3 Quick Steps to resolving a customer complaint

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Every business at one time or other deals with an upset customer and the biggest challenge then lies with providing the best solution for your customer, to ensure a positive outcome and win-win situation for all. Sometimes customers even resort to switching to a competitor before you have had ample time to address or correct what went wrong. Therefore, it is imperative that each and every complaint that comes in is handled adequately & professionally so that you can evolve stronger in the market.

A satisfied customer is not always the key but a delighted customer is! If you want to maintain loyalty from your customers then addressing and resolving their complaints in a timely manner is a great opportunity to retain their trust and business.  Customers that come to you with a complaint are genuinely interested in your products or services, and equally have their expectations of them. So, try the simple three step procedure shared to solve customer complaints in a more effective manner.

Acknowledge: Start by acknowledging the actual problem.  To handle any complaint you first have to understand the problem. Keep your eyes and ears open and an open-mind. Don’t assume anything beforehand or relate one problem with another which appears similar as, it really depends on the customer with whom you are dealing. One solution may satisfy one client but may not, with another. So listen tentatively to the complaint, acknowledge the problem, repeat your understanding of the problem to ensure you haven’t omitted any pertinent details, and then start thinking about a solution that can help resolve the issue. Take a genuine interest and be empathetic to the customer. Take ownership and control of the situation and understand the delicacy of their concern.

Offer a solution: Customers long for quick fixes to their problems and often find it frustrating if months pass without a resolution. So, once you have acknowledged the problem think about a customer oriented solution. Ensure you have spent the right amount of time in acknowledging the problem which will put you in a good position to offer a solution that can ultimately help resolve the complaint in the right manner. Share your solution with the customer and ask if the customer is satisfied with the outcome, and if not what the next steps are to find an acceptable solution that the customer will be satisfied with.

Implement: The third and the most important step involves implementing the solution and doing adequate follow-up. Ensure the customer experience during this period is a positive one as statistics show that businesses that handle customer complaints effectively and efficiently are more likely to get repeat business from the same customers. Customers who have their complaints and issues resolved in a professional and timely manner are more likely to tell others about their positive experience in dealing with your business.

Here are some of the tips that I’ve learned in my career whilst providing services to current and potential customers:

  • Make sure you have a customer complaints handling procedure. It will enable you to resolve the complaint in a more professional manner and show customers that you take any complaint or dissatisfaction extremely seriously
  • Try to resolve the complaint in a timely manner, as customers expect a quick turnaround to their complaints.
  • No business is immune from customer complaints but the companies who handle their complaints in the best way possible are the companies that ultimately succeed in the end.

Don’t also forget that complaints can ultimately become more expensive if they are mishandled or need to be escalated within the organisation.  So the steps and tips shared within this article will hopefully help you convert your customer complaint challenges into something more positive and constructive for your business.

 

 

 

Photo courtesy of Forbes.com pictures

Use Negative Reviews as an Opportunity to Improve

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Use negative reviews as an opportunity to improveIs there ever a time when we should look upon negative reviews about our business, its staff and products/services as an opportunity? You bet!

A recent article that caught my eye just proves how trying to suppress freedom of speech when it comes to reviews – even if it was meant as a joke (maybe?) – can really come back and bite you.

Whether or not the hotel in question had indeed meant the policy as a joke is still unclear but it seems the damage is done. But joke or not, why does it seem that some businesses are so terrified of negative reviews?

After all, we don’t get everything 100% right every time and that’s just as true in life as it is in business. Therefore, negative reviews should be seen as an opportunity to improve going forward and maybe even see our negative review updated.

So what should you do if your business receives a negative review or unfavourable feedback?

Comfort your employees

Whilst you may be feeling slightly miffed about reading something bad about your business, spare a thought for your staff. They’ll be experiencing mixed emotions and will be looking to you, as their leader, to pick them up.

People hate to hear criticism and your employees are no different. You need to understand that they’ll be feeling demoralised, despondent and as though they let you down. Comfort them, raise their spirits and get them fighting fit for another day.

Remain calm

The hotel in the article I cited at the start of this post definitely approached negative feedback in the wrong way. The trick is to remain calm in the face of criticism and never overreact.

Often, knee-jerk reactions can have the total opposite effect of what we want and make a bad situation even worse. For example, attempting to respond to a negative review defensively will just draw more attention to the situation and turn your potential opportunity into a public nightmare.

Reach out personally

Get on the phone or send an email to the customer in question expressing your regret that you didn’t meet their expectations and seek further advice – that’s right, ask them how you can improve going forward.

By doing so, you show that you take their opinion very seriously and want to use their experience to better yourself for future customers. If you can resolve any issues that were highlighted, you might just see that negative review be updated to reflect your business much more favourably.

Discover the root causes

Negative feedback and bad reviews are almost always due to only a handful of factors:

1. A bad customer experience – poor service, low-quality product, tardiness. In this instance a negative review should serve as a wake-up call to your business that you’re perhaps missing the mark on occasions.

2. Customer expectations mismatch – they expected one thing but what they got was quite another. This is a bit more difficult to remedy than the previous point but the customer’s feedback should be analysed carefully and your marketing, pricing and staff approach be reviewed accordingly.

3. Your business is inaccessible – people don’t want to deliberately bash your business in public but if you don’t give them any other options, what can you expect? That’s why your customer service channels need to be effective and act upon any feedback you receive.

By tackling negative reviews/feedback head-on you can really turn them into an opportunity for your business to shine. Reacting rashly or overly defensively will not help the situation. Show all your customers that you value their opinions and use feedback, positive or negative, to improve everything that you do.

 

 

Image courtesy of Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net