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Customer Complaints
ian tyson
ian tyson
Customer Complaints
“an expression of dissatisfaction on a consumer’s
behalf to a responsible party”
as defined by E. Laird Landon, Jr., University of Houston
If a business is to be customer focused it must understand
how to deal with customer complaints:
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Complaints must be taken seriously
They must be resolved.
The business must learn from them.
The business should try to implement improvements as a
result of learning from the complaints.
ian tyson
“..an expression of dissatisfaction..”
Perhaps the customer is just in a bad mood;
perhaps the customer has just taken a dislike to
the sales person; perhaps the customer is just
trying to get something for nothing!
Does it matter if the customer is
justified in their complaint?
[Discussion]
ian tyson
“..an expression of dissatisfaction..”
If the customer is not happy that is bad for business. This is a
situation that needs to be reversed.
The customer feels the need to complain; why? What can be
learned from this? What can we do better?
A complaining customer is still a customer. They have not
given up on the business; the business should not give up on
them.
“The customer is always right”… but if the customer is
unreasonable in their demands; if they just want something
for nothing, then they can longer be thought of as a customer.
The last resort is a polite: “sorry, but we are unable to help
you”.
ian tyson
“..an expression of dissatisfaction……
…… to a responsible party”
Who is the responsible party?
Who should be equipped to deal
with complaining customers?
ian tyson
It is the business/organisation that is responsible!
Everyone who works in that organisation needs
to take the complainer seriously.
If staff are left frustrated because the customer
“takes it out on them” and they think “it’s not
my fault; what can I do?”; then there is
something lacking in the customer
complaint strategy.
ian tyson
Customer Care Does Not Just Happen!
Mistakes happen. Complaints will happen.
Either you get frustrated and hurt by complaints, or you learn
from them and raise your standards.
Angry customers + powerless staff + out of touch =
management
ian tyson
Is it a good thing if there are no complaints?
What kind of customer complains?
What kind of customer doesn’t complain?
ian tyson
Thank you for complaining!
Customer complaints provide valuable information about your
business. You will see things from an unbiased customers
perspective.
Solving a customer problem will give insight into improving
the business.
If you don’t receive complaints then you must be doing
everything right … ..
….. or perhaps that is best assumed from the never ending
positive feedback!
ian tyson
Customers who don’t complain..
are either very happy with the service or….
It is estimated that only half of all customers who
have a problem will not complain because:
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It’s too difficult
Lack confidence
Afraid of the outcome
Fear of retribution
Nothing to gain
based on research from expert John Goodwin:
http://www.toistersolutions.com/blog/2013/8/19/5-reasons-why-angry-customers-dontcomplain
ian tyson
You will learn nothing from a customer who did
not come back again because they were
unhappy with how they were treated; waited
too long to be served, or could not get the
information they needed; but never complained.
What can you learn from a customer who
complains?
ian tyson
Reactive to Customer Complaints
Some customer complaint strategies are about reacting to complaints
as they happen.
In many public organisations (and some private industries like banking)
it a legal obligation to have a complaints procedure.
A complaints procedure should be available on demand and should
give a step by step process of how to lodge a formal complaint and
how to appeal a decision made on the complaint.
Renfrewshire council complaints procedure:
http://www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/webcontent/home/services/council+and+government/consultations,+complaints+and
+contacts/ce-jl-help-us-to-help-you
ian tyson
A strategy that reacts to a
customer complaint:
• Stay calm.
• Listen
• Acknowledge the problem
• Clarify and record the facts
• Find a solution
The customer may be given a procedure to follow,
may be asked to direct the complaint to a customer
care professional, or may be asked to submit the
com plaint in writing.
ian tyson
Proactive to Customer Complaints
Encouraging customers to leave feedback on
products and services may be seen as inviting
complaints (as well as praise).
Many companies now have closely monitored social
networking sites, on-line chat and dedicated forums
to proactively identify problems in the early stages.
Many businesses now phone, text or email
customers for feedback after having done business
with them.
ian tyson
Feedback
In order to achieve worthwhile feedback you
must ask appropriate questions in the right
format.
Closed questions will attract quantitative data.
(data that can be measured)
Open questions will attract qualitative data
(opinions and feelings)
ian tyson
Proactive Customer Care Strategy
• Empower and encourage customer facing staff to be
proactive in solving customer’s problems.
• Have a customer focused ethos throughout the
organisation
• Ask customers for feedback
• Record, monitor and evaluate customer complaints
• Acknowledge and announce mistakes before the customer
complains
• Have customer loyalty incentives
• Be attentive to social networking
• On-line FAQs and information to allow customers to help
themselves
ian tyson