Alison Miles-Jenkins

Complaints are flying down

Want to know how to work on getting your complaints under control? Here is a great lesson about complaints handling from Training To Achieve

Have you heard the news about Gatwick Airport complaints handling?  There is a lesson there for all those dealing with customers and service users.

You may not have heard much about this because it is good news about complaints, something not often picked up by the media.

According to figures just announced by BookFHR, complaints from passengers have dropped by 15 per cent, while compliments about the travel hub have risen by 94 per cent, according to Stewart Wingate, chief operating officer at the facility.

He said: "Passengers will judge their experience of Gatwick not just on the quality of the airport facilities but also on the friendliness and helpfulness of our staff. That is why we are investing in the training and development of our people at the same time as we invest to improve the physical environment of the airport"

This fall has been attributed to some excellent training on customer service, but that is not the lesson I’m talking about. 

The key for me is in the comment by Stewart Wingate, it shows that customers are not only judging the physical attributes of the product but are significantly affected by friendly and helpful staff.  Simply addressing complaints handling training is one way of trying to deal with complaints but better still to go to address the causes through developing the customer service focus of the staff.

This lesson is one which has been out of the news for a while whilst organisations focus on cost cutting in reaction to the harsh economic environment.  If we pause to consider how expensive dealing with complaints can be, it is a short step to look for ways to stop complaints happening.  Gatwick airport have tackled this and given the huge volumes of traffic they deal with there is hope for all who deal with customers and service users in tackling the customer service delivered.

So there you have it.  An important lesson: Ignore the people parts of your product or service offering at your peril.  Training in customer service can significantly reduce complaints and increase the number of compliments received.

How do you access great customer service training? You need to find a training provider with a great track record in this field.  We can help you with this at Training To Achieve (UK).

Article Tags: Customer Service

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