Nobody wants to handle complaints, but it’s part of running a business and the important thing is how you handle them.

Complaints can actually provide you with opportunities to build relationships, showcase your customer service skills and improve processes moving forward- but that’s only if your complaints procedure is approached in the right way.

Not Happy? Right This Way…

This is a no-brainer for anyone who’s tried to raise a complaint with a company but spent 20 mins searching for the phone number or email address to no avail. You were already annoyed about the issue you want to raise but now you’ve wasted precious time and energy searching for the right way to make contact, which only adds to your frustration and ill-feeling towards the company.

Make it easy for customers to complain. Make contact details clear and provide social media support, live chat functions and other quick-fire routes wherever possible. If you can’t keep your office phone or call centre queues to an absolute minimum then you may well need to look at modern alternatives.

Act Fast and Keep Track

The time taken to respond to a complaint has a huge effect on the demeanour of your riled customer. Respond as soon as possible and use auto-responses to set expectations.

Once the ball is rolling, keep track of communications and, if at all possible, ensure the complaint is dealt with by one representative from start to finish. If the complaint needs to be escalated or handled by another department, make sure the full detail of any progress thus far is well documented and handed over to avoid forcing the customer to repeat themselves as “72% of consumers see having to explain their problem to multiple people as poor customer service.” Dimensional Research

Get to the Root of the Issue

Staff should be trained to gently and conversationally gain more detail from the customer by asking relevant questions. This does not mean reading from a script or interrogating them, it means using well placed and well-timed questioning to get to the heart of the issue.

Bookending questions with apologies and reasoning can smooth the transitions nicely e.g. “I’m so sorry to hear our in-store representative let you down today- can I ask what it was about her behaviour that specifically upset you so we can speak with her about your experience?”

Some customers may be enraged when they first contact you, but some normal human interaction and gentle prying can bring them down to earth and get you the detail you need to understand the situation in full.

Invite Them to Propose a Resolution

The aim with complaint handling is to send the customer away diffused and with a positive view of the company, so why not ask them what outcome they’re looking for? The timing of this question is vital- it should only be asked once you’ve built rapport and the customer is calm. Ask it at the wrong time and you may get ridiculous requests for sackings and huge monetary compensation.

Asked at the right time, it can bring the customer round to your way of thinking and diffuse their anger. Some may want to ensure their issue doesn’t arise for other people, in which case you can suggest that further staff training may be of use. Others may ask for compensation, refunds or discounts- consider these options and appease where possible if the complaint is valid as, according to Esteban Kolsky (CEO of thinkjar), “attracting a new customer is 6-7 times more expensive than retaining a current one.” HuffPost

Accept Feedback and Make Changes

Taking constructive feedback on the chin and learning from mistakes is so important for the growth and success of any business. Repeating the same mistakes will only annoy and potentially lose you customers while bogging down your staff in complaints.

According to Harvard Business Review, “increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%” so address the issues as they arise and share any lessons learned with the appropriate teams, ensuring staff are trained in line with any changes that need to be made.