Listen to What Your Customers Are Saying

Listen to What Your Customers Are Saying
Mastering the art of managing customer complaints can seem
like a thankless job, but keep in mind that for every
customer that shares their worries, concerns or complaints,
there are likely more that did not express their
dissatisfaction, and instead simply moved on to a
competitor. Customer complaints can, and should be treated
as opportunities.

Customers that are willing to communicate can help provide
information on how your product or service is being used in
a specific market segment. Complaints give you the
opportunity to see how your company is falling short of
customer expectations.

No company is perfect. As Dr. Phil often says, "We cannot
fix that which we do not acknowledge." Acknowledging an
area in need of improvement will get you that much closer
to perfection. Customers who complain are indicating where
you need improvement; seize the opportunity to improve.
Adjust the systems that are deficient. Mistakes happen,
learn from them and prevent the same errors or problems
from recurring.

Communication is critical to resolving customer complaints.
First off, listen to their problem, and empathize this will
hopefully help diffuse their anger. Also be sure to remind
them you are on their side, and you understand their
frustration.

Communicate a plan to address their problem, and provide a
timetable for resolution. Unfortunately, not all problems
can be immediately rectified, providing a time table will
help manage the customer's expectations. Once the problem
is resolved, communicate the resolution, thank the customer
for bringing the issue to your attention.

Resolving customer complaints builds customer loyalty.
Everything was not perfect, and yet you made efforts to
correct the issues that customer brought to your attention.
It is possible to turn customer complaints into assets.
Customers that feel you responded will often become an
advocate for your business.

Track consumer complaints and watch for any patterns. After
a complaint is resolved, conduct a post-mortem, take a
close look at the procedures and systems, implement changes
to prevent a similar issue from recurring. Perhaps
redundancy is required.

Of course, there is no need to wait for a complaint to
improve processes. Look at systems or procedures where
items might slip through the cracks. Is there an area that
results in customer confusion? Business processes should be
constantly evolving; take a close look at any critical
systems and consider how you can implement changes to
prevent any mishaps or problems from occurring.

When complaints appear in a product or company forum, your
initial reaction might be to delete the post altogether,
but a public complaint that is dealt with in a professional
and timely manner is very telling. This will give other
users confidence that if there is an issue they can expect
a reasonable resolution.

Many companies that understand the value of customer
feedback solicit comments from customers, often offering
incentives for polite, honest feedback. If you wish to be
proactive send follow up emails to all customers who have
queried your company. This is quality assurance and a great
way to solicit customer feedback.

Few people enjoy dealing with customer complaints. The
trick is to use the feedback in a constructive way and turn
criticism into compliments.

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About the Author: Sharon Housley manages marketing for
FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating,
editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition
Sharon manages marketing for RecordForAll
http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing
software.