Treat Complaints as Opportunities

You must work harder than ever to satisfy customers. They may not give you a second chance if you annoy or disappoint them. In fact, they may tell lots of people about their bad experience with your organization.

A frustrated customer will complain to 12 others about a poor service experience, according to the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs. Yet only 5 percent of those customers will alert the company of their dissatisfaction. That means the silent majority of shoppers simply walk away without giving you a chance to fix what’s broken.

Smart companies treat complaints like treasures. They make it easy for consumers to express opinions—both likes and dislikes—by offering many communication channels (toll-free phone numbers, fax, email, staffed service desk, extended service hours etc.). Once they learn of a complaint, they pounce on it and respond promptly.

Here are three cost-effective reasons to treat complaints as opportunities:

  1. The bottom-line payoff. Organizations that handle complaints effectively can charge between 8 percent and 15 percent more for their products and services for their competitors, says Paul R. Timm, author of 50 Powerful Ideas You Can Use to Keep Your Customers. Customer-focused companies such as Maytag and Ritz-Carlton Hotels can resist price wars in part by promising 24-hour responsiveness to any complaint–and earning a reputation as a premium provider of customer care.
  2. The goodwill spreads. When you handle a complaint well, word spreads. The mollified customer will become an ambassador of goodwill, telling others about the positive outcome. These customers are like gold, as they attract more customers to your company.
  3. The loyalty factor. Once you prove to a complaining customer that you want to hear what you did wrong, and you intend to make up for it, you buy that person’s long-term loyalty. More than half of the customers who complain and receive a prompt, personal response from a company will return for repeat business, while the odds of retaining grumpy customers who don’t feel their complaints were handled properly fall precipitously.

From Achieving Excellence in Customer Service, Briefings Publishing Group, Briefings.com.