How did you react the last time you received a complaint from a customer? Our first reaction to ‘bad news’ is generally not to leap for joy or respond positively! But what if I told you that in business, we should treat any complaint as ‘customer feedback’ and use it to our advantage?

The way you respond to complaints and feedback tells your customers a great deal about your business. In the first instance, you should reply to the customer within 24 hours (or sooner!), even if that reply is just to say “thank you for contacting us. We are investigating your concern and will get back to you ASAP”. Conversely, if you delay your response (or worse still, fail to respond at all), your customer is likely to get angry at your lack of response and start forming opinions about your company that may or may not be accurate. You are also increasing the likelihood of your customer ranting to others (sometimes on social media) and negative ‘word of mouth’ advertising about your business will spread like wildfire.

So the trick is to genuinely respond to every complaint, and to do so in a timely manner. Often in the first interaction, the customer will need to vent their frustration on you, and provided this doesn’t become abusive, you need to be prepared to listen and thank them for explaining the situation to you. Wherever possible, I recommend that any subsequent communication is put in writing to ensure there is no confusion about what has been said or agreed to.

The other advantage of receiving complaints is that it helps you to improve your business. The complaint may have stemmed from a misunderstanding on the part of the customer – but this is still worth investigating to ensure that no one else has the same experience and that your business is operating in the best way it can.

Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender

Is it possible to keep your customers satisfied all the time? You may work in a particularly complex industry and scoff at such a question! Surely there is no way to keep a 100% customer satisfaction rate.

But why not? If you can honestly say that you aim for each of the following actions, you may find the satisfaction rate of your customers increases exponentially:

1. Fast response is paramount. Surprise your customers by getting back to them within an hour (rather than 24 hours) - and not responding at all is simply not an option! Even if you don’t have the answer, reply to let them know you are working in it. This is such a simple one, but it never cease to amaze me how often businesses are not doing it!
2. Offer solutions and choices. Particularly when a customer comes to you with a complaint, this gives them reassurance and helps them to feel included in resolving the issue.
3. Astound your customers. Don’t just ‘satisfy’ them, but do something well beyond what they expect. This will turn your customers into raving fans and they will remain long term customers. Weave these ‘extras’ into your every day procedures and your business will soon an enviable reputation.
4. Offer compensation. Wherever possible, offer a small compensation for ‘inconvenience caused’ or ‘for their understanding’. Most people are reasonable and you can turn an annoyed customer into one who appreciates when circumstances were out of your control. So often it is the way the process is handled that far outweighs the issue.

Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender