Welcome All Complaints and Consider Them A Gift!

Wow, what a concept! After reading Janelle Barlow’s book, “A Complaint is A Gift”, my outlook on how to handle customer complaints was changed forever! The book talked about the importance of getting feedback, especially negative feedback, from customers. The take away is that complaints are not problems to be avoided – complaints are actually gifts to be welcomed. What a great way to think about negative feedback!

Complaints are important for several reasons,

·         You don’t know how to improve your product or service if you don’t know what’s wrong.

·         Customer complaints can give you ideas for new products, services and a way of doing things different.

·         Complaints give you valuable information about what’s important to people.

Complaints also tell you that the customer still wants to do business with you. They still care about the relationship they have with your company and they want you to fix the problem, so they can continue to do business with you. Most customers don’t complain, they just take their business elsewhere, because they’ve given up hope of getting what they need from you.

The problem is, most people think that customer complaints are bad. They mistakenly think that no complaints mean no problems. But, as long as you’re in business, you will always have problems – it’s part of doing business. The important thing to focus on is how you handle those problems when they occur.

That’s why a complaint is really a gift. Just as we thank someone who gives us a birthday gift, we should thank someone who brings us a complaint. They have given us something valuable, something useful, something that can help make our business stronger and more profitable – and we should treat their complaint as the gift that really is.

Start welcoming complaints with this step by step process:

1.    Thank the person for the complaint. Tell them how much you appreciate them taking the time to tell you about the issue.

2.    Tell them why you’re thanking them: because you care about your relationship, and his complaint gives you an opportunity to address anything that isn’t working for them.

3.    Apologize for the fact that they are unhappy. Note: you don’t assume guilt or say that it is your fault; you simply say, “I’m sorry you’re having this problem.”

4.    Promise to do whatever you can to help solve the problem.

5.    Ask for more information or clarification or specifics so you can fully understand the source of his unhappiness.

6.    Take whatever steps you can to correct the problem – focusing on things that are within your control. If it’s something out of your control, explain that. If it is something that really has nothing to do with you at all, this is the point in the discussion when you are most likely to discover that.

7.    Ask if he feels his complaint is being addressed. If not, go back to the beginning of the process.

8.    Make sure to learn from the situation. Complaints can provide ideas for new products and services, as well as tell you about weak links in your business.

 And most important of all, always emphasize what you can do, rather than what you can’t. Look for what is possible, rather than telling him what is not. Pointing out what you can’t do simply makes you both more frustrated.

This welcoming a complaint concept is not one that comes naturally to anyone. None of us like to hear negative feedback. But feedback is the breakfast of champions. If we can hear what’s behind the complaint – the desire to fix something that’s bothering the other person – then we can see how their complaint really is a gift.

So, I challenge you to start tracking and welcoming complaints as a way to grow your business and separate you from your competitors. If you found this helpful and would like to learn more about implementing strategies in your business click here to schedule a free strategy session today.