How to Love Complainers

There are three things you don’t know about handling complaints.

1. Customer usually want less than you think.

2. Customers who have never had a problem are not as loyal as customer who have had a problem that was successfully resolved.

3. Customers who take the time to complain want to make things better.

The cheapest way...and best way, to resolve customer complaints is to ask the customer how to set things right. If you have a policy to do whatever it takes to make things right when things go wrong, simply asking the customer what it is that would make things right yields surprising results. They ask for less than you would have settled for after a negotiation.

Customers who have never had a problem are not as loyal as customers who have had a problem that was successfully resolved. Did you get that? Read it again to be sure! This is so powerful that it’s almost worth screwing things up just so you can fix them!

Think about it. If you always deliver on your service promise, how will the customer know that you are not just consistent? How would the customer discover that more than consistent, you are insistent that the customer’s needs be fully and fairly met? You have to have a screw up so you can fix it, demonstrating your sincerity about delivering a quality product and service.

The tough question is, "If this is so obvious, why are so many customer complaints so poorly handled?

The answer is fear. Fear that the customer is trying to rip you off. Fear that someone will have to take the blame and that someone might be you.

Employees often think that their job is to protect the company from the customer. Plus, they often believe that complaints are a sign of failure rather than an opportunity to grow. And none of this will change unless it is both communicated and demonstrated by top management. Who would risk stepping out of the box to resolve a customer complaint if they thought that doing so would get them zapped?

POS Point: The least expensive way to resolve a complaint is to apologize and ask the customer what would make things right.

Four Steps to Service Recovery

1. Establish rapport. Let the customer know up front that you are on their side. This is more than an apology but that’s a start.

2. Discover the Problem. Ask them to describe the problem exactly - just listen.

3.Offer a complete solution. Ask the customer what they think is right. Agree and up the ante to prove that you are serious.

4.Cement the relationship. Apologize again and tell what will be done to prevent a reoccurrence.

If you need a simpler rule for complaints, let it be this: Do whatever it takes to make things right when things go wrong - no matter what.

A customer with a complaint is asking you to help them remain a customer. Complainers are your most loyal customers. They want to continue to do business with you. If they didn’t, they would walk across the street and be done with you. Customers who complain are giving you a chance to set things right. Don’t blow it.

Complaints are opportunities that you probably haven’t seen. If you saw them and failed to act, you don’t deserve to have customers who are nice enough to volunteer their help. Hey! It’s a pain in the yaha to go to the manager and register a complaint.

What if the manager treats you rudely? What if the manager’s idea of fixing a complaint is climbing someone’s clock? What if you complain and from then on the staff treats you like dirt? Nope, the easiest way out is out. Just leave. Don’t rock the boat and be sure to tell everyone you know about how badly you were treated.

No, complainers are friends. Just try to keep your list of this kind of friend as short as possible.