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Website development - Turn Customer Complaints into Assets |
How many times have you, as a customer, complained about
something to someone. The big banks in South Africa
probably come to mind immediately.
Visiting my bank the
other day (which I try to avoid with a passion) was the
usual expected experience. Staff walk around with faces
that prove they have been verbally battered over the
years. They avoid eye contact with you as much as
possible. "Heaven help me that this person may ask me a
question", kind of expression. What the banks and most
of the other companies in South Africa don't understand
is that customers may get frustrated but with the right
plan in action these issues can be turned to an
advantage.
As happened by me when the only person who
actually spoke to me was the foreign currency lady, Gail
- yes I remember her name! I wanted to discuss a home
loan which had nothing to do with her. She stopped doing
what she was being paid to do to assist me. She made
some phone calls and eventually put me on the right
track. Wow my impression of the bank changed immediately
and in particular I wanted to hug Gail for being so
helpful!
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The following article explains how customer complaints
can be turned to an advantage: |
Virtually every organization encounters customer
complaints from time to time. Sometimes it is easy to
get caught up in the complaints and to lose track of how
many satisfied customers say nothing at all. Even worse,
sometimes it is hard to remember just how valuable a
customer complaint can be to the organisation. Contrary
to how it may feel to be the recipient of a customer
complaint, it is a wonderful opportunity if embraced
with commitment and integrity. You can turn customer
complaints into valuable assets.
First, it is important to recognize that the majority of
customers who complain are loyal customers who care
about your business.
Customers who take the time to complain are also taking
the time to tell you what went wrong with your process,
your product or your communication. It takes some effort
for a customer to contact you and tell you how the
product, process or communications did not live up to
expectations. This is an opportunity to reward the
customer for taking the time to contact you and to learn
how you can make internal improvements. If you can fix
the problem for one complaining customer it may help
many other customers, including the ones who never
contacted you.
Loyal customers believe that you want to know what went
wrong, and trust you to make it right. Loyal customers
give you a chance to fix the issue. If one customer
complains, it is typically an indication that there are
several more with the same experience. If a complaining
customer is irate, it is because the customer is
disappointed. If there are other disappointed customers
who do not call, you can bet that those customers have
already given up on you. Customers who are disappointed
and do not complain are already lost, but you have a
chance to save the ones who are loyal enough to give you
the opportunity to respond.
The complaining customer trusts you to care.
The complaining customer trusts you to care, this is why
the customer contacted you. Don't avoid them, embrace
them. If a customer does not contact you, it does not
mean that they did not experience a similar issue. The
customers who to not trust you, or do not believe that
you will care, do not take the time to contact you.
Customers with similar issues who do not contact you are
already lost. The customers who do take the time to
complain are the most loyal customers because they
believe in you, in spite of the problem that they are
experiencing.
Remember that the customer is not complaining about you,
they are expressing the dissatisfaction to you. You are
not the problem, you are the solution. Rather than
perceiving the customer frustration as a personal
attack, think of yourself as a person that the customer
is coming to for help. How you respond to the
complaining customer will determine the long term
loyalty of the customer. Take care of a customer who
takes time to communicate with you, and you may preserve
the loyalty. Let them go, and they will communicate the
experience to many other potential customers.
Turn complaints into assets.
Fix the customer and then fix the problem. Your first
priority should be to understand the personal impact of
the problem with your customer. It may be that the
frustration expressed by the customer is the result of
some dynamic impact other than the issue itself. The
customer may feel mislead by communications, betrayed by
the organisation, or suffered some other impact as the
result of the original problem. Listen to the underlying
message of the complaint so you can identify what it
will take to reassure the customer and address the
specific needs.
Once you understand the root cause of the complaint, you
may have an opportunity to implement changes that could
avoid a reoccurrence of the problem. This may be your
opportunity to increase customer satisfaction at an
exponential rate.. If you can not eliminate the problem,
at least you can use the experience to prepare a
responsible solution for other customers who may have
the same complaint. If it can not be eliminated, at
least you can plan and prepare.
Preserve loyal customers who take the time to complain.
Use the experience to eliminate defects, plan for
countermeasures and responses.
How much money is invested in sales efforts, marketing,
advertising and the acquisition of new customers? How
much are you prepared to invest in the customers who
have experienced a problem due to your organization and
still trust you enough to take care of them?
Words of Wisdom
"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of
learning." - Bill Gates
"Too many people think only of their own profit. But
business opportunity seldom knocks on the door of
self-centered people. No customer ever goes to a store
merely to please the storekeeper." - Kazuo Inamori
"The customer doesn't expect everything will go right
all the time; the big test is what you do when things go
wrong." - Sir Colin Marshall
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