Handling Customer Complaints: From Sour to Satisfied

Sometimes customers and people in general can be a pain; stubborn, uncooperative and insubordinate. However, as a business owner or manager over customer service, you have the responsibility to make customers with complaints into loyal customers.

But how do you change your customers’ attitudes from being sour to being satisfied?
I have worked in customer service for seven years and I have absorbed several strategies for making angry customers happy. Here they are:

1. Initially, don’t say a word. The best thing to do when dealing with an angry, venting customer is to simply listen. Don’t try to talk; don’t try to solve anything right off the bat, just listen. Often times all the customer needs is someone to hear them out. After they get everything off their chest, they will feel relieved, and then it will be much easier for you to relate to them and explain your policies and handle customer complaints more efficiently.
2. Help the customer feel that you care about them and are genuinely interested in solving the issue in their favor. If the customer feels like you are on their side, they will instantly become more understanding and corporative. The best thing you can do immediately after being ‘scolded’ by your customer is to say, “Let me see if I understand you, Joe.” And then repeat back what you heard him say.
3. Make a Friend. If your customers feel close to you, like they can trust you, they are going to be more willing to listen to you and understand what you are explaining to them. Always build rapport with your customers. One of the best ways to do this is to learn a little about them and always call them by name. Make them feel important to you and to your business. If a person trusts your company and you personally, not only will you make more sales and profit, but you will also create a bond of loyalty with your company.
4. Offer extra support. You always want a back up route to make your customers satisfied. Customer surveys are an excellent way to do that! If you offer your customers a chance to talk to you and then fill out a satisfaction survey as well, they will feel like their opinions really do matter, because they do. Give your customers a chance to vent through email systems and customer satisfaction surveys.

Handling customer complaints can be tricky and stressful, unless you know some of the necessary techniques needed to make your customers happy. So remember to listen, let customers with complaints know that you understand the issue, build rapport with them, and offer them customer surveys. As you do this you will create excellent customer service and make satisfied customers out of sour ones.