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Dealing with customer complaints intelligently
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What is your attitude to customer complaints? Do you perceive a complaint as an unnecessary evil in the marketplace or do you see it as a platform for improving your business services or products. Whatever your disposition towards complaints, one thing is certain, you will ultimately see the results of the way you handle them in your business performance.
In this article, I will be sharing with you some strategies that can be used to deal with complaints intelligently. Successful businesses have mastered the art of using these strategies and there is no reason why you can’t do the same. But before we begin to examine these strategies closely, there are a number of key points we must first establish.
How do you rate your customers in the scale of things that matters to you? Are they at the top of your priority list or is the desire for big profits the most important in your list. It is a well-known fact that businesses exist to service their customers. Without customers, businesses have no relevance in the marketplace. So why do some businesses forget such a salient point- something that is so fundamental to their very existence.
Businesses that understand the need to service their customers properly through the effective resolution of their problems will ultimately thrive over those that do not. After all, it is the customers that pay the bills. Your customers’ perception of your business is very crucial to its survival. Regardless of what your Board of Directors, Staff or Shareholders think about your products or services, if the customers think your products are good, then guess what, they are, and vice versa.
So how do successful businesses handle complaints intelligently? One strategy used is known as the “LAST Model”. Let me now summarise this model for you -L= Listen, A= Act, S=Solve and T= Thanks. This may seem such a simple model, but in reality many businesses do not follow it. The “LAST model” simply advocates that customers must be treated with respect when they complain about your services or products. One way to show respect towards them is to listen to their complaints actively with genuine intention to resolve them amicably. Remember, customers have no obligation to give you any feedback in the first place. It is much easier for them to take their customs elsewhere than to spend their precious time providing you with feedback which will only benefit you. The benefits of listening to your customers are tremendous. Firstly, it is an opportunity to find out what is wrong with your business, so that you can fix it and become a great business in the marketplace. Secondly, it is also an opportunity to engage in meaningful interaction with your customers, as part of your product and service development processes.
When it comes to listening, it is important that we do not confuse this with hearing. Active listening involves focus and attention to the information being communicated from the perspective of the customer. It is not an opportunity for you to defend your position but rather to understand the perspective of your customers so that you can solve their problems more effectively. Provided you listen very well, you can then act appropriately to solve the problems. After solving the problems, by all means show some gratitude and thank your customers for their time in sharing their concerns with you. Looking at this model carefully, I am sure you will agree that your customers will be more than happy to continue doing business with you if they are able to share their concerns openly without fear of being treated badly.
Why don’t you try implementing these strategies today in your business? For more information on how you can develop your listening and problem solving skills, why don’t you send an email to
sheila@businessservicessupport.com
Sheila Elliott is the managing director of Business Services Support Limited.
http://www.businessservicessupport.com/
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