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HOW TO HANDLE CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS
By Bernice B. Johnston

Complaint management is not about making the customer happy. Happiness is not having a complaint at all — ever. Happiness is exceeding the customer’s expectations. But once expectations are not met, once there is a problem, once there is a concern, once the customer has to return an item because something went haywire (whether you went haywire or the customer went haywire), happiness becomes an elusive goal. Once there is a complaint, your goal is to help the customer be successful with the options now available.

WHY DO PEOPLE ACT THE WAY THEY DO?
Many customer’s actions totally baffle us, but people do come with instructions! The problem is that we don’t pay any more attention to people instructions than we do to dishwasher instructions, or kite building instructions or the instructions that came with the car

While the obvious does not always tell us what it seems to, there are clues on how to approach or communicate with one another. In the field of customer relations, date-gathering skills are critical. Each piece of information guides you toward the best way of getting your messages across. Getting your message across and with understanding takes time and interest in your receiver. Patience doesn’t hurt, either!

THE ‘ACT-AS-IF’ PRINCIPLE
When you’re on the phone, you must act as if the customer is sitting before you, face-to-face. The greatest barriers to effective phone communication are attention-diverters, not the customer’s attention, but yours! Nearly 50% of the information about your customer’s state-of-mind comes from the words used and the vocal qualities (pitch, tone, speed and volume). A short daydream or a wave at a colleague across the room may distract you just enough to miss the key to your customer’s success.

PERCEPTION IS THE TRUTH
It doesn’t matter what the facts are, it is what the customer believe them to be. You can make customers see your point of view or you can see it from theirs. The latter is better and easier — start with; your customer is.

FIX THE PROBLEM, DON’T FIX BLAME
It does not matter who did it — you, your company or the customer. Fix it first, then figure out what or who went wrong.

DON’T TAKE IT PERSONALLY
Your customer is swearing at the situation or the company, not at you. (After all, if he really knew you, he might even have a better name to call you!). It’s your choice: once you tell him you don’t like his language, you have chosen to personalize it. If he swore at you in Russian and you don’t understand the language, would you be offended then?

DON’T CONFESS YOUR SINS
Most of us get into trouble not from talking too much, but from telling too much. Customers need only to know what you’re going to do to ease their situations. They don’t need to know your problems; they have enough of their own. They don’t have to know your computer isn’t working. But unless you tell him, the customer doesn’t even know you have a computer. What did you do before computers? “Mr. Customer, it will take me a few minutes. I’ll call you back within the hour with the information.”

APPLY THE PLATINUM RULE
Treat others the way they want to be treated. This rule differs from the Golden Rule you learned as a child: Do unto others as you would have them do unto to. The Golden Rule would be great if the world was just like you, but it’s not. You have to individualize each complaint as unique to that customer.

Article reprinted from ‘Real World Customer Service’ by Bernice B. Johnston. To order, contact Sourcebooks, Inc. at 630-961-3900 or fax to 630-961-2168.

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Post Office Box 101
Wheaton, IL 60189 USA
Telephone: 630-653-7368
Fax: 630-653-2637
Email: karting@msn.com

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