Dread Customer Complaints? Here's What to Do!

No business owner or employee escapes dealing with customer complaints. The trick to dealing with unhappy customers is to somehow turn a negative into a positive for both you and the customer. Complaints often open the door to more efficient business practices that benefit you and your business in the long run. Handling complaints in a positive way also increases the likelihood that a customer will stick with you and not go elsewhere.

Here are some tips for dealing effectively with customer complaints:

• Listen to your customer: It's easy to react defensively when you're dealing with an angry customer. Don't do it. Two angry people accomplish nothing. Keep your cool. One of the best methods to diffuse a tense situation is first to listen, then calmly repeat in your own words what you believe your customer just said. Repeating and listening to the ensuing comments enhances your understanding of the situation and lets the customer know you are listening to what they have to say.
• Determine the source of the problem: Did you or one of your employees mess up? Is there a problem with a subcontractor or manufacturer? Satisfying a complaining customer may be as easy as replacing a product or fixing a gap in service. 
• Be honest and open: If you are responsible for substandard products or services, be honest. Don't try to shift the blame to someone else. Take responsibility for the problem and offer solutions.
• Offer complainants something of value: Whether you feel the complaint is legitimate or not, offer something of value to the customer after you fix the original problem. Give them a discount on a future purchase, a free item or account credit. Keeping a current customer is much more cost-efficient than finding a new one, so do whatever it takes to keep the one you already have. 
• Use complaints as a path to grow: I recently read of a restaurant that turned a bad Yelp review into a clever marketing campaign. A patron posted that the restaurant had the worst burger in town. The restaurant bragged about the review on their Facebook page and invited followers to come in and experience the worst burger in town for themselves. Not everyone would feel comfortable boasting about a bad Yelp review, but complaints give you a unique opportunity to analyze practices and come up with more efficient methods of doing business. I'll bet the restaurant makes one mean burger these days. 

Sure, there will be the occasional customer who uses the situation to get something for nothing. It's even okay to "fire" customers sometimes. Most of the time, however, complaining customers respond positively to efforts to resolve problems if they feel listened to and valued. In fact, former complainers often become a business's biggest online and word-of-mouth advertisers. Look at each complaint as an opportunity to grow.