Seth Godin recently wrote an article challenging the assumption that a customer complaint is bad.
Oftentimes, when we get a customer complaint, we go into crisis mode. It might even feel like the end of the world has come!!
So slow down, take a deep breath (maybe 2 or 3 even) and open up your mind. How about looking at this as an opportunity for improvement? Did you know that the Chinese meaning of crisis also bears the meaning of opportunity?
Now take a moment to reframe the situation. Ask yourself a couple of important questions:
- Is the complaint even valid or realistic?
- What might have occurred if you did not get that customer complaint?
- Would the customer have continued being a customer?
- Did any person, system or process cause, or contribute the complaint? If so, fix it.
- Are we trying to put a square peg in a round hole? In other words, is this customer the right fit for us? (Can we serve them well?) If not, apologize and move on from this customer.
Instead of seeing the complaint as whining, put yourself in the shoes of the customer. Realize that a complaint is a gift in disguise. It gives us a way to improve.
We certainly hope you will be bold enough to face a complaint head on and manage it the best way possible.
And if you EVER see us faltering in any way, please speak up. We want to hear from you and improve as well…
