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It’s the worst part of my<br />
job—delivering bad news.<br />
Some folks might find that<br />
surprising, seeing as I’m a<br />
dispatcher and many people<br />
believe we thrive on giving<br />
others bad news.<br />
We don’t. And we also<br />
know that how you deliver<br />
bad news can be just as<br />
important as how you deliver<br />
your freight.<br />
Giving bad news to a driver<br />
in a hurried and off-hand<br />
manner can send that driver<br />
out to meet your customers in<br />
a decidedly bad mood. What<br />
kind of impression is an angry<br />
and unsatisfied driver going to<br />
give your customer? And if<br />
you’re giving bad news to a<br />
customer, you have to do it<br />
with the greatest of tact,<br />
because you will want that<br />
person coming back.<br />
Anything that puts your<br />
company in a bad light with<br />
a customer has the potential<br />
to affect your profits. I’ve<br />
worked in a shop where<br />
drivers were not respected,<br />
turnover was extremely high,<br />
and so were conflicts among<br />
management, drivers, and<br />
dispatch. Ultimately the<br />
customer suffered and that<br />
was reflected on the bottom<br />
line of the company.<br />
Unless you are firing<br />
someone, you will need to<br />
have a good working relationship<br />
with that person. From<br />
my dispatch perspective, the<br />
driver I have to give bad news<br />
to today becomes the driver I<br />
need a favor from tomorrow.<br />
If the transportation industry<br />
is to be seen as a profes-<br />
Street Smarts<br />
Good News About Bad News<br />
human resources Why telling someone to “calm down” always backfires,<br />
and other tips for delivering unwelcome information. By Jennifer May<br />
sional industry, we need to<br />
treat all of our employees and<br />
customers as the professionals<br />
they are. After all, you will<br />
get better results from people<br />
if they believe themselves to<br />
be a respected and valued<br />
part of the organization.<br />
Over my years as a dispatcher<br />
I have had to give a lot<br />
of bad news to drivers and<br />
customers and have developed<br />
a five-point game plan for<br />
delivering unpleasant news:<br />
➊ BE PREPARED<br />
Before delivering the bad<br />
news, I make sure I have all my<br />
facts straight. I write down<br />
important details, regardless of<br />
whether I’m going to be delivering<br />
the news in person or<br />
over the phone. That way I’m<br />
not scrambling for what to say.<br />
The more composed and prepared<br />
you are when delivering<br />
the news, the more accepting<br />
the driver or customer will be<br />
to the information. Kristin<br />
Robertson, President of KR<br />
Consulting in Colleyville,<br />
Texas, agrees. She trains customer<br />
service professionals<br />
and says customers “will sense<br />
your assurance and react positively<br />
to it.”<br />
➋ BE TIMELY<br />
Unlike fine wines, bad news<br />
does not get better with age.<br />
I try to give bad news as<br />
soon as possible. This allows<br />
for maximum reaction time.<br />
The sooner I tell a customer<br />
Unlike fine wines,<br />
bad news does not<br />
get better with<br />
age. I try to give<br />
bad news as soon<br />
as possible.<br />
a truck has broken down<br />
and I won’t be able to make<br />
the pick up this morning,<br />
the more time the customer<br />
and I have to work out a<br />
solution. Robertson adds<br />
that bad news early can be<br />
good news and “the sooner<br />
you can communicate what<br />
might be bad news to a<br />
customer, the more control<br />
the customer has over<br />
the outcome.”<br />
MARCH 2006 29
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