by M. Lee

Created on: November 01, 2009   Last Updated: November 02, 2009

Using Customer Complaints to Improve Your Business

Whether you own a restaurant, coffee shop, stationary shop, or clothing boutique the basic rules are the same when dealing with customers and clients - they are always right! Of course you will always be subjected to extremely difficult customers who can never be made happy. You will also experience repeat customers, which are the very best kind. But when a customer is not pleased with your shop, product, or service, what can you do?

Aside from doing everything you can to make the customer happy, you can take customer complaints and improve the overall function of your shop. Remember, dealing with angry customers doesn't always have to be a battle that you lose. Being properly prepared for dealing with customer complaints will help you use them to your advantage overall. Knowing this, you will be able to use customer complaints to build your business.

One of the integral aspects of using customer complaints to improve your shop or business is to train your employees specifically to believe your customers, listen to your customers, apologize, satisfy, and then ultimately thank the customer for the complaint and the business. Some of these practices may seem strange to you, but truly do work at soothing customer complaints. Incorporating these guides will help standardize your staff's method for dealing with complaints and bringing angry customers back pleased and loyal.

No matter what your customer may complain about, it is very important to believe them. Believing the customer is actually the cornerstone of dealing with a complaint. While it is true that the customer may be lying or embellishing, they truly do believe that your shop has wronged them in some way. That is the bottom line - they are unhappy and blame you, so deal with it!

Listening is also incredibly important when dealing with customer complaints. Try not to give in to the instinct to prepare your retort before the customer has finished speaking. It is very important to remain calm and even-minded as your customer may be extremely upset. If you stay calm and courteous throughout the discussion, you will be able to make a more positive impression.

An apology is required, even if in truth, the customer is in the wrong. Remember, as far as your customer is concerned, it was your shop that messed up and they expect nothing less than an apology. Many times, a sincere apology will diffuse the situation quite effectively. After apologizing, the ball is in your court to make it right. Ask your customer what they think would make it right and then decide what is fair.

As with anything else in life, learn from your mistakes. Using past mistakes and complaints from customers will only help your shop grow as a business. While you may have a good basic idea as to how to use your customer complaints to help your business, coming at it from a unique perspective will always help. Think about what your customers feel, and put yourself in their shoes. Ask yourself if you were the customer, how would you want to be treated? How would you want a particular problem resolved?

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