Yaneek Page | Scolding customers is bad for business

QUESTION: I am a nail tech, and a lot of customers come to me through Instagram and Facebook. The other day, I posted very politely that people messaging the page should show respect and say ‘good morning, good night, and good day’ instead of just asking if I am open or what is the price for a service, and so forth. I was simply saying that respect is a two-way street and that just like how they want respect, they have to show that same respect to the people who are serving them, too.

Well, after I made the post, whole heap a people jump up on my page, posting that I am rude and have no customer service, and so on. Someone said is a good thing me post so she can block my page, and all these things. So I was there just explaining what I mean. One of my good customers said my post was a little biased and unprofessional and that I should never post that.

Now two things, Yaneek: Is it wrong to expect customers to be respectful when they are messaging me too? And do you think anything was wrong with my social media post? Can you please just take a quick look at my page and tell me your professional advice as soon as you can?

– P.W.

BUSINESSWISE: As simple as it may seem, this is a major issue, and you were absolutely wrong in your approach. You should never have used your business platform to scold potential or prospective customers about good manners.

I am, therefore, glad that you were open-minded and took my instant recommendation to delete the post immediately to avoid further negative publicity, and, potentially, more damage to your reputation even as you awaited my fulsome response here.

The answer to your first question is no. It is not wrong for you to expect customers to be respectful when they contact you. I believe most well-thinking people desire mutual respect from customers and service providers.

 

Profiting from human emotions

However, we do not exist in an ideal world. We live in an imperfect world, and humans are emotional beings who do not act rationally or respectfully all the time.

The other reality you need to come to grips with is that it is actually these very emotions that skilled entrepreneurs and service providers like yours should be trained to acknowledge and successfully navigate to win customers over and achieve your business objectives.

You have to discover how to use these emotions to your benefit. It’s one of the fundamental lessons you will learn in customer service excellence, business communications, sales, and organisational or team management courses should you decide to explore such foundation entrepreneurship training modules – which I strongly recommend you do.

Once you have, you will appreciate that in business, you must grow a thick skin and not take everything personally.

 

Art of business communication

You are not in the business of reprimanding customers or prospects. You are not in the business of policing your customers’ politeness. You are in the business of providing an excellent nail-care service. That should be the exclusive focus of almost all posts to your business page and, definitely, any public utterances you make on social media or offline.

You have to develop the discipline to stay focused, on message, and very respectful even when faced with the rudest or most difficult customer.

Business communication, like customer service excellence, is an art, and your ambition should be to become the most skilled artisan therein.

Remember, you are the one who needs them to choose you and stick to you for years to come. Consumers have choices and immense power since the advent of social media. They can use that power to cripple your business – whether right or wrong. Therefore, you can’t afford to be distracted and judgmental in such a highly competitive, and highly stressful environment.

Different customers communicate differently; they come from varying backgrounds and subcultures; they have different training and exposure; they express themselves differently; and they generally have a lot going in their lives.

This is not to say that you must compromise your values, peace of mind, and the comfort of your other customers in tolerating extremely rude or offensive customers.

In such a case, you can tactfully decline the customer’s business while preserving their dignity, your own, and safeguarding the reputation of your business.

Good luck!

Yaneek Page is the program lead for Market Entry USA, a certified trainer in entrepre-neurship, and creator and executive producer of The Innovators and Let’s Make Peace TV series. yaneek.page@gmail.com