Dealing with customer complaints is unavoidable, especially if you work in customer service. When training employees regarding customer service standards for your company, it's also important to train them on how to handle customer complaints effectively.
The absolutely worst thing you can do when confronted with a customer complaint is to ignore the customer! Meikah at Customer Relations: The New Competitive Edge gives us her advice on this topic:
"You stop for a second, make clear eye contact to acknowledge the person, and then answer his questions clearly and concisely. Treat him like the person he is.... A lot of the time, complaints are ignored because people don’t know how to handle it. Whatever the reason, customer complaints should not be ignored. I believe the customer, though he got very angry, will appreciate that his complaint hadn’t just been thrown in the bin.
Managers, of all people, should be able to handle conflict. However, customer service reps, waiters, etc. should also be able to smile, listen, and acknowledge the customer.
True! Every one in the organization should know customer service at the very least, and should strive for quality customer service.
Posted by: Meikah | March 14, 2006 8:45 PM | Permalink to Comment