Complaints are Great

A client recently called me extremely frustrated with the service she was receiving from one of my team members. I was devastated. Making my clients happy is the reason I get up and start working in the mornings and excellent customer service is the reason my organization runs. Though complaints can be a damper, they are a business’s greatest opportunity. Everyone is going to slip up at some point and customers will complain. The way in which an issue is handled is what sets the good apart from the great.

Here are the Four R’s that can help turn complaints into a platform for your company to perform:

• Respond Quickly: When a situation arises, respond quickly. Let your client know you are aware of their complaint and you are going to deal with it as quickly as possible. Responding quickly does not mean that you have to have the answers, it merely acknowledge’s the existence of a complaint.
• Take Responsibility: Take responsibility where responsibility is due. You don’t have to play the bad guy nor do you have to pawn off the responsibility on the client making yourself the victim. If you are responsible, take responsibility, it shows integrity. If you are not responsible, don’t start pointing the finger either. Make sure that you are above reproach so that your client can never hold anything over your head.
• Resolve: Take time to resolve an issue. Don’t just shoot off resolutions to the problem if you have not carefully weighed both the positive and negative consequences. Once you feel that you have a reasonable answer to the issue, propose it to your client and work through it with them. Resolution is a two-sided action. It takes two parties to reach a successful resolution.
• Reassure: Once the issue has been resolved and all parties agree, reassure the client that you will take steps to ensure that the issue will not happen again. It is easy to walk away from a conflict saying, “Glad that’s over with.” However, even if we were not responsible for the problem, we should ask ourselves, what can we learn from this incident to guarantee that it never happens again? Asking that question helps us to stay ahead in the world of customer service. It helps us to prepare a game plan before another issue arises.