7 top complaints handling tips

Business Articles | June 12, 2011

For busy complaints handlers and team managers here are some quick tips from Reduce Complaints a UK based complaints training business. Why not use them at a team meeting to keep complaints handling skills up to scratch?

Here are some great complaints handling ideas to help you handle those complaints well:

1. It is about people. The human touch will help resolve a complaint. Get your empathy muscle exercised. A complainant often wants you to demonstrate an understanding of their situation. In other words, they are seeking an empathetic response. So why not show you are taking the complaint seriously and recognise the emotion that is within the complaint?

2. Don’t do sympathy. Do understand the differencebetween empathy and sympathy. Get it wrong and that complaint dialogue will go on and on. And on!

3. Be clear. Tell the customer what will happen next and when they should expect it to happen. Remember that the complainant is actually and normally a customer first and complainant second.

4. Thank them! It has probably taken the customer some effort to summon up the desire to call you to complain. So thank them for giving you the chance to sort out their complaint. Make sure you do this in an authentic way. Be genuine or else it won’t work for you.

5. Say: “Sorry” early on and mean it. Don’t be grudging with an apology it is not worth it unless you want to receive some anger directed to you. Sorry can be the hardest word. That’s a shame because it can make a great difference.

6. Put it right! This is about resolution. Often the complainant will fill their complaint with many issues to emphasize the importance to the complainant of what has gone wrong. This may be an attempt to get you to take notice of the issue. Sometimes this is a detailed list of grievances and that can cloud the real issue. Simply asking what will put things right can unlock a previously difficult complaint. If in doubt ask them. Just give them a call.

7. Learn from complaints. Not just what organisation procedures need improving but learn yourself. Reflect on what you did and how it was received. Be a reflective complaints handling practitioner.

If you need help with your complaints handling we offer a range of training and development solutions. We train people to deal with complaints across the UK, our experience spans over 20 years and so our help is just a phone call or email away.

Gordon Miles

Article Tags: Complaints Handling

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gordon Miles of Reduce Complaints has had a thread throughout his career on complaints handling. With NatWest in the 1980’s and 1990’s he led his teams to champion customer service and handle complaints well. After leaving NatWest he has held a number of senior Director and Chief Executive posts. He led the Dental Practice Board team that won the Customer Service Excellence Award. He has worked with organisations to achieve International Complaints Handling Standard. He set up and ran the Dental Complaints Service.