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Complain,
Complain
© 2004 By
JoAnna Brandi
Human nature is funny. Put a person in a
room with a "specialist" and they tend to want a little bit
of free advice. My friend Robin, a lawyer, says whenever she
goes to a party someone usually asks for a little legal
advice. My friend Steven, a doctor, says it's always "By the
way Doc, I've got this pain..." And me, the Customer Care
Coach, I get the customer abuse stories. It's hard for
people to resist telling me the last time they got left by
the airline, or the last time a bank teller ignored them.
Although we are constantly being reminded in the business
press and by our consultants about the importance of
treating our customers well and adding value to their
experience - use your own experience as a guide - what's the
state of service today? Judging by my informal polls, not so
good. Even though the American Customer Satisfaction Index
is inching up in some industries, it's inching down in
others. (http://www.theacsi.org).
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In general, most people I talk to think there is plenty of
room for improvement. While customers believe that in many
cases they pay enough to get the highest level of service,
the majority believes that the service reps they deal with
don't care about their needs. Some - especially the tech
savvy - have abandoned traditional channels and embraced
self-service wholeheartedly. Why? "So I don't have to take
the chance of getting some sassy know-nothing person on the
phone after listening to the recorded
we-value-your-business-crap for 15 minutes." That's what a
business consultant friend of mine told me last week, as she
went on to tell me that she avoids customer service
departments "at all costs."
That made me rather sad, since I see the customer service
(and as we call it customer care) function as an important
enhancer to every other part of the company. If service is
good, sales are easier. If service is good marketing is
easier, building on a strong reputation and the experiences
of happy customers. But it seems we are lacking the
consciousness, and the skills, which help create a positive
experience for the customer - every time.
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As a customer, I long for more positive experiences, and
occasionally do complain when I am not satisfied. And I'm
usually bewildered by the less then appreciative stance
companies take when I go out of my way to comment on their
service. Shouldn't we be grateful for complaints? A
complaining customer is doing what many companies hire
consultants and mystery shoppers to do - critique the
service.
Just recently, after I took my time to compose a letter of
complaint to the president of a large office supply dealer,
I received a response - initially apologetic - that took a
turn for the worse when he chose to get defensive and used
my own words out of context against me. He turned an angry
customer into an enraged customer. Uh, not a smart strategy.
Perhaps he went home that night with his ego intact,
thinking he had "won" the argument. What he did do was cause
me to lose the respect I had for him as a leader, and broke
any bond of loyalty I may have had with his company.
Does your company embrace and encourage your customers to
complain? Do you know how to handle feedback in a
non-defensive fashion? Have you made the process of getting
feedback from the customer easy (and maybe even delightful?)
Do you listen intently to what they have to say, correct the
problem and then follow up with your appreciation?
Actually, it's the customers who don't complain that you
really have to worry about. Customers who don't feel like
expending the energy to confront you, or write a letter, or
be bold enough to say to a sassy clerk "There's no reason
for you to treat me so rudely," just slip quietly away - and
with them they take their future business.
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Customers too weary to put in yet another complaint
that doesn't get addressed are the ones that might just be
bad-mouthing you to their business buddies at the next
networking luncheon. In fact studies show that for every
customer that complains 26 more have the same complaint and
are not voicing it, and of course, we all know that an
unhappy customer tells more (many more) than twice as many
people about the experience than he would if he were happy
about it. So much for all the good will you were trying to
build with that last advertising campaign. The power of the
internet makes it possible to tell 6,000 of your best
buddies about the lousy service you got yesterday. While not
many people do that, the "viral" quality of the internet
makes it possible even when it's not intended.
One of the reasons customers don't complain is because they
have tried in the past and haven't gotten much satisfaction
from the experience. What is your expectation when you
complain? That someone will listen patiently, not be
defensive, apologize, solve your problem and take the time
to say thank you. That's what mine is. Was that your
experience that last time you complained to one of your
vendors? Even more importantly was that your customer's
experience the last time they complained to you?
I urge you to take this opportunity to look at the process
you have designed to deal with your customer's complaints
(and feedback) and see if it reflects the level of customer
caring and appreciation you would most like to portray. From
my experience as a consultant, researcher, and writer on the
subject of Customer Care - my guess is your process might
benefit from a little improvement. Remember to "Dare to
Caresm" about those customers!!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
JoAnna Brandi is Publisher of the Customer Care Coac® a
weekly training program on mastering "The Art and Science of Exquisite
Customer Care." She is the author of "Winning at Customer Retention, 101
Ways to Keep 'em Happy, Keep 'em Loyal and Keep 'em Coming Back" and
"Building Customer Loyalty - 21 Essential Elements in ACTION" she writes
a free email tip on customer caring. You can sign up at
http://www.customercarecoach.com and
http://www.customerretention.com |
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