Customer Service Recovery

One of the fastest and surest ways to assess your company's commitment to excellence in customer service is the manner in which you handle complaints.

People want their complaints handled immediately, if not sooner. Promptness counts. We know that if complaints are resolved at the time they are lodged, and the customer feels good about how the situation was handled, they are likely to both keep coming back and praise you when they tell others how you handled the matter. With that in mind, look for ways to do a little something extra for the customer in the process.

Learn to reframe complaints. Think of them as opportunities to improve the level of service you are delivering, since you are learning what your customer thinks you are doing poorly. Additionally, when customers complain they are giving you a chance to earn their loyalty with a dazzling recovery.

Only a very small percentage of customers with complaints will tell you, so they are actually doing you a valuable service. Whether complaining customers become loyal depends on your recovery. If you thrill them with the recovery, they will likely forget about the problem. When you make things right in the eyes of your customer, the recovery becomes the focal point of the story that your customer shares with other people.

Here's a six-step system for stellar service recovery:

1. Thank the customer for alerting you to the problem.

2. Apologize sincerely for the inconvenience.

3. Fix the problem and resolve the matter.

4. Thank the customer for the opportunity to make things right.

5. Do a little something extra.

6. Thank the customer again.

When you are handling complaints, keep in mind what the customer does not want to hear. They don't want to hear excuses about why your company screwed up. Customers do not care who is to blame, they are not interested in hearing about your staffing shortage and they couldn't care less about your computer problems!

Remember that an upset customer can do extensive damage to your company's reputation, and they rarely hesitate to do so. It is estimated that upset customers tell between eight and twelve people about their negative experiences. Consequently, spending a few extra dollars to make them happy is almost always worth the effort and expense.