Do you love complaints from customers? How do you respond to complaints? If you’re like most businesses, you do whatever possible to make things right and then keep moving along. However, should you give complaints more weight? Some business experts believe that for every complaint you hear, there are twenty more customers who had the same issue but didn’t bother to contact you. If you can learn to love complaints, you will get access to a wealth of free, valuable advice.
Many business owners worry about finding marketing consultants and branding assistance when they can get invaluable feedback from customers for free. When you love complaints, you learn how to listen to upset customers, find the systemic or minor issues that are causing problems and find ways to fix them. And, you won’t be spending money on consultants. You know what to fix by simply addressing complaints. That is the magic of learning how to properly utilize complaints.
When you get used to communicating with your customers, it becomes easier to prevent future complaints. You gain customer loyalty when you get complaints and then find ways to fix them.
In our industry, for example, we cannot always deliver reports as quickly as we would like due to constraints imposed by court clerks which are outside of our control. Some employees have common names and require additional research. In the interest of never reporting false or misleading information, required due diligence can take more time to return results. Instead of staying silent we go to great lengths to communicate reasons for delays.
How can you start taking advantage of complaints? First, when you love complaints, you make it easy for customers to submit their concerns. It’s a good idea to offer multiple contact methods, including a phone number, email and contact page on your website.
James P. Randisi, President of Randisi & Associates, Inc., has since 1999 been helping employers protect their clients, workforce and reputation through implementation of employment screening and drug testing programs. This post does not constitute legal advice. Randisi & Associates, Inc. is not a law firm. Always contact competent employment legal counsel. Mr. Randisi can be contacted by phone at 410.494.0232 or Email: info@randisiandassociates.com or the website at randisiandassociates.com
