I had a less than satisfactory experience with Dollar Rent A Car this week. Rather than bore you with all of the tedious details that led me to be dissatisfied, I will instead share with you what Dollar should have done to better handle my disaster in the hopes that your business will benefit from this advice.

• If you are going to provide a method of contact for people to share their concerns and issues with your business, respond immediately, not three days later. This is especially true if your business is tourism related.
• Use empathy when dealing with unhappy patrons, and do not become defensive.
• All of your staff needs to be on the same page when dealing with the customer. If different team members are saying different things, it makes the situation even worse.
• A money remedy does not necessarily solve the problem. Many times customers want a plan as to how their experience will be better in the future.
• If you know that your business screwed up, admit it! It may not make the customer feel better, but, they will appreciate your honesty!
• Ask for a second chance. By and large we humans are willing to give people a second chance when asked for the opportunity.

And finally; empower ALL of your people! In the thousands and thousands of studies that we have conducted we have learned that nothing is more frustrating to a consumer than dead air and silence. In other words, your employee asks the customer “if everything was satisfactory.” The patron says “no” and then details the issues. Your employee offers a blank stare and a weak apology. If the problem wasn’t bad enough, this indifference and lack of action worsens the situation tenfold. Give your people the authority to offer something tangible to the customer without management intervention and you will see your business benefit tremendously!