How to Make Every Negative Customer Interaction Positive

Customer feedback is a "gift," says Ann Thomas, a senior consultant at Performance Research Associates, a consulting firm in South Bloomington, Minnesota, that deals with customer service-related issues. "I can't fix the problem unless I know about it." Programs like Shopper Approved, give customers the opportunity to resolve issues and rate the online company. Programs like Rhino Support give customers the ability to communicate effectively with customer support agents who have hopefully been trained in the following recommendations:

When Handling Customer Complaints, Ditch the Formalities

The last thing unsatisfied customers want to hear is a line-by-line recitation of your company's return policies. After they have spilled their guts, the three words they don’t want to hear are “I’m sorry but…” In contrast, the seven words they do want to hear are “So what you’re telling me is that …” The truth is that "today's customer expects to be treated as an individual, not as just another number who's complaining," Thomas says.

Consider the case of a department store with a 90-day deadline for returning an item. If there's a customer who just got married, returned from her honeymoon and, at day 100, realized that a gravy plate adorned with doves is actually not her style, it's worth looking into alternative options rather than sending her home right away. 

Your company should know that occasionally bending the rules will ultimately cost less it than it would to lose the customer or, worse, if the customer leaves and relays a negative story to the gift giver about your company. Wouldn’t an exchange be a viable option?

When Handling Customer Complaints, Avoid Overcompensating

A particular four-letter word usually does the trick when seeking a solution to a customer's complaint: fair. One of the key phrases, which not a lot of people use, (and which more customer service representatives should use) is: “What would you think would be fair?" 

My brother’s customer service manager bends over backwards to “make it right” with unhappy customers. He offers them the world before asking what the customer thinks might be fair. The idea here is, what is fair to one customer, is more than fair to the other, and not fair enough to still another. 

When customer service representatives give the decision of resolution over to the customer, the customer will more than likely finish the conversation in a much better place than where he or she started it. For customers that don’t like to make the decision, the customer service representative can start with some suggestions. For example, ‘Mr. Smith, we offered one customer who had a similar issue an additional month’s worth of service for free. Would that resolve this issue for you?” 

If you ask the customer to propose a "fair and reasonable" solution, acting as a partnership with you to find a resolution, chances are that the resolution will often consist of less than what you would have thought to offer. In my experience, some people don’t even want to be repaid or reimbursed. Some people just want to be heard.