Most people have a natural tendency to move away from things that are unpleasant. And one of those unpleasant things is a complaining customer!

This past month, I have had more than one occasion to complain. As a coauthor of A Complaint Is a Gift, I consider it my obligation to speak up when I feel something has happened that is worthy of a complaint.

I noticed that responses to complaints definitely fall into two categories: those where the service provider looks pained, wounded, and not wanting to listen. The other response is much more effective. This is when the service provider remains engaged, keeps a pleasant smile on his or her face, and doesn't look frightened by the complaint.

The impact of remaining engaged with a complaining customer is to help the customer work in cooperation with you to get the complaint settled.

When you remain engaged with a customer who is complaining, you help to create a context that says, "We are in this together and we'll solve it together." In so doing, you help customers move away from the emotionality they are experiencing while complaining to get to a more rational problem-solving mental state. Remember, while it is not easy to listen to complaints, it is also not easy for most people to complain.

How can you create this sense of remaining engaged? Besides keeping a pleasant interested look on your face, the most important thing to do is to not back off. Moving your body or head away from the customer sends a nonverbal signal that you don't want to be where you were. Literally, you have moved away from where you were. Watch your impulse to move away. The slight discomfort it creates in you to hold your space will help to create a context in which you can work better with a complaining customer.
 

Janelle Barlow, Coauthor
A Complaint Is a Gift
Emotional Value
 
 
 

Previous "Complaint Is A Gift Corner" pages: 
 

#1	Overselling Service
#2	Not Listening to Complaints
#3	Plastic Chicken
#4	Complaints You Can Do Nothing About
#5	A+ Complaint Handling
#6	Beware! Others are Watching You
#7	At Least Keep Talking!
#8	Let Customers Know You'll Tell Someone
#9	If You're Going to Apologize, Then Mean It
#10	Keep Front-life Staff Well Informed
#11	Don't Set Goals to Reduce Complaints
#12	Products Used During Special Events
#13	Best Practices of Complaint-friendly Organizations
#14	Complaints About Mother Nature!
#15	Socially Offensive Situations
#16	A Complaint Is a Gift in Action
#17	Information Systems  Users' Complaints, I
#18	Information Systems  Users' Complaints, II
#19	Creating an Internal Service Culture
#20	When Your Customers are Industrial Buyers
#21	Customers Who are Poor Complainers
#22	Complaints That are Difficult to Talk About
#23	Do You Mistreat Your Customers?
#24	Fairness: Treatment of Staff
#25	Expectations and Complaints
#26	Successful Toll-free Experiences
#27	Small Companies and Service
#28	A Banking Customer Strikes Back
#29	Complaints in the Hospitality Business
#30	Customers Be More Cynical
#31	Above All, Communicate When Things Go Wrong!
_#32	Eliminating Blame
_#33	Friendliness Keeps Them Coming Back!
_#34	Seeking Out Complaints
_#35	If They Complain, Why Not Sue Them!
_#36	"Sorry for Any Inconvenience Caused"

We invite you to submit your "best" examples by fax or e-mail. We won't print any company names with the "poor" examples, because we believe that every organization fails from time to time. We will give credit to companies delighting their customers. In the case of the "poor" examples, we'll comment on how we think this situation could have been handled better. If you want us to list your name, please tell us that is what you want to do.

A Complaint Is a Gift, The Training Program 

A Complaint Is a Gift, The Book

Note: We have been getting e-mail from our readers asking us to list the names of the companies who get complaints. Our policy is to never list names. The reason for this is because every company fails from time to time, and we wouldn't want to tar some company's name just because of one bad example. Furthermore, we are dependant upon the writer's side of the story. We don't know for sure what happened, and in the name of fairness, we will not post names. Furthermore, the purpose of this corner is not to pass complaints along to corporations. This Complaint Is a Gift corner is designed to look at examples of good and bad complaint handling so we can learn from these experiences. Please, if you have a direct complaint you want a company to learn about, contact them directly. In many cases, we have never heard of the company in question and have no idea how to reach them. Janelle Barlow

tel: 702 939-1800

fax: 702 939-1804

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