3 Ways to Manage Customer Complaints

Thank your customer for complaining and mean it. Most
will never bother to complain. They’ll just walk away.
― Marilyn Suttle, Best-Selling Customer Service Author

As
difficult as it is sometimes to be the target of an unhappy customer, it should
actually be viewed as a golden opportunity. If one customer is complaining, you
can bet others have had the same experience but they just didn’t go to the
trouble of letting you know. When you are aware of what you’re doing wrong, you’re
able to make changes and prevent reoccurrences. In customer service, ignorance
is definitely not bliss.

Encompass
processes thousands of customer calls and orders daily. I admit that as hard as
we may try, we don’t always get it right. And when we don’t, our customers let
us know through a variety of channels, such as social media, Better Business
Bureau and emails. Some even pick up the phone and call us.  Although some of the feedback is downright
painful, we always look at the big picture and work diligently to resolve
issues for our customers and positively turn the situation around.

Here are three tips we’ve learned to manage customer complaints that you should
consider for your organization:

1. Give Customers an Outlet – All
companies should have mechanisms in place to provide customers a simple way to
vent. Enable customers to post freely on your social media sites. While it can
be nerve-racking to expose your service failures to the world, it’s also an
opportunity to fully demonstrate your commitment to improving the customer
experience. Additionally, provide feedback forms on your website and phone
numbers to reach a live representative.

2. Assign Personnel to respond – Many
times customers just want to be heard, so nothing will infuriate them more than
having their complaints ignored. Ensure you dedicate adequate staff to monitor
social media and other feedback channels. They’ve taken the time to let you
know of their experience; show that you honestly care by responding with a
personalized note – not a canned form letter. If they’re calling on the phone,
give them plenty of time to air their grievances without interrupting. Use
empathy, and NEVER argue back.

3.  Take Action – When you receive a complaint, thoroughly evaluate
what happened and determine how you can change your practices or better educate
your employees to prevent the issue from happening again. Understand that
customers are the lifeblood of your business; if you don’t serve them well, you’re
opening the door for your competitors to take over. Whenever possible, inform
the customer of what action you took to address their specific concerns.

For
the customer/business relationship to really work there has to be a two-way
street. Ideally, customers who publicly chastise a business should give the
organization a chance to make things right for them and not simply ignore
offers of assistance.

In
any event, as long as businesses are operated by people, it is inevitable that
procedures will break down and mistakes will be made. It’s how we react to
service failures that make all the difference.