The Problem is Often the Solution
The progress we're looking for is often in the mountain we don't want to climb.
Ahh, customer complaints.
Everyone’s favorite, right? If you’ve ever worked in a sales or customer service role, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If not, I’m happy for you. Regardless of whether you have personal experience or you’re living vicariously through my story below, these moments have something to teach all of us.
Several months ago, one of my retail sellers gave me a call; it would be a normal day, except this customer doesn’t call very often. As soon as I heard his voice on the other end of the line, I knew there was a problem. There had been a misunderstanding around our grower program with one of his grower customers, and the grower was threatening to switch retailers and now the seed brand was involved and everyone had a different story. Not only was this an issue for me because ultimately our grower program is one of my responsibilities, but this retail seller already wasn’t a fan and this was giving him one more reason to complain to me about it. No matter who was at fault for the miscommunication, this was now my circus.
As I attempted to ask all the right questions to understand the problem, it became clear this wasn’t going to be an easy fix. I scheduled a time to sit down with my seller to dig into it, and while we uncovered more of the issue in that meeting, there were still more layers to unpack. Many phone calls and meetings and emails and a visit to the grower’s farm later, I was sitting in my seller’s office late on a Friday afternoon when we finally got it resolved. And, oddly enough, he actually seemed happier to see me by that last meeting together than before this whole situation arose.
Have you ever had a situation which seemed at first to be nothing but a nuisance, a problem to deal with, but gradually you started to see there was hidden value in it? Maybe it was a tough group project with classmates who weren’t your first pick, or an interruption at work. While our first instinct is to resist or just get it over with, I wonder if we aren’t missing out on some of the best lessons we have to learn.
As I worked through my customer’s issue, there were many phone calls I had to make which I dreaded, and many of which turned out to be just as challenging (or even more so) than I expected; yet, it honed my ability to have those difficult conversations, so subsequent phone calls weren’t quite as intimidating. Through the many calls and meetings I had with the seller, I learned more about how he operates, what’s important to him, and what I can do to better serve him as a rep in the future. And, to top it all off, he answers my calls and texts far more promptly than he used to (if he even answered at all).
I share this story not because I knew walking into it that it was going to be such a meaningful experience; no, I wanted the problem to disappear when it first arose. But, because I had to deal with it, and it was a long, drawn-out process, I had time to notice the little pieces of value I was picking up along the way. I also had time to reflect on all the other times I’d had perfect situations to learn from and grow through, yet my resistance to the struggle had sold short the value to be found. Here’s the deal: challenges can force some lessons on us whether we’re open to them or not, but when we actually welcome them with open arms? It’s a whole new ball game.
I’ve started trying to pay attention to when my instincts resist a challenge, closing myself off from the lessons to be learned; instead of shrinking away, I’m finding a key strategy can help me embrace the challenge for the opportunity it is. What is that strategy? I think about it as “zooming out:” rather than getting worked up or taking things too personally, I try looking at the situation by pretending it’s happening to someone else (no, seriously—I’ve found this is immensely helpful in any situation where I catch my emotions taking over). If I was watching a movie about this person or giving advice to a friend in the same situation, what would I do? What opportunities would I see? The goal is not to be apathetic, or to pretend our emotions don’t exist, but to be objective and recognize our emotions aren’t usually telling us the full truth. Once we can look at the situation without getting all wrapped up in our emotions, we’re able to decide the best path forward.
Life is hard, whether we admit it or not, and I’m learning just how much we have to gain by admitting it. Whether you’re like me and dealing with customer conflicts, or you’re managing relationship drama, or the little things just seem to keep piling up and you don’t want to face them, I hope you’ll find some comfort—and some accountability—in this reminder. There is so much good to be found, if we would only accept the tough package in which it’s often wrapped.
Journal Prompt of the Week
What’s a challenge you’re avoiding? Or, a challenge you’re working through, but closing your eyes to the lessons to be found?
Heck yeah cousin Miriam! Good job sticking with it and building a stronger rapport with your customer then you probably ever could have if you hadn't had the opportunity to show your prowess, determination, patience, resolve - - all the good qualities that shone through the Troublesome situation did that you /y'all handled so well.
I can relate because I had a particular client for my remodeling business where I goofed up a really heavy shower door installation and we had to replace a tile and reverse the way the door opened and on and on and I had to go back multiple times and eventually I went down from my original bid even though I had put in so many more hours then I had originally expected to when I made the bid but at the end of the day they were very happy with my attitude and the end result and they even gave me a glowing referral for other work!