Customer complaints are both dreaded and inevitable in business. Mistakes are going to happen and some employees are going to slack off on the job. It just happens that way, even when the business owner is making a supreme effort.

I recall a new restaurant that opened in our town. The owner was a young woman we all liked and we wished her well. She had been a waitress in another restaurant, so everyone knew her. When her restaurant opened, most of the business people flocked to her place for lunch, fully intending to help her make a success of her new venture.

The first few weeks she was on top of everything. The wait people were friendly and fast and the food was good. But then it started to slide. Among other things, people were waiting so long for service that they were late getting back to the office after lunch. So naturally, wanting her to succeed, customers told her about the problems - fully expecting that she'd be grateful for the heads-up and do something to correct it.

Perhaps she'd heard the complaints too many times, or she was merely overtired. But the one time I heard it happen, she actually blew up at the customer! She yelled at him for expecting to have a menu in his hand when he'd only been there ten minutes. She told him he should be able to see they were busy. It was lunch time, after all!

She only yelled at me once. That was when I told her there was an inch worm in the lettuce on the salad bar.

But of course, since ours is a small community and people love to talk, I heard about plenty of other examples when she made the customer feel guilty for speaking up. (Really, how dumb can people be to expect the soup to be served hot?)

Needless to say, the crowd that wished her well slowly dissolved. The food got worse along with the service, and we all went back to our usual haunts. After a couple of years the business failed completely and she went back to waiting tables for someone else.

In another instance, a friend of mine listed her house with a well-known Realtor in her town. The Realtor put together a flyer for the on-line presentation and her brochure box. The trouble was, it was full of misspellings and misused words. My friend pointed out the errors and asked the Realtor to correct them.

So what happened? He got angry! He told her she was far too demanding.

Yep, she did pull the listing.

Unfortunately, these two examples are all too common. Business owners react with excuses and accusations that the problem really was the customer's fault.

The result: they lose the customer and get a ton of negative advertising. People do love to talk, and especially to warn their friends about doing business in the wrong places.

So what should you do when a customer reports poor service from one of your employees - or even from you?

Say thank you.

Most of the people who complain have a valid reason, and many of them are taking the time to tell you because they wish you well. They want you to fix the problem so you can succeed.

All you really have to do is hear people out, acknowledge the validity of their complaint, and then do your best to fix it. Oh, and tell them you're sorry it happened.

So next time someone complains, smile at them. Thank them for letting you know so you can go to work to make things right. And then they'll tell their friends and family what a fine business you run.

Marte Cliff is a Freelance Copywriter who specializes in making people feel good about buying products or services - or donating to worthy causes.

She has extensive experience in writing search engine optimized web copy, direct sales letters, postcards, space ad copy, press releases, and more. She is also available for marketing plan creation and editing services.

You can visit her at http://www.marte-cliff.com While you're there, sign up for her marketing ezine. When you do, you'll also get free access to reports that will help you get better results from your own writing.

 

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