Have you heard of “Accepting humble pie?”

It’s an old saying that deserves consideration.

Complaints and criticisms of your service or business is not always easy to digest. The first vital factor is  remember that this is not about you PERSONALLY, so try not be become immediately defensive and therefore appear a wee bit aggressive. Remain objective, assertive, humble and most of all Listen!

Regardless of how the customer chooses to voice their complaint/s or whether they are right or wrong (and yes the customer isn’t always right) as business owners, we need to take the compliant on-board.  Complaints are a way to track how your staff and your business is tracking, it’s often a measure of what is going well or wrong and it is also a way to find “patterns” and even irregularities in your products or service

 

 

Here are a few helpful hints to assist you to handle complaints in an objective and useful way

• ensure you have a clear complaints process, preferably written and that your staff are aware of how to behave when a complaint is made
• role model to staff how you would like complaints to be handled
• turn complaints into complements, by addressing the issues with humility, style and grace

Complaints are a great way to build strong and lasting customer relationships. It is also a measure of how you are going and how your customers feel. Without the customer we are no longer in business…

 

Ivana Agapiou