From balancing the books to employee satisfaction, there are plenty of issues small business owners need to deal with to ensure smooth sailing. One thing that can always disrupt this is customer complaints. No matter how well you run your company, there is always the risk of complaints. Some are justified, and others make you wonder if you’re the victim of an awful prank. The most gifted business owners know the best ways to deal with these complaints, but if you’re unsure what to do, here is some advice.
Listen To Their Concerns
When a customer is incensed, regardless of how imagined any slights might be, they want to know that you are listening to them; they need to realize that you are willing to hear what they have to say, rather than simply nod along to their rant.
Listening skills are crucial for all managers, and you will need to implement these skills to avoid major conflicts between you and your customers. The more you listen to them, the more you can understand where they are coming from. Although some issues might remain ridiculous, you could identify specific problems and work towards fixing them to appease your customer.
Document The Details
If you’ve ever dealt with conflict at the office, you know how important it is to write down details to create a dependable record. The same applies to customer complaints, especially for more severe issues that could require further exploration.
By documenting their concerns, you can return to the information later. This serves as a reliable record that could help you should the customer not feel their needs were met. If the issue goes further, you have something to look at and clarify any claims. Customers often believe they can get away with anything. They believe the customer is always right, and they can say anything. With a document of the incident, you can put any problems to rest.
Look Into Any Claims
You may not have been at the office or workplace when an incident occurred, so you may first learn about supposed bad service by checking your company reviews. For many future customers, this is their first exposure to your business, and negative reviews could put them off before anything else.
If you look into claims, you can differentiate the legitimate complaints from the false ones. If someone is trying to ruin your business following a perceived bad experience, you can remove Yelp reviews that you feel do not accurately reflect what happened.
Consider Making Changes
If you experience regular complaints about the same thing, such as the store layout, parking, or even employee conduct, you can use this customer feedback as a way to make changes around the workplace.
While you mustn’t bend over backward for all complaints, the most common issues are common for a reason, and this should give you the impetus to adjust your policies to keep everyone happy.
Appeasing
Hopefully, you don’t need to deal with too many complaints in your career, but there is always the chance that someone will feel entitled to something, no matter how misguided this belief is. As long as you have the tools to deal with these issues at your disposal, you can maintain your reputation and keep the majority of your customers and clients happy.