Customer complaints are inevitable in any business that deals with the public. Some business owners do everything in their power to duck them, pass them off to someone else, and in general avoid dealing with angry customers. I get it. These interactions can be uncomfortable, frustrating, and at their worst confrontational.
I have worked for almost two decades in front-end sales and customer service for two national Franchise chains that deal with Moving, Storage, and Junk removal.
And, I can tell you that customer complaints, while inevitable, don’t have to be the uncomfortable conversation most of us dread.
In fact, a well-handled complaint can lead to more loyal customers and may even become a valuable feedback tool that will help you streamline your business, make appropriate personnel decisions, and might even help grow your sales.
To start, you first have to open your mind to the idea that the people complaining aren’t just crazy folks who are waiting to upset your schedule and ruin your day. In general, they truly believe that in some way they have been treated unfairly, or in a disrespectful way, or that somehow you are trying to take advantage of them.
I’ve heard a lot of complaints in my time and I’ve composed a short list of mostly Do’s but a few Don’ts that you may find helpful…..
Do: LISTEN! Sounds easy, right? But in this case, I really mean LISTEN. Behind the cuss words and emotions is a genuine person who feels like they are standing up for themselves in an unfair situation. People want to tell you their ‘story’ their side of what happened. Exercising some patience at this junction will have dividends later.
Don’t: Assume that you already know what they are going to say. There are some common complaints from customers (the truck is late, the price doesn’t match what they thought, they didn’t realize there was an extra charge involved) Even if you have heard the complaint a million times before this is the opportunity to demonstrate that you care about this customer and want to understand it from their point of view.
Showing respect for their position is key now. (Hint – Ask yourself why is this a common complaint?. This may be an opportunity to look at your operation to see if there is something you can say at the point of sale or as a follow-up to avoid this complaint?)
Do: If you are receiving the same complaint repeatedly, you should already have some explanations in your back pocket to pull out and use in this situation, a calm and thoughtful response can work wonders.
It’s okay to tell the customer that your team showing up late for an appointment is something rare and that you’re sorry they had that experience.
A sincere apology, even if you don’t feel like you’re in the wrong is a part of every public-facing business. Make it genuine; customers are bloodhounds when it comes to an insincere response, and a half-hearted apology hurts you more than it helps.
Don’t: Assume your team is always in the right. Truth be told, everyone can be in the wrong at some point in time.
A casual remark by one of your employees may be insulting to a customer. If you are blindly defending your team, it might make them like you more, but it won’t help your business if they are in fact not following your guidelines while on the job.
This customer complaint could be the heads up that you have a personnel problem on your team.
Do: Address the issue as you understand it. In the best of cases, your sincere apology and thank them for their patience and for bringing the issue to your attention might be all you need to do.
Some customers will ask for refunds or money back and only you can decide when that is appropriate. If you don’t believe one is deserved, then tell them that acknowledging that this may not satisfy them, but you hope in the future you’ll have another opportunity to do so.
Do: Share the feedback from the customer with the appropriate folks in your organization.
Could this issue have been avoided by more clarity at the point of sale, or if the issue was a missed appointment were they given prior notice with an apology?
Use the experiences from these complaints to develop your team to better understand customer expectations and how to meet them.
Do: Track your complaints, and look for trends that point to areas for improvement. Share that feedback with the team and look at developing incentives around minimizing customer complaints.
The reality is customer complaints are a part of your business now and most likely they will continue to be. You can fight them, avoid them, be frustrated by them or you can embrace them and try to use them to better your business.
I am offering these few suggestions with the full knowledge that sometimes nothing works; customers aren’t always reasonable or gracious and you’re just stuck with an unhappy or ugly situation. But you can minimize the number of those situations by delivering your service as professional as you can each time and by learning from your (and their) mistakes as you move forward in your business.
