How to share Bad News with the Customer?

We all want to have a great relationship with our customers and ensure they are getting the best from our product and service but still, there are days (not the good ones for sure) wherein you’ll be the bearer of?Bad news?for the customer. Every Customer Success Professional would never ever want to get in a situation wherein they need to have a tough/ difficult conversation with the customer.

Firstly, sharing some examples of what type of conversations can be difficult to have with the customer:?

1.????A product function/ feature unavailability

2.????A request that cannot be catered to

3.????A bug/issue that is taking more time to fix

4.????Expectations mismatch

5.????Delayed Deliverable (Missing the deadline)

6.????A feature request that can be implemented but comes with additional charges

7.????Running behind the business goal target

8.????Increase in services cost at the time of Renewal

?The list can go on. This actually depends on the nature of the business and product. Every scenario is unique in itself and has to be dealt with accordingly.

?There are some best practices that can be followed by every Customer Success Manager to ensure such situations/ scenarios are handled in a much better way:

1. Be Prepared and Acknowledge: You need to ensure that before you jump into the conversation, you are 100% aware of the situation and know what is actually a miss and the respective repercussions. You need to acknowledge the fact that there is an issue that can impact the customer. Create a detailed document or deck to explain the scenario in a better way.
2. Be Patient and Empathetic: You need to take a step back and let the customer react. The customer might not absorb the news in a good way and might go overboard while speaking, but this is where we need to keep our calm and be patient. Then listen to what they have said and address their concerns. Just put yourself in the shoes of the customer and imagine who they will be answering internally to their stakeholders.
3. Don’t go Defensive: Again, this is human nature wherein people tend to go defensive and try to justify the situation. Trust me, this wouldn’t help rather will ignite the scenario. The customer is already coping with the scenario and here we need to act as their trustworthy advocates who'll help them overcome this situation.
4. Don’t Sugarcoat: No matter how good you get at reframing, the single most important rule about managing the interaction is that you need to share the exact news with the customer. You shouldn’t move the focus from it. Basis what you share, the customer will plan for alternatives. If you don’t help realize the gravity of the situation from the start, it can delay the decision-making process for the issue which might also end up in a big problem for the customer.
5. Be Completely Honest: The customer has full right to get an honest update on the situation. Don’t get into the trouble zone by telling them that the team is still working on it or we need some more time on this even if you have a straight answer from your team. The more time you ask for creates hope for the customer, that they might be actually working on something. If you genuinely have an alternative, then it’s okay to ask for some more time, but if there isn’t don’t keep the customer waiting and waste more time for both parties.
6. Share Alternatives/Workarounds: Don’t keep the customer hanging by just saying NO. It’s the rudest thing to do. Rather, share the best possible solutions which can help the customer. They need to understand that as CSMs we will be working as their champions to ensure they overcome the situation in the best possible manner. Giving up is the easiest thing to do but a true Customer Success Professional is the warrior in shining armor who will continuously look for solutions that can help the customer.
7. Share a Planned Update: While you share the news, ensure you have a detailed plan to tell the customer how the team is going to work on it. Ensure you share regular updates on progress in daily, weekly or bi-weekly cadences. The customer will only get confidence if you are able to demonstrate and make them completely aware of what's going on to overcome the scenario.
8. Don’t Play the Blame Game: In such scenarios, it is never ever advised to start blaming either your internal cross-functional teams like Sales, Dev, Support, and Engineering or anyone from the customer’s side. This will make the customer lose the Trust completely in the entire organization as it portrays such an unorganized way of working. Post sharing the bad news, come across as a strong unified team whose objective is to try and help the customer with a solution.

I'll simply end by using the most straightforward quote from Bills Gates, "Convert Bad New to Good News"