From Rants to Raves

Lately, a number of the newsletters I regularly get have been focusing on handling complaints and dissatisfied customers. Is it really possible to change a dissatisfied customer's mind and increase their loyalty to your business, product or service?

It depends, say the experts.

It's in our nature to talk to our loyal customers and treat them as special. Because, after all, they are special and we already know how to please them.

It's more difficult to listen to dissatisfied customers. Beyond just not being happy, they are not happy with us. After all, in a small business, we generally think of ourselves as the company. It's personal.

There are a number of suggestions for transforming rants to raves about your company:

1. Listen. Without being defensive and explaining why not.
2. Seek them out. Don't let angry customers "just leave." Ask people what you could do better, before they leave. Follow up on service that you think might have been less than stellar.
3. Resolve the situation to their satisfaction, not yours. The key is to ask them what you can do to correct the situation. You might be surprised; they may not want much. If you're prepared to do more, then by all means do more.
4. Don't dwell on it. Do what you can and then move on. Constantly improve; but realize that you won't win every single customer back. Celebrate the ones you do; learn from the ones you don't.

I used to fly more than a quarter-million miles a year for business, with half of those miles on one airline. I decided to use miles to fly my mom and sister to Vegas to visit relatives and go to the Grand Canyon, as they had never been. When checking in at the ticket counter, the agent said my party would likely be upgraded to first class.

Imagine my dismay when our seat assignments were changed four times before entering the plane and then again after boarding. Ultimately, two of us were in center seats in the back row, and the third member of my party (also a platinum flyer with this airline) was relegated to a center seat between three-year-old twins.

Needless to say I complained. To the gate agent. To the flight attendants. Ultimately, to the platinum service desk. What happened? Nothing. A form-letter apology response "explaining" that sometimes flights are overbooked.

On another trip, and needless to say another airline, there was blizzard and my flight was grounded in Chicago. For seven hours. I was not an elite flyer on this airline. The airline gave $5 food vouchers and bottled water to every stranded passenger. Granted, the vouchers paid about half the cost of a sandwich, but which airline do you think gets my business now?

How do you and your staff handle complaints? Are there set policies and procedures in place, or do you handle each dissatisfied customer differently? Would you share some of your tips and techniques?