Handling Customer Complaints Positively

As a manager or business owner, it is inevitable that you will receive customer complaints. Whether the complaints are about price, product, quality, or service, it is your duty to resolve the customer complaints positively and to make the outcome one that will benefit the company in an affirmative and constructive manner.

Bill Gates knew that your “most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” And because of this knowledge, and by taking the appropriate actions, he is now one of the wealthiest men in the world.

If you know how to handle customer complaints in a positive way, then becoming as successful as Bill Gates could become a reality.  Shopper Approved is an online customer service software company that prides themselves of the positive outcome they receive from their customers. With a 99% satisfaction rate, they prove that they know all about customer service, and how to help their shoppers approve of their business model.

When a customer gives your company a verbal or written complaint, these complaints should be dealt with immediately. If the customer is giving a verbal complaint in person, the manager, owner, or customer service specialist should instantly present themselves to the scene to listen and assist. If your customers feel that you are trying to solve the problem as it is happening, they will be more willing to calm down and come to an amicable resolution. If you keep your customers waiting, it allows for the issue to potentially build and fester into a larger issue.

We should always be positive when handling a customer complaint. If you see it as a mistake, but address it in a way that will build your relationship with the customer without degrading or down talking your company, then they customer will then see your reaction as encouraging and there is a good chance that he or she will want to continue his or her relationship with your company. It is amazing what you can achieve just by keeping the glass half full.

If you and your staff are struggling with handling and organizing customer complaints, check in with Shopper Approved and to uncover the benefits that customer satisfaction surveys can provide. Your business will continue to grow when you know how to handle customer complaints. 

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.