Myth # 1: People naturally know how to handle complaints. After all, they’ve been receiving them their entire lives.

Reality: Most people have to check their natural reactions when they receive complaints. At some level, a complaint is perceived as an attack, and when attacked most of us feel inclined to defend, especially if the complaint is delivered in a blaming manner. This tendency to defend happens around the world. Effective complaint handling requires that service providers counter their habitual, natural, or cultural tendencies.

Most people have to get a considerable distance from their complaint handling to understand how their behavior may not be appropriate, even though it may feel right at the time. When personnel who handle complaints hear themselves on tape with customers, they are frequently surprised that they sound so hostile and arrogant. The consequence of people not knowing how to “naturally” respond to complaints creates the additional problem of complaint handlers justifying their behavior to customers. After all, whatever their responses are, those responses feel “right.” Almost no one intentionally mishandles complaints. This puts the complaint handler in the position of believing that, when a complaint situation doesn’t go right, the person complaining is responsible.

Myth # 2: It’s a good idea to set targets to reduce the number of complaints you receive.

Reality: Really bad idea! When you set targets to reduce complaints, your staff will help you by not reporting the bad news they hear. This happens everywhere I have worked around the globe. Setting targets to reduce complaints encourages staff to make sure your organization receives less customer feedback. Staff will make it more difficult for customers to complain; or they will discard complaint evidence.

Suppose, for example, a global payroll firm offers a bonus to local office managers who reduce the number of complaints that are received. It is common for staff to “help” ensure a good reputation for their general manager with the corporate offices by simply tearing up the negative feedback forms. All the general manager has to do to encourage this type of behavior is to say, “Well, we got another negative piece of feedback from one of our customers. They sure won’t be happy about this at corporate.” It is unlikely that the manager will ever again have to ask staff to fix this problem.

Myth # 3: If you give customers what they want, you have satisfied them.

Reality: No way! Giving customers what they want when they complain does not guarantee satisfaction — anywhere in the world. There is a huge emotional component to complaints. If this emotionality is not addressed, you can give customers everything they want, and they will still walk away upset. Good complaint handlers always understand and then address the psychological dimensions of complaining.

For example, if a customer finds mistakes in a service you provide them, they will undoubtedly complain and want the situation fixed immediately. They may also want a refund of some sort. Let’s assume that – after many lengthy telephone calls, several strong e-mails and letters, threats, etc. – the customer receives a reduction in the monthly bill for the period of time the mistake was made. Although, in this situation, the customer ultimately got what they wanted, they are not likely to be pleased. They had to fight to get what they felt was rightfully theirs. Every time the customer deals with this company, they will be reminded of their unpleasant fight when something went wrong.

They wanted rapid, polite, compassionate and error-free treatment. Yes, the mistake was remedied, but they didn’t receive the emotional response that perhaps was just as important to them.

Myth # 4: Complaints are a sign that your company is not doing a quality job.

Reality: Companies inevitably create some dissatisfaction with their customers. Having zero defects is a useful target, not a realistic possibility. There will always be some room for improvement. However, your quality will suffer when you fail to hear this dissatisfaction.

It’s not a good situation when your customers report huge numbers of complaints. That’s clearly a sign that something is wrong. At the same time, it’s a big mistake to conclude that you are doing a great job because you never hear complaints. Most dissatisfied customers do not take the trouble to complain. They just walk away and go to a competitor. This is especially pronounced in some cultures and less pronounced in others.

Complaints represent an open dialogue with those customers who are giving you a chance to keep their business — wherever your business is located. When customers complain, they are giving you information you might otherwise not hear that you can use to improve your quality. At a minimum, complaining customers are talking with you, rather than the rest of the world. And that is a gift!

This dissatisfaction may not relate to whether customers were compensated for their time, given a replacement product, or a coupon for a return visit. Satisfaction frequently has little to do with what complaining customers are given. More likely, it has to do with how they were treated or whether they were shown genuine human empathy. As Psychologist Carl Rogers said many years ago, “A high degree of empathy in a relationship is possibly the most potent factor in bringing about change and learning.” All too often, complaining customers are treated not as someone positive for the organization, but rather as a nuisance or irritant.

Consider the following studies and statistics:

• In one widely cited study in the Journal of Marketing, only 32% of customers were completely satisfied with how their complaints were handled.
• In another study, conducted by Christopher Hart, cited in Harvard Business Review, more than 50% of customers reported walking away from complaint situations feeling worse than if they had never complained in the first place.
• A National Consumer Study sponsored by the US Office of Consumer Affairs, reports that complaining customers indicate half of the dissatisfaction they remember comes from the response to their complaints, not the initial failure of products or services.
• Multiple studies (conducted by or cited by TARP Industry Specific Data) reveal that satisfaction plays a large role in forming customer loyalty. Once a customer is willing to come back to do business with you again, that loyalty generated by effective handling of complaints, plays an even bigger role in repurchase behavior. In one study, TARP reports that purchasers of large-ticket items are more likely to repurchase by a rate of 80% when their complaints are handled satisfactorily, compared to a repurchase rate of 40% when complaints are not handled well.
• Take the example of a Hong Kong based airline. With a carefully controlled study, it found the language their representatives used to settle lost luggage claims was more important than whether their luggage was actually returned in a timely manner. Receiving compensation also played a limited role in determining whether the airline’s passengers would fly with them again. Once the passenger had to fill out a Lost Baggage form, they responded very positively to being shown some sympathy for the pickle they were in caused by delayed luggage. This is a finding that should make all managers, whether in the airline industry or not, sit up and pay attention.

Complaint situations almost always have strong emotions attached to them. Many customers are nervous and dubious about speaking up. Their experience perhaps tells them they are probably wasting People tell me from all corners of the world that their customers are different. “No,” they will say, “our customers are only satisfied if we give them something. So, that’s what we do.” I ask them how their customers learned to insist on getting something — such as not being charged for a meal when some small item wasn’t to their liking, or a free stay overnight in a hotel when customers report being dissatisfied. The answer I hear is that giving the customer something is their policy. They may have read that giving free things is a good approach to complaint handling. They don’t like it, but they think it’s the only way to keep their customers. Unfortunately, what they have done is to teach their customers to be picky about products and services. The customers know they’ll get something in return if they complain. Are these customers different, or just customers who have been taught to behave a certain way with that business?

What’s the reality? Here’s what most customers say, over and over again, they want when they complain:

• They want to be believed.
• They want fair settlements.
• They want reasonable and honest explanations if their complaint can’t be handled in the way they would prefer.
• They want their complaints settled quickly.
• They want to talk with a minimum number of people to resolve their situation. They don’t want to be forced to call another number or write a complaint on a web page.
• They want someone to take responsibility if a mistake was made.
• They want some sympathy for the situation they are in
• Finally, they want a heart-felt apology. None of these wishes are unreasonable; nor will they break an organization financially. If these desires are met, organizations are going to find themselves with satisfied—and loyal—customers,

At first glance, fewer complaints seem desirable. But when managers begin to think about the potential loss of non-complaining customers, they begin to see that more feedback is better than no feedback.

The formula is quite simple: When you dissatisfy your customers, don’t give them what they want, or cause problems for them – they can tell you about it and give you a chance to fix the situation. If you use this opportunity wisely, they might stay with you. Or, you can discourage their complaints so situations that can be fixed are never brought to your attention. With no complaints, a manager might conclude that all is well with the world as far what they hear from their customers. After all, no one complained.

Some organizations actually set up reward policies so that managers of branch operations who get the fewest complaints get monetary rewards. I’ve experienced this in hotels all over the world. If I walk up to the front desk and say, “I have a complaint form that I filled out and would like you to give it to your manager,” I’m thanked for completing the feedback form, but when walking away, I have seen them tear up the form I just completed. I know what’s going on in organizations like that. The managers have announced in irritation that they are sick and tired of getting so many complaints, and their staff has learned not to pass along complaints to their managers. In these situations, it’s quite likely that corporate offices have set up reward systems to grant bonuses to those managers whose complaints numbers are low.

Anyone who has read even a few articles on customer service knows that the majority of dissatisfied customers don’t complain. As many as two-thirds of unhappy customers don’t report their dissatisfaction, and the third that do speak up mostly complain to someone who is not going to pass the information up the line. It’s one thing to discourage complaints; it’s another to get them and then not have them given to the senior person who ultimately has responsibility for getting and retaining customers.

Imagine a hypothetical situation in your own organization: One of your customers has had something happen that, by any measure, would be an irritant. Suppose someone on your staff did not tell the customer to bring specific information with them for their appointment. So, when they arrived, the customer didn’t have essential information needed for their meeting.

From your company’s point of view, it would be helpful to know how often this happens. There is no way to fix this if no one knows about it. A simple checklist used by staff when they confirm reservations would make it more likely that they could remind the client what they need to bring with them. If this “small issue” isn’t fixed, then several booked appointments will not be kept and customers will walk away dissatisfied – perhaps even blaming themselves for not bringing the required information.

The customer may think that they complained because they said something to the receptionist who asked when they arrived for their appointment. The critical questions are whether the receptionist tells an analyst, or whether the senior manager knows why the customer left without staying for their appointment. There’s a good chance the receptionist will not tell anyone. The appointment is simply cancelled and the people who really need to know about internal communication processes do not learn they have a big gap that is potentially costing them customers.
It is certainly to the company’s advantage to create a complaint-friendly environment that welcomes customer complaints by everyone who hears about them. How can an organization do this?
Here are a few approaches a team of people can take to make sure complaints are communicated to someone in the company who can do something about them.

Get your team together and ask them to brainstorm ways to get customers to voice their complaints. Make sure your employees know how to handle complaints if any are expressed. Tell them to “thank” customers before they start fixing problems or asking any other questions. And make sure customers know you want to help them. Let your team know that your purpose in hearing about complaints is not so you can attack a team member, but rather so you can fix these situations. Any service provider, upon completing a meeting with a customer, could tell that customer how very
useful feedback is to them – and that your company wants to offer the best service, so you need to know when that doesn’t happen. That way, you give the customer a chance to speak up about anything that might have happened that makes them less likely to be a strong and loyal customer. We all know how much effort it takes to get new clients. And we certainly don’t want to run the risk of losing them by not fixing complaints

I recently attended an international meeting and stayed in a Spanish-based hotel chain in Madrid. Not only was the material service of the hotel superb, but the personal service matched it in every way. Any small complaint was handled exceptionally well. Everyone in our group noticed the way we were treated. However, as there was one non-smiling waitress who worked the breakfast shift, our group explored how we might get her to smile. I personally managed it on my last day in the hotel!

It occurred to me that, because of the good service we received from everyone else, we viewed this waitresses’ strikingly non-friendly service style as an opportunity for us to help her have a better day. It wasn’t until we left the hotel that I realized how strange that was. What made us look upon this as our personal challenge rather than as an indication of bad service?

Clearly, great service was given to us throughout our stay, even more than we expected. Almost without exception, we got our complex needs more than met with attentive, speedy, out-of-the ordinary service delivery.

When we left the hotel, I mentioned to the woman at the front desk that their hotel was truly one of the nicest I have ever stayed in. The suites were spacious, extremely well designed, complete with evening turn-down service, and free wireless broadband hook ups for our computers in all the public areas of the hotel. Every room had spacious storage closets and drawers. The rooms were insulated from any surrounding noise, and the public spaces were clustered to encourage group or small conversations. Nothing was overdone. The breakfast service – included in the room fee – was tasty, appropriate, and beautifully presented. All of these many factors created both a sense of reciprocity on my part, and a willingness to be more than tolerant of the non-smiling waitress.

After I told the receptionist what a magnificent hotel this was, she asked me if I would be back. “Definitely,” I heard myself say without thinking about it. And there’s no doubt that, when I next return to Madrid, I will select this hotel. I feel as if I owe the organization something because of the superb treatment we received. This is reciprocity as it is played out in the everyday business of enhancing a brand. Reciprocity works well with service that is outstanding. It works particularly well when a customer complains and the situation is handled quickly, fairly, and with something that might be considered a little extra.

On our way back from Madrid, we transited through Charles DeGaulle airport. We were concerned about getting through security with our hand-checked luggage. CDG airport is notorious for making too many passengers go back to their airline ticket counters for special tags to place on hand carried luggage. True to form on our first pass through a security line, that is what happened. This meant we had to go back to the United checkin desk and then wait, again, in a long line before we could proceed to the departure gate.

The United ticket agent, no doubt sensing our concern, told us to go to a special line that was nearby, and then said that if we had any problems there, we should walk back and she would accompany us to make our passage happen. Sensing our nervousness, she then said, “I’ll tell you what, I’ll walk over there and see that you get through right away.” Imagine that!

She walked with us, clearing traffic the whole way, smiled a lot at the security guards, who opened a special gate for us and waved us on through.

As we got on one of the CDG’s hill-like, rolling moving sidewalks, we talked about the treatment we had just received. My comment was simple. “United Airlines. It’s why I fly them. They always come through at just the right moment to be especially helpful when there’s any kind of problem. I feel indebted to them.” How could anyone not want to positively “pay back” service that is totally outside normal standards and offered with such grace and care? United Airlines could send me dozens of flyers, invite me to look at their new television advertising campaign, or put their name on billboards and buildings around the world to increase brand awareness; but, none of this would be as powerful as a single UA representative doing something personal for me — especially when I face a problem.

Think about it. Talk with your team and invite them to think of ways they could surprise customers with something extra and unexpected. When this happens, a simple, “Thank you,” from the customer will never be enough. The only way for customers to repay such levels of service is by coming back. Take advantage when the customer is facing a problem, even if you didn’t cause it. Reciprocity works particularly well then!

When I picked up my 1500 printed sheets of paper, I discovered a host of problems. One of the sheets had three times as many copies made as requested, which meant the shop ran out of my special paper. They then substituted a much lower quality paper for the remaining copies. The printer also worked from copies he had made from my originals, so the final copies were made from a second generation print, greatly reducing the overall quality of the print run. The sheets that needed to be trimmed were cut incorrectly. In short, this was unacceptable work on every front.

I asked for a refund and replacement of my paper. The clerk I spoke with was apologetic and agreed with me. I was willing to accept his offer of a refund and a paper replacement. But I seriously questioned whether they would be able to do the printing the way I wanted. With my refund in hand and compensation for the paper, I was ready to walk out the door and never use them again for any complex printing.

At that point, a shift supervisor came over to me and asked what was happening. After I explained the situation, he said he would be glad to do anything to satisfy me. He also said he did not want to lose my company’s future business.

He asked if they could do the job over — at no charge. They would take responsibility to buy twice the amount of special paper I brought in with me, so I would have a clean supply to use on my next print run. And he said he would personally supervise the printing to ensure it was done right. That’s quite an offer! (In fact, I wondered if he had read the A Complaint Is a Gift book!)

He went on to explain what his company would do to regain our trust and earn our future business. He suggested they would send someone to our office to discuss how his company could help us with our printing needs. He told me how to make sure complicated jobs were handled correctly in the future. I was so impressed with his efforts to keep my business, that I left the work with him
and turned down the offer of a refund and replacement of my special paper — if the second print run was as I requested. It was.

Business customers are in business themselves. They understand that things can go wrong. And most business customers do not want to take advantage of their suppliers — they just want what they asked for.

Effective complaint handling is not just compensating customers for the immediate problems that you caused. It means satisfying the client so that they want to come back and give you more business.

Every organization makes mistakes. When they occur, you have to demonstrate to your customers that something different is going to happen so that similar future mistakes will not recur. Otherwise, while you may reduce your customers’ short-term dissatisfaction, you may fail to acquire their long-term loyalty. That is a costly way to run any business wherever you are in the world.

If you make an offer like the one this printer made to me, you would certainly go bankrupt if you could not deliver on your promises. In this case, successful recovery from a major service failure is the best way to compensate for your mistakes – and even gain increased customer loyalty. Asking to set up an appointment so one of his account executives could discuss our future print needs was an excellent way for this supervisor to ensure he would get our future business.

From my side, I had some sympathy for the print shop’s dilemma. They obviously felt bad that they had failed us. But even more impressive was how the manager was willing to ask for another chance, rather than just refund our money. In order to gain that second chance, he had to promise something extra. This he did, even though I didn’t take him up on the offer. For that, he earned a sales appointment with us.

Whenever you fail in your service promise to your customers or clients, make it right; do something extra; talk about your normal quality standards, and then ask for their future business.

Lyndon Baines Johnson, former President of the United States, said this about managing government waste, “Controlling waste is like bailing a boat —you have to keep at it.” Similarly, you also need to continually work at preventing the loss of customers when you fail to meet to their needs. This is also like bailing a boat. You have to keep at it because you will make mistakes. Customer retention work is never finished, but when you receive a complaint you can take advantage of a door that has just opened to you — as long as you recognize it’s an excellent time to behave in a way so you can ask for your customer’s continued business.

This experience was a minor, even trivial, example; but it made me look carefully at how the strong human need to be “right” can result in something considerably less than excellent customer service. The need to be right is an emotional need. However, when service providers attempt to fulfill their own emotional needs, this can have a negative impact on the customer. Even when you are right, your proving this is often felt by customers to be at their emotional expense.

I needed to quickly reach someone to obtain information about where a meeting was going to be held in the hotel. I knew that several people registered in the hotel had this information. So, I called the front desk and asked to be connected to one of their guest rooms. I was transferred from the operator to the front desk, and only then to the person I needed to reach. However, he was not in his room; and all of this took time that I didn’t have.

All I got for my efforts was voice mail. Then, because of the way this hotel’s phone system functioned, I had to go through the same lengthy routing to try another person. To save myself time, in case all my contacts were not in their rooms, I decided to go directly to the hotel lobby and ask for help at the front desk rather than be put through this multistep and slow process.

When I reached the front desk, all the clerks were occupied with guests. A bellman standing nearby nicely asked me if he could help. I explained my situation, and he told me I could reach the front desk directly and get connected to a guest room without having to go through the operator. I explained that when I called the front desk, the operator answered the line and only then was I connected to the front desk clerk who had to look up the guest room number before I could be connected.

He told me that I was wrong, and then he went to the telephone at the front desk to “prove” that he could reach the front desk directly. He was a little red-faced when the telephone rang directly to the operator.

The need to be right, and then to prove it, is a deeply seated human need. Perhaps, it emerges from our impulse to survive. However, the psychoanalyst, Karen Horney, identifies it as a “neurotic need”. We can survive very well, whether or not this need is met. Whoever was right in this particular situation was not a major issue neither my nor the bellman’s life. But, as a customer service statement, it definitely set the wrong tone.

The important issue is that this man felt compelled to demonstrate that his picture of reality was correct and mine was incorrect. For whatever reason, his need to show me he was right became the
paramount statement being communicated. How can service providers overcome this very human, but neurotic, need to prove they are right? First, they need to understand this tendency detracts from customers feeling positive about their experience. From the customer’s point of view, any attempt on the service provider’s part to prove themselves right, will necessarily probably result in the customer feeling scolded because they were wrong.

Second, if service providers want to be able to control their need to be right, they must work on checking this human tendency in other parts of their lives. Expecting to be able to turn off the
competitive feeling of proving one’s self right just at work is no doubt very difficult. How can you wean yourself away from the need to make yourself right at the expensive of your client? Here are two simple recommendations:

• Ask yourself whether it makes any difference as to who is right and who is wrong. It may be a complete non-issue. Focus on the benefits to be gained from seeing things from the customer’s
  point of view.
• If the situation is critical and the other person needs to be educated about something, ask yourself whether there is a constructive way to help the other person without demeaning them in the process.

In my situation, how could the bellman have better handled himself when he walked to the phone to gain “proof” that he was correct? Here are some possibilities.

He could have refrained from challenging my information, and simply focused on helping me get my needs met. He could have told me that this is not how the system is supposed to work, but that he appreciated learning about it so he could fix it. He might then have asked me if it was okay if he checked it himself. At a minimum, if he desperately needed to demonstrate to himself that