Use Your “Genuosity” for Unhappy Customers!

“Genuosity”. 

Never heard the term? Neither had I until I interviewed a Starbucks barista named Alli a few years back. 

“Genuosity” is a made-up word Alli used when she was telling me about how she had learned to be successful with customers over the years.  

Especially “unhappy” customers! 

87 %. 

That’s the percent of companies Microsoft found in a recent research study who said that a traditional customer experience “no longer satisfied” them. 

Gosh! No wonder there are so many unhappy customers around here these days. 

Back to my story about Alli and “genuosity”. Alli used the term as a substitute for “sincerity”. No kidding! 

And “sincerity” gets to the heart of “listening”. Listening to customers. Those unhappy or sometimes angry customers which we know are out there. 

Don’t know what your experience has been like over the years, but I can tell you I’ve had my share unhappy customers in the business life! And hey, I bet you have too! 

Early in my career, I can still recall one of the more interesting – and really useful - company workshops I attended. It was led by a UCLA psychology professor and it was all about dealing with “the angry customer.” No surprise, he commented in the first few minutes that “it wasn’t a matter of if, but when” that unhappy person showed up at your door step and, watch out! 

In fact, I remember to this day the “three words” he recommended that we all intone when this person shows up: 

Listen. Empathize. Commit. 

Turns out, he said, that “listening” takes the anger level down a really significant notch according to behavioral research. No kidding. Think about it. 

Allowing the person to just tell their story about what was ticking them off – and not interrupting – does wonders, he continued. It just takes the stress level down for everybody in the room, he concluded. He’s right, you know. 

“Empathy” was the second area we discussed and I recall we did some role – playing at this point in our workshop to illustrate this point. 

Two specific phrases, he went on, resonate instantly with the unhappy customer. They are as follows: 

“You know, I can totally understand why that would be a problem.” 

And 

“If that happened to me, heck, I’d be upset too!”  

So after cooling everything down, the customer now has learned that he or she is not alone. Hey, we’d be mad too! Who knew? 

Third, and finally, we came to “commitment”. Telling the unhappy customer what action we intend to take how – and when – we intend to circle back around and reach out to them on this matter. 

Case closed. 

We’ve made ourself “accountable”, the professor finished up. We’ve taken ownership of the problem. We’ve made a commitment to the customer. 

To sum up here, this is the point in my regular LinkedIn articles where I usually offer you my Business Tips. 

And even though I think we’ve probably already covered what I’d like you to do in the discussion above, I’ll just repeat it one last time below. 

Business Tip # 1. Have a plan for unhappy customers or unhappy people generally who you encounter in this life. Don’t just react or try to solve the problem from the get-go. I promise you, it seldom works! 

Tip 2. Memorize my professor friend’s mantra of “Listen. Empathize. Commit.” and I swear you’ll get results with those unhappy folks you encounter, business life or personal life! Bring the stress level down. Commiserate with the person. Take ownership of the problem. 

Hey, until next time we get together around the table. 

Catch you later. 

Ciao.