Effective Complaint Handling Part 1

A professional approach to the handling of complaints in an organization can deliver benefits in terms of increased customer satisfaction.  How customer complaints are handled reflects on the organization in terms of the value placed on the customer, the ability to support products and services, and the value of the product and service.  There is now a greater focus on how complaints are handled by organizations as focus changes from being product driven to being customer driven.  The business environment has become more competitive.  Service has become the main differentiating factor.

A complaint will arise because a product or service is ‘faulty’ and does not function correctly or a product or service does not meet the expectations of the customer.

• Complaints handled well may lead to:
• Maximum customer satisfaction & loyalty
• Building of customer advocates for the business
• Opportunity to utilize new learning for improvement of the business processes
• Increase in loyalty
• Maintenance of customer base
• Increase in profitability
• Handling a complaint badly may lead to:
• Customers leaving due to dissatisfaction
• Competitors using the failure against you
• Loss of revenue / profit
• Demotivation of personnel involved in the process
• Loss of an opportunity to learn & improve
• If a complaint can be handled and resolved at a point of first contact for the customer, several benefits emerge:
• Customer confidence in the organization is significantly increased
• Organization benefits through the elimination of additional contacts
• The responsibility for handling the complaint lies with the first contact
• The complaint handling time is reduced
  

Until next time...






Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/