How to Positively Deal With Customer Complaints
None of us are perfect. We all make mistakes from time to time, and the same goes for your business. If a customer complains about the products or services they receive it can be really disheartening. There will be times when the customer is absolutely right and times when the customer is making a big fuss over something minimal. Whatever the situation, it’s important you respond in the right way. So, how should you deal with customers when they’re making complaints?
Listen Carefully
A customer has a right to complain about anything at any given time. You may find that you’re well equipped to deal with it, or you may find that it comes at a particularly testing time. Either way, you have to stay as calm as you can. Give your customer the opportunity to complain with interruption. It’s important your customer has the chance to voice all concerns without you coming up with excuses for each one. Remember, this isn’t a personal attack. So, recognise the complaint by repeating the issues back to your customer.
Have a Complaints Procedure
The benefits of having a complaints procedure is that your staff won’t have to deal with complaints in front of other customers and your complaining customers will be dealt with by members of staff who are trained to deal with complaints, thus getting a quicker reply. Take a look at the Peninsula business services complaints procedure as an example. Many members of staff won’t have the time or the know-how to respond to complaints efficiently and constructively, so it’s important to have a member of staff whose dedicated to resolving customer problems and complaints.
Apologize Without Blame
All too often, customers are faced with the sentence, ‘I’m sorry but…’. Blaming the problem on something or someone else isn’t going to inspire forgiveness. Accepting the complaint and apologising without blame or excuse is what your customer will want to hear. As the old saying goes, the customer is always right. Make your customer feel like you’re concerned about the complaint and ask for suggestions how they think you could improve.
Solve the Problem
The biggest challenge you face when dealing with a customer complaint is solving the problem. Your customer will want a solution as quickly as possible, and the quicker you can source that solution, the more likely you are to hold onto your customer. It could be the promise of re-doing the service you provided or sending out a replacement product, or it could be putting them in touch with a member of staff who has experience in dealing with picky customers and getting the desired results.
Empathise
As a business owner, it’s frustrating to receive complaints and your first instinct may be to argue back. But, take a breath and put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Your customer needs to know that you’re capable of empathising with them. In fact, you’ll often find that once you’ve made it clear you’re on your customer’s side, the customer will immediately calm down.
Dealing with a difficult customer is never easy, but it’s part and parcel of any business.
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