Why you need to welcome client complaints... ...and what to do about them when you get them
Getting a complaint from a client is never a very pleasant experience. But putting things right can win you a friend for life. When you bear in mind that a typical business hears from only 4% of its dissatisfied customers, the other 96% just go away never to return, you start to understand why welcoming client complaints is something we should all consider.
So what actions can you take to both prevent complaints in the first place and turn complaining clients into advocates?
Let’s start with a few truisms. “You can’t please all of the people, all of the time”, so you are bound to get some complaints. Whilst you might feel some are completely unfounded, others will reflect on a problem you know exists and sometimes we feel a degree of frustration at having been ‘caught out’. Turning a blind eye doesn’t work, and when you consider that those who complain are just the tip of the iceberg then they are worth listening to.
“Some people just like to moan”. Well , yes, that’s true too but nine out of ten times even a ‘moaner’ has a point to make that we need to listen to.
“A complaint is a personal slight on my abilities”. It’s human nature to feel this way if a client complains about your work, your fees or how available you are to them. It’s not nice, but we need to find a way of removing the personal feelings and listen to what the client thinks and feels.
Prevention is better than cure
Rather than jumping straight in to considering how to handle client complaints let’s consider how we can prevent them. We could get all worthy here and talk about providing exceptional customer services, working to the principle of the customer is always right and so on. But these are just fine words. There are some practical steps to take when it comes to preventing complaints.
Set clear, ideally measurable expectations
Lots of complaints, especially in professional services, originate from a failure to set clear expectations with the client. This ranges from not being clear what the charges would be, to failing to explain how long something would take and not agreeing the best method of communication.
Having a published set of service standards can help both parties have clarity over the service that is to be provided. A clear engagement letter, email or contract which sets out how much the client will be charged, how frequently they will be billed and what the fees will cover is essential. A written communication however does not negate the need to discuss fees with the client.
Don’t fall into the trap of assuming that just because you have been working with a client for a while the expectations are clear. Their priorities may have changed and their view of your service may have too. It’s useful to set in place a regular review process where you discuss with them progress made, expectations met and any future plans so that you can realign your service to their needs.
Ask about service
It’s rare to get complaints about the product or service you provide. Most complaints are about the way that product or service is delivered. So make a point of asking your clients about the service they receive. Whether that’s via an annual client survey, a questionnaire you send at the end of an event or piece of work or something as simple as a yes/no question at the end of each contact to confirm whether there is anything they would like to see improved.
By pooling this knowledge you will be able to see areas that need improvement, areas causing frustration for clients and be able to prioritise your actions to prevent complaints.
Setting expectations and asking clients for their opinion are steps you can take to prevent complaints but what do you need to do to handle any complaints that you do get?
Complaints: manage them, don’t avoid them
Follow a set procedure
Set up a complaints policy and procedure, making it clear to everyone in the business that the purpose of the procedure is to learn from what clients tell us and make improvements.
Decide who in the business will deal with complaints at different stages, you may need an escalation procedure for more serious complaints. Be clear how complaints are to be categorised so that you have some useful intelligence to work with.
Record and measure
Unless you have a proper system for recording and measuring the number and type of complaints you get you won’t know how big or small a problem you have or what common themes or issues your complaints highlight.
To learn properly from complaints you actually need to welcome them. You need to make it easy for clients to tell you when they are not happy. The alternative is that they will defect, and according to research, tell at least 8 other people about their bad experience.
Keep clear and accurate records of all complaints. It’s often the small ‘moan’ about service or gripe about not returning phone calls that escalates and becomes a full scale complaint or results in ill feeling. If you have proper records and a formal procedure it’s so much easier to manage, and defend yourself. Not, I hasten to add, that this should be your first thought when dealing with a complaint but I do accept that you will have clients who in their anger and frustration will make claims that are untrue. For example they will say they spoke to someone who made promises to sort things out, offered a refund or said they would call them back later that day. If you have kept a detailed record of all contact you will know that in actual fact you told them you would need 2 days to look into things and would then be able to consider what action you would take.
Handle with care
The way that you handle each individual complaint is critical if you want to (1) learn and improve and (2) turn an ‘enemy’ into an advocate. These 5 steps will help:
Learn from what you’ve been told
Annoying as they may be to deal with, complaints should be welcomed. They highlight what matters most to clients and what problems, if solved could result in more business (remember 96% of customers with a gripe don’t complain they just leave or don’t buy again).
Look at complaints on a regular basis, monthly or quarterly as a minimum and depending on the size of your business, at team or department level as well as for the business as a whole. Demonstrate that, as a business you take complaints seriously and want to make improvements to prevent them in the future and involve your people in coming up with solutions.
If it helps your business why not have different grades for complaints: moans, gripes and full blown complaints. The aim being to welcome and deal with the moans and the gripes to prevent them escalating into full blown complaints. Further reading:
Written by Teresa Harris, Second Opinion Marketing. Teresa is an independent marketing consultant working with professional practices, small businesses and public sector bodies to develop effective marketing plans which achieve their business objectives. As a marketing coach Teresa works with new marketing managers and small business owners to enhance their marketing performance. Contact Teresa on 01789 740396 or by email. Practical Marketing is emailed monthly to subscribers. If it has been sent to you in error we apologise. You can unsubscribe here. Practical Marketing is emailed monthly to subscribers. If it has been sent to you in error we apologise. You can unsubscribe here. For more ideas, tips and articles visit www.secondopinionmarketing.co.uk © Second Opinion Marketing 2011. All rights reserved. Second Opinion Marketing 73 Banbury Road Ettington CV37 7SR ©2011 Second Opinion Marketing. All Rights Reserved.
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