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- The causes can be grouped as follows
- People factors may include:
- Poor training
- Lack of interpersonal skills
- Unclear objectives
- Lack of motivation
- Poor attitude
- System factors which may contribute to poor handling of complaints include:
- Lack of measurement and accountability
- Poor or absent planning
- Inadequate communication systems
- No customer focus in the activities
- Avoid the following words and phrases when handling complaints as they make customers cringe
- Our policy is……
- The computer…
- They…
- I can’t…
- Why Some People Don’t Complain
- Apathy - couldn’t be bothered
- Empathy - too nice to complain because they understand
- Sympathy - feel sorry for the people involved so don’t complain
- Accessibility - they don’t know how to get their complaint to the relevant person in the organization
- Fear - they don’t know what impact their complaining may have on them in the future
- Frustration - complaining has not resulted in a positive outcome before, so they don’t complain
Until next time...
Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/
- Information from the complaints handling process and the trending data can be used to drive continuous improvement
- Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle:
- Plan --- Planning the improvement activity
- Do --- Implementing the plan
- Check --- Measuring the outcome against what has been projected in the plan
- Act --- this will mean either continuing with the planned activity or changing the plan to improve the results
- Complaints need to be tracked to ensure
- Completion
- Attention
- Feedback
- Action
- Some trends to watch out for:
- Most complaints per product
- Most complaints per salesperson /sales area
- Most complaints per customer
- Seasonality
- Functionality
- Increase in complaint numbers
- Decrease in complaint numbers
- Failure of the complaint handling process can have a major impact on an organization due to:
- Loss of revenue when customers move away
- Competitors use the source of the complaint to attract customers to their products
- Increased sales and marketing expenditure to attract new customers
- Decreased revenue and profitability
Until next time...
Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/
- The Complaints Handling Process is a business critical component and as such needs to be validated through testing This can be achieved through:
- Dummy complaints being followed through the process
- Mystery complainers who will have their experience documented and provide feedback
- Examining the level of knowledge of the process within the organization
- The process testing will be made more effective by:
- Process mapping the stages involved
- Identifying the critical points within the process
- Checking that they are functional under a range of conditions - both internal and external
- Making recommendations for improvement and implementing them in the process. This can be achieved through the PDCA cycle
- Auditing the Process: check your process for
- Ownership / Responsibility are clearly defined
- Adherence to standards
- Completion of activity
- Implementation of findings
- Communication - both internally and externally
- The complaints handling process should be audited This would allow:
- Problems to be highlighted
- Best practices to be praised
- Improvements to be suggested
- External validation of the process
- To audit the process you can:
- Question staff re: their knowledge of the procedure for handling complaints
- Review past complaints
- Document review
- Customer feedback
- The audit may be carried out by:
- Internal auditors who work in the organization
- Customers who wish to see how the process has been working
- Third party auditors who are auditing to check performance in terms of compliance with a recognized quality standard such as ISO9001
Until next time...
Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/
- The overall responsibility for those involved in the Customer Complaints Handling Process is to ensure that
- The Customer is satisfied
- Action has been taken to prevent the complaint from occurring in the future
- The roles and responsibilities will be bounded by a set of objectives which are:
- Specific to the handling of complaints
- Measurable in terms of input and results
- Achievable - in terms of capabilities and expectation
- Relevant - in relation to the overall business goals of the organization
- Time-bound - so that the personnel involved have a time scale to work within
- Training: To ensure that ownership lies with those who are operating the process it is important that they are trained with regard to:
- The importance of handling complaints
- The organizational impact of poorly handled complaints
- The expectations of customers
And finally
- The actual process itself
- Measurement: Key performance indicators may include
- Customer Satisfaction Rating
- Close-out time
- Document audit non-conformance levels
- Understanding of system by personnel
- Improvements implemented as a result of a corrective action identified in the process
Until next time...
Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/
- To formulate an appropriate solution you need to know:
- What the customer expects to see
- What constraints you are working under
- Time
- Information
- Power
- Finance
- Key considerations
- What is the impact of the solution going to be on:
- The customer
- The market
- Your organization
- Your current processes
- Your products
- Your profitability
- The solution must be
- Reliable
- Acceptable
- Deliverable
- Affordable
- Robust
- Suitable
- As with any business process there are particular roles which must be filled such as:
- Communicator
- Investigator
- Documenter
- Auditor
- Leader
- Each of these roles is important to ensure that the process works in the organization
Until next time...
Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/
- Basic complaint-handling documentation consists of:
- Standard Operating Procedure for Handling Complaints
- Complaint Form
- Complaint Communication Tracker Log
- Corrective Action Record
- Complaint Report
- Documentation should be designed so as to be:
- Clear
- User-friendly
- Complete
- Prompting
- Standardized
- Official
- Controlled
- Document Type: Complaint Handling Form
- Customer Name & Contact Details
- Details of Person Handling Complaints
- Complaint Reference Number
- Start & Completion Dates
- Information on the Complaint
- Linkages
- Information on the complaint form must be
- Logical
- Coherent
- Relevant
- Clear
- Complete
Until next time...
Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/
- A system for handling complaints is necessary to ensure:
- A standard approach is taken by all employees involved in the process. This is achieved through having a Standard Operating Procedure
- Consistency in the quality of response
- Knowledge of the responsibilities and where necessary the escalation process
- Customers who are complaining want to be dealt with personnel who have an attitude which is
- Positive
- Professional
- Confident
- Helpful
- Environment for handling complaints must be such as to be:
- Supportive of complaint handling activity
- Adequately resourced
- Customer focused
- Complaint handlers must be competent in the following skills:
- Listening
- People-focus
- Organization
- Communication
- Networking
- Persistence
- Documents need to be managed to ensure that they are
Until next time...
Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/
- Internal & External Customers
- Complaints may arise from either internal or external customers
- How internal customer complaints are handled has an impact on how external complaints are handled
- The complaint-handling system for internal and external complaints may be different, but the end result should be the same: nsatisfied customers
- Facts Versus Feelings
- A fact can be proven
- A feeling can make a huge difference as to how the fact can be interpreted
- An opinion is an interpretation of a situation
- An estimate carries less weight than a fact
- Typical Complaint Handling Process has three main aspects:
- Inputs - in this case, complaints
- Transformation process - the complaint handling procedures and methodology
- Outputs - learning from the complaint, improvement, retention of customers, profitability, protection etc
Main Components Are:
- Contact Point
- Information Capture
- Investigation Methodology
- Documentation
- Communication
- Resolution
- Implementation of learning / improvements
- Building the Process includes:
- Acknowledging
- Recording
- Investigating
- Solving
- Reporting
- Fit with culture of the organization
- Level of support within the organization
- Capability of personnel to implement the process
- Flexibility
- Speed
- Accuracy
- Trust
- Accessibility
Until next time...
Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/
- Some Fast Rules
- The cost of satisfying a complaining customer is likely to be less than the cost of losing the customer
- Don’t make promises that you cannot keep
- Write down what you have agreed to do and then do it
- Customers – Perspectives, Perceptions & Expectations
- Reality & The Complaint
- The complainer may technically be wrong - but their perception is that he/she is right
- Deal with facts and not opinions
- Make sure that you have all the facts before making a decision
- Understand that resolution is not always a matter of right and wrong
- Dealing With Perceptions
- You must understand that the customer's perception of the situation may be much different from yours
- Perception is closely linked with expectation
- Perception may have originated from initial contact
- with the organization
- with the marketing material
- with customers
- with the product
- Expectations are set up by the customer and depend on:
- past experience
- socio-cultural aspects
- education
- You cannot assume what an expectation is. You need to ask questions and listen to determine what exactly it is.
Until next time...
Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
http://tools2succeed.com/
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/
