A Complaint Is A Gift

 

A Complaint Is A Gift is an excellent book written by Janelle Barlow and Claus Moller.

Have you been to a restaurant, ordered dinner and got served bad tasteless food? What happened when you complained? Maybe, they offered you a free cup of tea or dessert to compensate for the bad food. You expected a free dinner didn't you? But you got tea or dessert instead. And the waiter said he would have given you a free dinner if he was boss, but its against company policy; every Tom, Dick and Harry would ask for a free dinner!

Or you go to buy an internet connection, and the service provider charges you for the device and three month’s fee in advance. Then, your device doesn’t work! Meanwhile, you’ve cancelled your previous connection. So now, you’re stranded. You complain to the service provider who says, the device must be faulty. He takes 10! days to ‘repair’ the device. When you call repeatedly, he says he’s off to a marriage, so he passes the buck to another employee. When you finally get back the ‘repaired’ device, the internet speed is poor, not as promised. You complain about the poor internet speed but they make all sorts of excuses. You expect them to at least reimburse you but you’re stuck with that rotten device for life, no internet connection, and a hole in the pocket!

Most people who suffer like this never return. They bad mouth the company to their family, relatives and friends. Who in turn spread the bad word in their friend circle. According to research, every dissatisfied customer tells 11 people about his or her bad experience.

Most customers won’t even bother to complain. They just change their supplier. Just because customers don’t complain doesn’t mean they’re satisfied. So beware of misleading customer statistics.

A complaint is a gift. It gives you clues to where weaknesses lie in your company and a chance to rectify them. It wins back customer confidence and sometimes even makes customers your brand ambassadors for life.

How should you resolve a complaint? According to Janelle Barlow and Claus Moller first say Thank you. The customer who complains is a friend. He’s doing you a favour. Treat the complaint as you would treat a birthday present and thank him.

Next, explain why you appreciate the complaint. For instance “Thank you, I appreciate you pointing out this mistake-it gives me a chance to correct it.”

Then, apologize for the mistake. Apologize even if it wasn’t you who made the mistake, even if the circumstances were not within your control.

Promise to do something about it immediately. Assure the customer of immediate action. Promise the customer rapid feedback and only make promises you can keep.

Now you can ask the customer for necessary information, and see that your questions are not like an interrogation.

Correct the mistake immediately. Take prompt action.

Check whether the customer is satisfied. Is the customer satisfied with the way the problem was dealt with? Write, telephone or even pay a visit and make sure they are satisfied. Send a thank you letter or maybe a symbolic gift.

Take steps to ensure that the mistake does not occur again. Cure the cause of the mistake not the symptom.

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