Jan 29 2010
Complaining Customers Are Welcomed Here
Customers may well want to tell you they’re unhappy about something but they either:
• Feel uncomfortable about doing so
• Don’t know how to
• Don’t have time; it’s easier to let it go
So, give them a choice of mechanisms. For example:
• Simple questionnaires with pre-paid postage
• Telephone help line
• Customer service points
• Exit surveys – face to face questions
• Comment cards
Let them know it’s not a waste of time!
What are you going to do with the information? File it away? Shred it for next year’s Christmas decorations?
One company I know maintains a whiteboard in the reception listing the key comments/complaints made by customers, with a note of the action taken, or to be taken and by whom. Customers really feel they are part of the product and service improvement team.
Customers need to know what’s in it for them if they do complain.
Respond quickly to complaints. If you give a number to ring, make sure someone is always there to answer the phone. Reply within two days if that’s what you promised to do.
Have an “escalation procedure” which allows for the more serious complaints to be dealt with by a senior member of staff. Directors need to be accessible, hiding away simply creates suspicion.
Summary:
Unfortunately, when compared over time, the customers’ interest levels increase while the vendors’ interest levels tend to decrease. This creates a “relationship gap” and is due entirely to complacency.
Fact:
It now costs fifteen times as much to locate and sell to a new customer as it does to an existing one. That reason alone, should act as sufficient incentive for us to attempt to build brick walls around the relationship in order to deter predatory competitors – and there are plenty of them out there.
We must continually strive to earn the right to receive our customers business and one significant stride in that direction, is to implement an effective customer care programme.
Today’s News:
The third chapter of Sales Nexus’s excellent FREE Ebook, written by CEO Craig Klein, is now released – “4 Fallacies in Marketing and Selling that Cause You to Waste Money and Destroy Profits”
You can:
Download the chapter HERE
Register for the entire Ebook HERE
See an overview of upcoming chapters plus an introductory video Craig created HERE
Well said Jonathan!
No question that a customer complaining is a big opportunity!
In fact, you should count yourself lucky that they bother to complain…
Many just move on. If they take the time to tell you how they feel, that means they don’t want to go anywhere. They like you and your company fundamentally. Ignoring the request or greeting it with justifications is the worst thing you can do.
Have a quarterly meeting to review suggestions from customers. Tell customers that their request has been added to the list and then be sure to let them know what you decide.
You’ll find you have turned them into big fans!
Jon,
Some of my best customers started out as “unhappy”… But I learned that if I could shove down my ego and listen and genuinely care, people responded.
Empathy and stating my intentions to “do better” really mattered to people. And it usually always came after I said the following two words:
“I’m Sorry…”
Dan
P.S. I can’t for the day until I get it all right and everyone loves me….
Thanks Craig – did you know that one unhappy customer tells 10 to 15 others about their experience. If it’s really bad they’ll tell the whole world – I certainly do!!
Dan, keeping working at it – we love you!!
JF
Empathy and stating my intentions to “do better” really mattered to people. And it usually always came after I said the following two words: