by Terry Coombe

Created on: April 05, 2007   Last Updated: March 10, 2012

The most important aspect of running a successful business is to have a great reputation with your customers. Your customers perception of you, and your business is what builds loyal customer bases, and is the primary reason they will spread the word of that reputation be it good, or bad. Statistics show that the majority of the word of mouth advertising that does occur is negative. It takes a really phenomenal experience for your customers to tell people about the great experience they had. Think how many times you hear good things about a business, then think how many times people tell you about bad experiences they had. So it becomes essential when the occasional situation arises that could potentially lead to negative publicity of any kind. I have worked in the service industry my entire life, and have dealt with all experiences both, good, and bad. Through that time I have developed five steps to handling, customer complaint. These steps are also listed in Zingerman's Steps to effective handling of a customer complaint, and since I work for Zingerman's as well, I felt it only proper to at least acknowledge them as a fellow initiate of this very successful tool.

Step 1 is to acknowledge the complaint. Let the customer know that you are aware of what the situation is, and why they are upset. It is impossible to fix a problem if you are not fully aware of the situation. Once the problem has been identified it is also important to sound sincere and use words such as WOW!, or Oh MY! to show that you are sincerely acknowledging the situation, and are comforting them, and assuring them you know exactly what the issue is, and that you will take care of them.

Step 2 is to apologize to the guest, let them know you are sorry, because you are if you are not sorry than you still apologize to them because regardless of the situation if anyone is going to get the raw end of the deal it will be you. So apologizing to them is the only way to salvage your reputation, and business. Use all those words your mom, or grandma taught you. " Oh my, I am so sorry that your steak was cooked wrong please allow me to remove this, and I will handle this right away Sir, or Madam."

Step 3 is to fix It, whatever it takes to make it right for the guest. This is always the part people have the most trouble with. What to do, do I pay for the problem, or do I give them future credit for it, how much is to much, or god forbid how much is not enough. There is a delicate balance between to much,

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