Gather more bees with honey than vinegar…
May 12th, 2008 by Stephanie P
The following is my personal memoirs of learning how to gather more bees.
Long ago, about a decade ago, I handled issues with companies in a manner that I am not proud of. If something went wrong or did not meet my satisfaction I would contact the company in a manner that could be considered feisty on a good day and downright obnoxious on a bad day. I would vent rather loudly, taking all my frustrations out on the poor individual on the other side of the phone. My false belief was that anger would get my issue resolved faster and better.
My belief was reinforced by the fact that I tended to get a resolution that I found satisfactory. I failed to consider the reason I got a resolution was because the company being run by humans had made a human error and wanted to make it right. Up to this point in my life I had been in face-to-face sales in some aspect or another for about 12 years. Rarely had I ever had an encounter in which I was the recipient of an angry customer. I think that when dealing face-to-face people are much more polite and cognizant of their behavior. Also there are witnesses. 
I then went to work for a terrific company in the inbound phone sales department. I was introduced to myself in a new manner. I was on the receiving end of a call from an angry individual. I desperately wanted to solve the problem. Yet, I was having a difficult time concentrating on determining what the problem was. All I could hear was ranting and raving and screaming. I had the human response of feeling personally attacked and thus the physiological response of wanting to flee or attack back! Of course I did neither and resolved the issue.
The next time I had to contact a company to resolve an issue I remembered my encounter(s) with people yelling and screaming. I decided I did not want to be “that” customer. So I was very nice and calm and simply explained the problem. I was amazed at how quickly and generously the issue was resolved. The best part was that I really felt good about the resolution and myself.
