Nobody particularly enjoys dealing with customer complaints. When an angry email lands in your inbox or you see an unhappy face approaching your counter, it’s easy to feel somewhat aggrieved by the energy being thrown at you. In some cases, it’s enough to make your stomach drop. Yet these situations often present a decent opportunity to change a disappointed customer into a loyal advocate for your business.
It’s one thing to feel put out, but to have your complaint listened to, your issue rectified, and goodwill restored can help you really appreciate a service. It’s all in how you handle it.
Now, keep in mind that anyone can offer a refund or a quick fix. The best approach is in managing these situations in a way that leaves customers feeling truly heard and valued, while also protecting your team’s morale and your business’s reputation. Sometimes, it even means learning to grade complaints – spurious and silly, or genuinely worth your time.
But of course, we must treat all complaints with some kind of merit. Let’s see how to achieve that!
5 Tips For Deftly Handling A Customer Complaint
Listen Without Interrupting
The first few moments of a complaint often set the tone for everything that comes after, and will let you know what kind of complaint you’re dealing with. When customers are upset, they usually need to get their whole story out before they can even think about solutions. Trying to jump in with explanations or defenses too early only tends to escalate things.
Let the customer express their frustration completely, take notes if you need to, and show you’re actively listening through your body language. However, you don’t want to validate everything they say or rush apologies. If it’s an email, you can respond that you’re sorry they had that experience – but don’t necessarily admit fault just yet. Sometimes, just feeling genuinely heard is half the solution they’re looking for.
Take Ownership of the Resolution
Nothing frustrates an unhappy customer more than feeling passed around from person to person, or hearing “that’s not my department” when they’re seeking help. This makes them feel like a complaint isn’t being taken seriously. This can even provoke them to demand a higher authority. In other words, escalate the matter up the chain. I think we’ve all had this experience as a customer at some point, so we know how it feels!
Even if you’re not personally responsible for the issue – and even if you’ll eventually need someone else’s help to fix it – having a direct pathway to having the complaint heard before finding a solution can really help. It’s important to keep the customer updated on your progress, to set very, obviously clear expectations about what you’re doing to help, and follow through on any promises you make, or at least process and escalate the issue to the correct department.
Turn Complaints Into Improvements
Every complaint holds genuinely essential information about where your business might be falling short, and that’s essential to get right. Maybe there’s a gap in your training worth knowing, or a process that needs updating, or a communication issue that needs immediate revision to get right.
You should be taking these insights seriously and using them to make real improvements to show a respect for your customers’ feedback, and then feeding those changes back to the customer. Thanking them can also do a world of good. Even if the customer doesn’t deserve recompense in this instance, you’ll know more clearly why they had the experience they did.
For example, if you notice there have been multiple complaints about the cleanliness of your building, don’t simply apologize and move on. Consider why these complaints keep occurring. Perhaps it’ll inspire you to train your staff more or use more comprehensive cleaning business software that ensures better oversight.
Stay Professional, Even When It’s Personal
Sometimes complaints can feel highly and annoyingly personal, especially when they’re about something you’ve worked hard on or when the customer becomes emotional and perhaps questions your ability. Now, any rudeness or vindictiveness should not be accepted. However, maintaining your professional composure, even in the face of anger or rudeness, is an important thing to get right.
This doesn’t mean being cold either. You can show empathy while still asserting those necessary and appropriate boundaries. Remember that most angry customers are frustrated with a situation, not with you personally. But if they do try to belittle or insult you, a calm reminder that this conduct is not acceptable will be appropriate. Protect your staff on the front lines in this way.
Follow Up After The Fact
After resolving a complaint, many businesses simply move on, and will ignore the customer who had a problem. Yet taking the time to follow up, especially if you’re a small business, shows you truly do care about customer satisfaction after just fixing the immediate issue.
For instance, a quick email or call to check if everything is still going well helps them feel like you remembered them and their experience. Maybe that will ensure they come back next time.
By applying these tips, I hope you can handle customer complaints more effectively and turn challenging issues and frustrations into opportunities for building stronger relationships with your clients. Remember, an unhappy customer will spread their experience like wildfire, so it’s always a good idea to try to rectify any issues and make your customer happy!
Ciao,
Miss Kemya
