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Turn complaints into Sales |
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Written by Michael Taplin
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Friday, 26 February 2010 22:00 |
Newsletter ISSUE 13
Turn complaints into sales.
Hello [FIRSTNAME]
This newsletter has been prompted by my recent experience of poor customer service and a badly handled complaints. I am amazed that we have known all about this stuff for 30 years but we are still confronted regularly with problems. Perhaps it is timely to offer an easy technique to help your front line staff.
A tried and true technique for handling complaints can create a brilliant opportunity to create more sales. You may not make an immediate sale to the complainer, but you can turn an unfortunate situation into a long-term customer relationship. If you can create goodwill, you can turn that into a stream of referrals and recommendations.
The secret is simple – deal with the person first; not the complaint.
The question is “How to do that?”
The customer is always emotional. It is important to recognise that nobody likes to complain. Before they front with the complaint they have probably worked themselves up into a state of frustration or even anger about the situation that they have been put into,. From their perspective, they are not at fault, and at the very least have been inconvenienced by the failure of the business.
You need to deal with the emotion before you can deal with the issue.
The cardinal sins of complaint handling.
Let us get these out of the way first. Any of these will only inflame the situation.
- Deny personal responsibility. “It’s not my fault.’ or “I did not do it.”
- Defend your actions or the business’s policy.
- Blame someone else. “It’s the manufacturer’s fault.” will often get the retort “The manufacturer did not sell it to me; you did.”
- Blame “the system”. “That’s the way Head Office makes us do it.”
- “Just fill in this form.”
- Demand proof of purchase. The unspoken message is “I don’t trust you. I suspect you are telling me lies.”
- Assume you know the answer.
- And worst of all, blame the customer. “All you had to do was this and this”. ”The unspoken message is “ …. you silly fool.”
Dealing with the emotion.
There is no great secret here; just listen, then listen some more.
Try this approach;
- “Please tell me about your problem.”
- Take notes.
- You can say "I understand how you feel."
- Make eye contact. It helps to build trust.
- Try to identify the major issue.
- Keep listening until customer stops talking.
- When it is your turn to speak, ask a question. “Can you help me understand about …….. (the major issue; the cause of the heartburn.)
- Use how or why questions to get the customer to repeat some important element of their complaint.
- Listen until they stop talking again.
By now the temperature has cooled, so you can deal with the complaint. I have even had a customer apologise for making a complaint at this point.
You could ask;
“What would make it right for you?”
This is open ended, but you have not yet made a commitment. Or you could make an offer. Try phrasing an offer as a choice between alternatives:
“I can do xxxxx or yyyyy. Which would be better for you?”
This approach is reassuring to the customer because it gives them a sense of control.
Now you are in a position to negotiate a solution or restitution, because you are on the customer’s side.
If you deal with it well, you will make a friend for your business. The classic 1974 TARP study of Customer Service and Complaint Handling showed that if a complaint was handled well goodwill was not only retained, but the customer would tell an average of 9 people about their good experience. If a complaint were handled poorly the word about the bad experience would be spread around to a much larger number. Try a google search for tarp.com if you would like more detailed information.
Looking after customer’s complaints can be a real source of goodwill and increased opportunities to make sales. The small amount of time this process takes is tiny when compared with the lifetime value of a stream of satisfied customers.
The evidence for this is so strong that I am mystified by the number of instances of poor complaint handling I have to suffer as a consumer. It is clear that this message needs to get into the hands of frontline staff as well as receiving the backing of management for the idea to take root. Feel free to spread the word to people you know if you believe it is important.
I wish you the joy of watching unhappy customers turn into friends of your business,
Cheers, Michael.
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