Hi there,
It is often said that there is only one boss in an organization and that one boss can fire everyone in an organization from the Chairman to the most junior staff of a company. That boss is the customer, and he fires everyone by spending his money somewhere else. Welcome to another Productivity Wednesday.
The easiest way to lose customers is not handling complains properly or not dealing with the complains at all. It is common to find people complain about poor service than you find people complimenting organizations for great service. Thanks to social media for making this a little better, as customers comment on organizations’ services and even leave review on social media platforms and organizations’ websites. Well, as it is often said, most times, when everything goes well, we consider it as normal but once anything goes wrong then everything goes berserk. We often see customers who complain as problematic or troublesome but in actual sense, these customers value our businesses.
Complains are reviews, goldmines of information to improve on your products and services. A customer’s complaint highlights a problem, whether that is a problem with your product, internal processes, or employees, and by hearing these problems directly from your customers, you can investigate and improve to prevent further complaints in the future. A research carried out by Harvard Business Review shows that, customers become loyal and even brand ambassadors when their complains are handled appropriately and promptly. How then can we handle customers complains?
Customers complains are handled in simple steps in an acronym “EVOLVE”
- E – Empathize and look for early warning signs: Be intentional and customer focused in creating your products and providing services. Be sure to look out for loopholes in the products or services and be deliberate about knowing your type of customers. Put yourself in the clients’ or customers’ shoes; feel what they feel but be careful not to move from empathy to sympathy.
- V – Value the customer’s Voice: Every customer’s voice matters. Never dismiss a client complains even if you have heard the same complain time and again. Show concern and listen to them attentively and if need be, take notes so you don’t miss out any information.
- O – Offer Solutions and Alternatives: When your customer has a legitimate complaint, you need to find the root cause and solve it. You can also offer alternatives in place of the solutions if need be. If the complains has occurred repeatedly, find a lasting solution to ensure that the complaint doesn’t arise again.
- L – Lead the way. Be your customer’s mentor.
- V – Add value: Go the extra mile, follow up with the client. There is no traffic for going the extra mile as great service comes from the heart.
- E – End on a positive note: Apologize sincerely and appreciate their patronage. Apologies are important than compensations.
Never get tired of receiving customers complains as they are a necessary tool for improving your business practices. When customers are dissatisfied with your service but do not complain, they stop doing business with you.
You can reach out to 21Search on trainings for efficient customer relationship management. Send us an email today to get a quote.
Until I come your way again, stay safe and work smart and not just hard.
Love,
Lizzy.