Customer Care

5. Value Those Complaints

Unless you listen out for complaints and grumbles, you may be genuinely unaware of what you need to improve.

Only one in ten of all dissatisfied customers ever bothers to complain.

5.1 Encourage complaints and deal with them effectively. Some successful retailers have pre-printed feedback forms on the back of every receipt.

• Show sympathy - apologise for the fact that the customer is upset ('I'm sorry to hear that you are disappointed').
• Listen to what the customer has to say.
• Establish the facts.
• Agree what you will do.
• Give your name, so customers know who is taking responsibility for the problem.
• Keep the customer informed as you promptly and politely sort out the difficulty.

5.2 If you just listen, and sympathise, you are immediately well on the way to turning the complainer into a committed customer.

• If you do not listen - or are defensive - the complaint will escalate. The customer will not buy from you again and may also try to put other people off buying.

5.3 Give your frontline employees the authority to deal quickly with complaints themselves.

• Well-handled complaints are a great way of creating loyal customers.