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Turn an Irate Customer Into a Raging Fan

By Chris Howard | April 24, 2009

Recently, I was at an Internet Marketing seminar. I happened to be in the registration room working online.

All of the sudden, an irate attendee came to the window yelling that she felt overwhelmed with all of the information being thrown at her and that it wasn’t what she expected.

The promoter handled the situation with pure genius. First, she calmed her down and explained that the seminar was actually given as a bonus to a totally separate package the client had purchased on Internet Marketing. (This very observant promoter knew this without looking the client up on the computer – I was impressed as only a small fraction of the people at this large seminar were there on this bonus.)

This was the customer’s first event ever, and from the sound of it, I don’t believe she had even looked at the material she purchased before she got there, so of course, she was overwhelmed.

The promoter asked her what it was that she expected. The attendee couldn’t answer and started quietly sobbing saying she just wanted to understand what she was hearing and that she wanted someone to walk her through the course she had purchased.

Not only was this never promised; it wasn’t even talked about when the seminar was given as a bonus. This was the customer’s perception of what she thought was going to happen.

The promoter surprised me by telling the attendee that she was already at the event away from home so it was silly for her to leave, but she would be happy to give her a ticket to the next event so she would have had time to go through the material and understand what it was being talked about in the room.

This surprised me, as it is a very expensive event. The attendee all but jumped over the counter and hugged the promoter telling her how sorry she was for getting so upset and that she could see that they did actually care about her.

Oh, and by the way, by the end of the event, the attendee not only became a raving fan, she also purchased a multi-thousand dollar product from the promoter, so she became a 2nd time customer within hours of that confrontation.

This is a great example of how to shine in the face of a problem. This promoter knew that you can never underestimate the power of one voice to sway other’s opinions and handled it like a pro!

Topics: Stories - Customer Service | 114 Comments »

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