How many times you have faced this situation when you are supposed to deliver bad news to your customer? As a product manager, we always have direct interactions with our customers or users. Our job is to maintain a healthy and positive work relationship with our customers. But in difficult times when we are not able to deliver something to our customer as promised, managing the situation becomes a difficult one.
Below are some steps which I follow while communicating bad news to customer/end-user.
1. Prepare what needs to be communicated with the customer. When problem comes, take some time to identify the real issue, impact on the existing application and timeline.
2. Think about the potential questions which customer might ask. Simulate and visualize the discussion with the customer. Choose very carefully what needs to be communicated and how its needs to be communicated. The customer is going to raise concern and ask difficult questions, prepare for the scenario.
3. Be truthful while communicating the bad news. Also deliver the bad news quickly i.e., don't take much time after the issue has already occurred. Be honest and transparent.
4. Customer will be definitely frustrated. It is important to show empathy and understanding while communicating with the customer.
5. After delivering the bad news, focus on the positives. At this point of time if there are possibilities to add some extra value or benefit in the requirement, please demonstrate that.
6. The customer should feel valued. Focus on that.
These are few steps which helped me a lot to deliver any kind of bad news to our customer.
How do you deliver bad news to your customer/client?
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