Sales & Marketing Management

Handling customer complaints

There will always be customers who complain after completing the sales. Like
customer objections, don't view complaints negatively. Rather they are often a
very good way to:

Û Obtain valuable customer feedback on products

Û Assess customer attitudes to company policies

Û Address customer needs that were not previously identified

In other words, customer complaints can be a good selling opportunity!

Here are some methods for handling customer complaints:

Respond to all complaints promptly.

Ask the customer to state clearly, in

detail, step-by-step, what happened.

When you are satisfied, you have all

the facts, restate the situation to

the customer to make sure there

is no misunderstanding.

Let them get it off their chest first.

This does much to diffuse a great deal

of the customer's anger or

resentment.

At this point, it is often clear what the

customer has done wrong, or where

the fault lies.

Be a good listener. Make a decision quickly. Don't leave

the customer waiting for a

solution.

Interject only occasionally—using

good questioning techniques to

clarify a point or keep things

moving in a logical fashion.

Don't offer an opinion at this point.

If it is the store's fault or a defective

product, then rectify it immediately.

If it is the customer's fault, make sure

they understand clearly, what

happened and how to fix it.

When you feel that they have given a

full statement of their problem, you

may ask a few questions suggested

by their comments.

It is often very good PR to

compromise or help them out of

their problem.

It often does not cost much and the

spin-off word of mouth

advertising is more than worth it.

This is one way to build customer

loyalty and repeat business.