{"id":1402,"date":"2015-07-27T15:29:49","date_gmt":"2015-07-27T15:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/csm210469\/?p=1402"},"modified":"2022-10-05T13:05:04","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T13:05:04","slug":"5-ways-to-handle-customer-complaints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/5-ways-to-handle-customer-complaints\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways to Handle Customer Complaints"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Customer<\/strong>Not everyone who deals with your firm is going to be happy with your product or service. Handling customer complaints properly can help you deal with the issue at hand, while giving you the opportunity to retain the customer.<\/p>\n

Here are 5 tips to help you resolve complaints\u00a0in a favorable manner.<\/p>\n

1. Give your staff the authority to deal with the customer\u2019s concern<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since you know that some customers will complain, teach your staff how to deal with common situations appropriately. If the concern is a relatively minor one, allow them to deal with it promptly by offering a refund or replacement as necessary.<\/p>\n

2. Listen to the customer\u2019s concerns carefully<\/strong><\/p>\n

All customers want to feel that they are being listened to and that their concerns are being taken seriously. Allow the customer to explain what the issue is without interrupting. If the complainant feels that his or her concerns are not being taken seriously, it will only serve to escalate the situation.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Empathize\u00a0with the customer<\/strong><\/p>\n

When you and your staff use words like, \u201cI see\u201d and \u201cI understand\u201d it shows the customer that you are on his or her side. The situation is diffused from one where you and the customer are at odds, to one where you can start to work on a solution that makes sense to both of you.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Apologize\u00a0for the inconvenience<\/strong><\/p>\n

An important part of making the other person feel that his or her concerns are being taken seriously is to apologize for the inconvenience and any loss the customer has experienced in dealing with you. If you have listened carefully and apologized sincerely, it will help the customer to move past being annoyed and will help in moving positively to the next step in dealing with a customer\u2019s complaint.<\/p>\n

5. Offer a solution to the issue<\/strong><\/p>\n

If the customer received a defective product or wasn\u2019t happy with the service he or she was given, determine what you, as a business owner or manager, needs to do to make it right in the customer\u2019s eyes. This does not mean that a customer with an unjustified complaint should hold your business hostage.<\/p>\n

When dealing with customer complaints, your efforts should be directed to understanding and empathy. You then need to find a solution to the issue. Keeping these goals in mind will help you to resolve the problem effectively.<\/p>\n

About the Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ellen Goodwright is a freelance writer and customer service raving fan. You can find more tips for improving your customer service at her website, Customer Service Basics<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learn how to handle customer complaints the right way and turn a bad experience into one that will result in a long lasting customer relationship..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[16],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1402"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20686,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402\/revisions\/20686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}