Another garden center was also dealing with a negative online review. This particular customer wrote that they did not feel safe because masks were not required in the establishment.

Rather than approaching the situation from a place of understanding, this business owner responded online by berating the customer for overreacting. Global pandemic aside, never berate your customers for what you deem as “overreacting.” Just because you don’t think that you personally would react in the same manner, does not mean the customer is overreacting. How do you know that you wouldn’t react in the same way? Who are you to tell someone their concerns aren’t valid? How do you feel when someone tells you that your own worries aren’t valid?

Even if you don’t personally agree with a customer’s concerns, you, as a business owner, must validate those concerns if you want to stay in business. That doesn’t mean you should jump every time a customer yells “jump,” but it does mean that you must understand why the customer is yelling in the first place.

Understand where your customers are coming from and understand their concerns. Customer Retention 101 – know your customers, know their challenges, know their concerns, know what they want and what they need. Know that they aren’t you and don’t necessarily see the world they way you do.