps healthcare providers make more money and be healthy while doing it, especially in the pelvic health realm. So let's get into today's episode.

Today I want to talk about how to handle a negative review and make someone into a raving fan of your company. So, you know, most people, you know, maybe they have a customer complain or maybe they get a bad review written, or maybe someone is just unsatisfied and either the manager or the admin or you yourself have to handle the situation. So, so how are you going to truly handle the situation? So, number one, you want to approach the customer like they are your best friend, not an actual just number kind of customer. You, before anything, you have to 100% make them feel heard, no matter what you think, no matter what your staff thinks, no matter what. So if they're like, let me give you an example. If they're like saying like, therapist was late to the appointment and now I don't have my 10 minutes and I'm so mad because I just drove 50 minutes to get here and you guys cut into my appointment because you're not running on time. And then what you have to do as the manager, owner, whoever, you have to be like 100% hear you. I 100% would be mad too, because I understand that that cuts into your time and that time is super precious because you just Dr. 50 minutes to get here and you want that time to truly help solve your problem. So 100%, that is on us and we take full responsibility. That is getting the customer and you on the same playing field. If you go right into like, well, we were late because, you know, we ran over with this other person and like, we had to look at your chart notes and we had to do this other thing. Now you're just throwing excuses and they don't want to hear it. And now you've 100% even lost them even more as a customer because you are not listening to them. So step number one is get on the same page as them and truly tell them that you 100% hear them. Okay, that's number one. Number two, the reason why anyone ever gets mad is because the expectations are not set clear enough from the start. This is the number one thing I see when anyone gets mad, whether or not they want to leave a program, no matter if they want to leave your company, no matter if they want to, you know, they're not happy. It's because expectations were not set clear enough. They thought that they were going to get this, and this was not what they got. So if you're like, hey, by the way, all appointment times are one hour long and their appointment time was not one hour long, you now have missed the mark and they are very pissed off at you potentially. So it's really important to set the expectation correctly so that you hit the mark each time and also exceed that mark. So that's super, super important. So they want to feel that they are heard and that you agree with them. I think that's. That's really huge. Now, once you are both on the same page with resolving this issue, then what you have to do is state, okay, Sally, we give someone options because you probably, as the owner or manager want to immediately say, well, we can do this for you. The easiest thing, and most people think of this is like, well, we'll just refund you one visit to make up for what you feel that you lost or whatever it may have been, right? But that's actually kind of not enough. A lot of times that customer has to have anywhere between 10 to 12 positive experiences with your company for them to become actually a fan of it rather than hate your company and start talking to everyone and spread bad word about, like, you and whoever else, right? So I would give them three options in this case. So I'd call the patient up and I'd be like, hey. Or talk to them in person wherever the scenario occurred and be like, hey, I know we are running 10 minutes late to your appointment. I have three different options for you. Number one, we could refund this appointment. And not only that, we could give you an extra visit because now we're going over and beyond. Okay. Number two, we could refund you for all your sessions here. Number three, we could offer you a credit to have three sessions here on us. Number. Let me think what else I would do. I would also. So I would give them like, three options. Okay, don't give them too many but, like, three options and then let them choose so that they feel that they're in control and that they have the power to. To determine what. That you actually care about them and you listen to them. Then what you could do is another thing to do is personally write them a handwritten letter. Letter. Can't talk to their house and, you know, send it to them and say, hey, I'm so, so sorry about this situation. You know, we really pride ourselves on amazing customer service. So we are so sorry that you are unhappy with our service. And we just wanted to let you know, you know, we would like to do whatever it takes to, to make it up to you, and we're very, very sorry for wasting your time and whatever else it may have been. And maybe you go as far as like, send them a gift or send them flowers or send them something that potentially would make them like, help them during their recovery process or something like that to let them know that, like, we really do not tolerate the customer service that was had that they experienced at your clinic or maybe even online or whatever it may have been. So, you know those. That is what I say when you have a not so happy customer and you want to turn them into a really big fan of yours. And even if you messed up, like, you know, like, how can you make it up to them? So hopefully this helps you guys navigate, you know, a negative reviews. You can also, for negative reviews, if you're starting to get a fair amount of them, you can also do like a survey. So send out a survey to your current clients and ask them to take it. Or if you have clients that maybe not want to come to you for the price point that, you know, you're offering, you can even say, hey, can we set up monthly meetings? If I give you guys two sessions a month and you give me feedback on your experience here, and then that way you can make the product actually better. And they're paying you a little bit of money, but you're also getting tons of feedback from these people. And it's like a study group to where your clients specifically give you the feedback, which is what we all should be doing, is asking our clients about our product and how we can better make the product even more better. And so that is something else that you can do if you're starting to get a fair amount of, you know, negative feedback is also elicit that you can also do a feedback box. We have a feedback box. So when you walk in. So let's just say someone doesn't want to have a confrontation with you, which most people don't. But they're like really upset that again, you were like 10 minutes late for their appointment. Well, they could put in the feedback box without their name on it saying, hey, and I'm not happy that, you know, these people are running 10 minutes late. And then you could, you know, try to make it up to them next time. So that's another way of indirectly getting customer feedback without it not feeling so, you know, aggressive towards the person and calling them out. So hopefully this helps. Guys, hopefully you enjoyed this podcast. I know it's kind of short, but I just want to come on and give you scenarios of how to diffuse situations when customers are not happy. So hopefully have a great rest of your day. And if you guys are looking for an event, Pelby Biz 2025 just got released where it's application only. So if you are interested in coming to that event, please let us know on our Instagram lvbiz send us a dm say hey, heard your podcast. I'm interested in pelvi biz event 2025 and we want to know more. You want an application because it's application only and I'm literally only taking 30 people. It's going to be a very small group of people and I'm customizing the event to you and your problem specifically and your needs and all that. So if you're interested, let me know because we have that coming up. So just want to throw that in there. Hopefully you guys have a great rest of your day. Bye guys.

Thank you guys so much for listening to the podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Jane.

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