NAPA Auto Parts - Dont take negative feedback personally

“Don't take negative feedback personally”

Helping your store managers to not take negative feedback personally, well, it’s easy to say, harder to handle when they work days and nights at their store and receive a harsh feedback from a client from one of the Compechek Market Research Priority Plus telephone interviews, and worse, an Alert is created.

Receiving positive responses to your work is reassuring and feels great. It’s negative feedback that can be difficult to navigate.

It’s natural for anyone to take criticism personally. However, viewing negative client feedback as a personal attack isn’t productive or beneficial. Doing so may lead store managers to respond in an angry or defensive manner:

Responding politely to customer reviews, both positive and negative, shows former and future clients that you care. It demonstrates a willingness to take the time to address and acknowledge your customers, even the angry ones.

The above comments are integral of the ALR process of working with alerts on ‘RETAIN Page.

In summary, an alert e-mail notification will be sent to the front-line manager due to an alert being created for one of the four following reasons:

There was a lower survey score than set by head office as an acceptable standard
There were Negative words used in the comment, such as SLOW, LATE or UNPROFESSIONAL
There was an answer to a certain question that triggered an alert, for example, “Was your vehicle treated with the respect it deserves?” and if the answer was ‘NO’.
This would cause an alert.
The customer requested to be contacted by a manager.

This is a powerful mechanism that gives the customer ability to get the attention they deserve.

Step #1 is communication with the customer! Let the customer know that they have been heard and that you will be looking further into their concern. There is a prebuilt email template that is already addressed to the customer with the manager information on the bottom. Acknowledge the feedback and thank the customer, not responding to the feedback is actually a response in itself. It says, “I don’t care enough about your negative experience to even acknowledge it.” It’s also important to not get angry in your negative review response.

Respond quickly to the ALR alert that was received in their inbox
ALR portal has embedded pre-formatted email templates that can easily be used for this initial response. Add your own text within the body of the email to acknowledge the specifics of the customer's concern/issue. Also, thank them for dedicating their time to make the effort to take Compechek's telephone and answer the Priority Plus questions. It creates a positive first impression in the initial stage of the response, and is a sign of respecting the time they’ve taken.

Step #2, Research the situation and enter what has been done, or will be done to work with this customer’s concern. And how situations like this will be addressed in the future.

Step #3, send a follow up email or call the customer to let them know the outcome and what will be done differently in the future to address this concern. Statistics say, that 96% of complaining customers will return to do business, if their concern has been taken care of quickly. Indicate action on the store's part. Let the customer know what you’re going to do to rectify the problem. “I would like to see how I can help resolve [Issue] and take this forward for you. I will follow up with you on this directly once we have researched your issue”

Be personal in your sign-off. People will be more forgiving when the company is personable and shows they care, rather than coming across as cold. Tell them who you are, and make sure you adopt a human approach. This can improve the relationship that follows when you continue the conversation.

This can reassure the customer and show that you’re interested in making the situation better, and help begin to change their opinion of the product/service.

Step #4, close the notification and complete the process.
Alerts can be accessed by either clicking on the “View Survey” link in the notification or clicking on the Retain link on the side menu, and here on the main screen as well. Simply enter what you have done to satisfy this customer and then click on the add diary icon to post to the ASK LISTEN RETAIN portal.

Overdue?
The goal is to follow the four steps described and move the notification to the closed column without it ever going overdue! Overdue is considered if a predetermined number of days has elapsed since the manager has not opened the alert in the ASK LISTEN RETAIN portal, or that the alert has gone past a predetermined number of days to properly address and close the alert. In both overdue cases, an Overdue email is sent to the manager as well as any upper managers that have been assigned to this location. This ensures transparency and customer accountability across all locations.

The Moral
Using the ASK LISTEN RETAIN process, negative responses will be isolated for your special attention. Using email and text notifications, you will hear the voice of a possibly disengaged customer. If you don’t take negative feedback personally and follow the closed loop process, and, you will no doubt turn a detractor (unhappy customer) into a promoter (a raving fan of your store)!