Mistakes happen! Regardless of how well a business is run, ultimately you will experience a customer complaint.
How you handle the customer complaint will determine whether you have good word of mouth or bad word of mouth going forward. In today’s social media world, a molehill can turn into a mountain in a matter of seconds.
Warren Buffet, someone that understands brand reputation as well as anyone, once said, “It takes 20 years to build a good reputation and only 5-minutes to ruin it”.
Consumers, for the most part, are forgiving and understand that businesses make mistakes. You won’t be judged by the mistake you make nearly as much as you will be judged by how you handle the mistake.
A study done by the Ford Motor Company revealed that when you turn an unhappy customer into a happy customer, they will be 6 to 20 times more loyal to you than a customer who has never been unhappy.
When your next customer complaint crosses your desk, here is a quote you can live by, “It’s never a problem. It’s an OPPORTUNITY to create a SOLUTION to a certain SITUATION”.
The best way to make sure customer complaints are handled correctly is to have everyone on your team understand how to handle them before they ever occur.