Wednesday 8 January 2014

How Should You Handle Customer Complaints?


Do: Listen closely to the complaint –Before you start quoting your company’s policy or trying to deflect blame, try actually listening to your customer’s complaint. Put yourself in their shoes for a change. Are they making a valid point? What are they asking for you to do to resolve it? And remember, if one customer is complaining about something, you can be sure they’re probably not the only one who has encountered this situation. Most customers don’t bother complaining because they don’t think it does any good. Instead, they just take their business elsewhere.

 Don’t: Try to argue with your customer – Look, dealing with an upset customer is never fun, but you have to handle the situation professionally. This means you don’t need to get in an argument with your customer. Handling complaints isn't about trying to win an argument. It’s about minimizing damage and trying to ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Do: Use complaints as an opportunity to improve
– Every complaint represents an opportunity for your company to improve. Look closely at every complaint you receive, and figure out what you can do to keep that situation from ever coming up again.

When your customer has a legitimate complaint, your customer service teams need to find a solution and fix it. Give your team the authority to handle the majority of customer complaints, to avoid passing your customer onto a series of people and managers. If the issue has been or can be repeated, make the necessary changes so you do not receive another complaint.

Make sure that you follow up with your customer to make sure they are satisfied with the solution. This can be in the form of a follow up email or survey asking for feedback on how the complaint was handled. 68% of customers leave a company because they believe you don’t care about them.



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