The last thing you want to hear as a store owner or manager is a complaint when you’re busy doing your best. Yet a complaint can be an opportunity not just to improve your relationship with a customer, but to improve your operation. Here are 10 tips for dealing with complaints safely and effectively.
1. Keep calm. Any emotion but empathy doesn’t belong in your conversation with a customer who has a complaint. Listen and focus on what your customer is saying. Don’t argue with him.
2. Keep it cool and safe. If your customer is out of line — for instance, he’s under age and wants to buy cigarettes or beer — don’t call him out. Instead, apologize for not being able to sell him the product legally and ask him if there’s anything else you can get for him. If he becomes irate and you feel threatened, call the police. For more information on how to handle such a situation safely, check out this video by the Florida Petroleum Marketers Association.
3. Keep records. Assuming your conversation with your customer is civil, write down the complaint. Get the specifics of the problem. Try to find out exactly what annoyed the customer.
4. Have a sincere response and apology ready. If you can’t fix the problem right away, find another way to make your customer happy. Have a response or perk ready, such as a coupon for a doughnut or a free cup of coffee. And apologize in a way that shows you are genuinely sorry for what happened. Nothing is more infuriating than a response like, “I’m sorry you’re upset.”
5. Offer to follow up. Ask the customer if she would like a follow-up call and give her one if she does, after you’ve investigated the problem and decided how to deal with it.
6. Thank the customer. Thank your customer for taking the time to bring the problem to your attention. A thank-you will help convince her that you have her best interests at heart.
7. Don’t dally. If you have a customer who just can’t be satisfied, be polite and professional, apologize again and promise to do better next time. Ask if there’s any other way you can help them today.
8. Be careful with electronic responses. If you find yourself responding to a complaint in a text or online, such as on a review site or social media, be polite, smart and diplomatic. Your response can live forever for anyone to see, especially if you’re annoyed customer shares it.
9. Fix the problem. See if you can address the complaint. Your instinct may be to feel defensive about it, but ask yourself if there is a genuine problem – or pattern of problems – and see what you can do about it. This is where your records may help you see if you have a persistent issue that must be addressed.
10. Train your employees. Train all of your employees to be courteous and handle complaints with the same civility and responsiveness. Even if store policy is to pass complaints to the manager, make sure the customer feels well treated on her way to having that conversation.
