Handling inappropriate remarks from customers

Betty Ernst

Hi team!

TLDR: A customer made a racist comment to one of my CSMs and I'd like to build a policy/escalation flow to help ease the burden on employees if/when this happens again. 

Full post:

I had an incident yesterday where a customer made an insensitive and racist comment directed at one of my CSMs on a call. 

I handled it by first talking with my teammate and then calling the customer to discuss why the comment was inappropriate. (Fortunately the call was recorded, so I was able to quote back to him verbatim). The customer ultimately sent a half-hearted apology to my teammate and apologized to me on the phone about it. I followed back up with my teammate to see if there's any additional action he would like us to take with the customer, and I also escalated to our CEO who is following up with my CSM today. 

But, it got me thinking.... this is the first time I've had to have this sort of conversation with a customer. I did a quick google search for best practices, but I'd love to hear from the community what processes and policies you have in place around these types of situations.   

 

We're thinking something like:

1. Incident happens, remove yourself from the situation (would love any tips to help people with this)
2. Escalate immediately to your manager.
3. Manager reached out to customer to address situation. (any resources or advice on having these conversations would be welcome)
4. If customer apologizes and learns from the experience, come to a resolution.
5. If customer does not apologize or doubles down on their racism/sexism/etc. escalate to their boss/head of HR/CEO (depending on the size of company and the resources they have - for example, in this case it was a small company and their Vice-President made the comment, so the President of the company would have been an appropriate escalation point).
6. If the company refuses to resolve the issue appropriately, sever relationship with customer.

I'd love to know what policies others have in place and any advice you have on how to handle these conversations. We want to stand behind our employees 100% and make these situations as little work for them to handle as possible since they've already been through enough. 

Jay Nathan

 warning, very strong opinion ahead:

I have had this situation happen before (with derogatory comments to a female CSM). We fired the customer. Period.

No questions asked. No second chances. 

This is a zero tolerance situation for me. And if your CEO, execs and board don’t stand behind you? Then this is not a company you want to work for. 

It’s a hard line. That’s the only way to stand behind the team 100%. Show them you value them more than the money. 

**Note that in my case it was directed at the team member. 

Kevin Mitchell Leonor

I second what Jay said. It sends a message of inclusion and support to make the decision to fire the customer and display a zero tolerance policy.

Treat every employee as the CEO. You wouldn't let your customer speak derogatory remarks of your CEO. In return, we should let the customer do the same to our CSMs.

Sarah Bierenbaum

I'm curious, @Jay Nathan and @Kevin Mitchell Leonor if there's a situation where you'd reconsider. For example, if you told the customer you were firing then and why, and they responded with a similar zero-tolerance policy on their side, would you reconsider? I'm not 100% sure what I would do here because I've never been in this specific situation.

Jay Nathan

Yeah, that's a good point. If they had a zero tolerance policy I'd reconsider if they took action in accordance with that policy. Which would essentially mean that they let go of the offender in that case. 

So yes, I'd reconsider under those circumstances.

Arit Nsemo

I agree. Fire the customer. No questions asked. 

I'd also share the call recording with the point of contact's boss.

Kevin Mitchell Leonor

There would have to be a reasonable action on the customer's part including an apology directly made to our CSM and a gesture of good faith towards that CSM to reconsider. To me, zero tolerance means the offending party has been relieved of their duties. Yet, that isn't enough. My CSM doesn't care about the offender's job status. They care more about what the customer is going to do to ensure they have a professional work environment and an adequate apology.

David Ellin

I've also had this situation, although not recently. We live in a different time than we did just 6 months ago. These conversations, no matter how uncomfortable, need to take place. I'm having conversations with a diverse group of folks to understand how something can be so offensive to one group but not be offensive to another group. How many of us know the true origins of Aunt Jemima or Uncle Ben's. How about all the country music fans who have never been offended by the band's name Lady Antebellum? I know....I'm getting a bit off track here but certainly related.

People are learning about unconscious bias and unintended consequences. In those cases, I believe in open discussion, forgiveness, and giving people the opportunity to learn. Many companies are offering diversity training now.

In a situation with a blatant racial or other highly insensitive comments, tolerance must be close to zero. I'm on board with Jay's hardline except that I would not fire the customer until I've given them an opportunity to take action on their own - terminate the employee, provide coaching and counseling, diversity training, etc. If none of those actions are taken, I'd sever the relationship. If those actions are taken, the next similar offense would require termination of the relationship.

Matt Vadala

To piggyback on what Jay mentioned regarding wanting to work for a company who does not take swift action for their employees - you as a CSM are there for your company to bond with customers on so many levels. You're also a front line person, in some respects. If the company will not stand behind you when you are attacked in any way, it should not be a place you should continue to stand in front of. 

Arit Nsemo

Thanks for your perspective @David L Ellin , @Jay Nathan and @Kevin Mitchell Leonor . If the customer takes meaningful action and demonstrates that action, I'd consider keeping the relationship with them. 

My knee-jerk reaction is to flee these situations because historically I've never seen improvement, or actual evidence of true zero tolerance policies in action when situations like this come up. That being said, 6 months ago we were indeed in a different world. I'm encouraged by the changes, now it's up to me to try to realign to the current business climate so I don't start needlessly firing customers!

To @Betty Ernst 's original question and her framework for a policy is really great. I think one thing that could get missed here is process and policy because emotions run high in these situations and it's really commendable that you're putting so much thought and care behind this to ensure the safety of your team.

Kevin Mitchell Leonor

It's understandable for those knee jerk reactions to what is typically a knee jerk action of saying something offensive.

Honestly, we have to look at these at a case by case basis, but there needs to be a hard line to maintain consistency and save face with our employees.

So my idea of a meaningful resolution is this:

Corrective action to improve or dissuade behavior with one or more of the following: termination, suspension, mandatory sensitivity or diversity training.

Action designed to make the CSM more comfortable including but not limited to: assigning the CSM a new stakeholder, removing the offending individual from anything related to the business relationship including being on a board of people who will accept or reject renewals, and other actions. (We must make the CSM feel safe)

Written apology and/or olive branch to the CSM.

Matt Vadala

Bravo to this @Kevin Mitchell Leonor . It's important to get full understanding, always, and beneficial to keep business where it can be kept. However, in the end still doing what can be done to fully acknowledge protection of your employee and minding their interests. Bravo, indeed!

gurd3v

I'm a part of our D&I Committee and, with Leadership and Executive buy-in, we just crafted a policy around handling discriminatory/verbally abusive customers that we are starting to implement. We, too, wanted to ensure our mangers culturally look after the employees first and foremost while balancing the fact we're customer centric. 

I'm becoming a strong believer that each org needs some sort of D&I initiative - whether it's a committee or otherwise. We had a committee for about a year and a half, but as of a couple months ago our leadership team leaned in and we've really made strides more so than ever. 

Betty Ernst

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who commented. I really appreciate your insights and advice, and it's helped us to craft a policy that supports our employees. 

gurd3v

So glad to hear a policy is now in place! Mind me asking some of the key take-aways from your policy? Sounds like others may benefit from it as well. 

Betty Ernst

I'm happy to share, Gurdev! I found this policy template that felt pretty in-line with our overall stance, and then I made a few adjustments to include stronger language about dissolving the relationship and also incorporated some of the language shared here.

We're running this policy through both the executive team, as well as our DEI Advisory Group before rolling out company-wide. I should also add that we're between VP of People Ops right now (if you know anyone looking, we'd love some great leads!), otherwise they would have been heavily involved in crafting this policy as well. 

I really want to reiterate how much I appreciate everyone's advice on such a challenging topic!

gurd3v

Awesoe - thanks for sharing.