In my last post, Advertising That is Priced Less and Priceless, I talked about the best form of advertising there is, word of mouth. You can read that HERE.

Word of mouth advertising can also be the worst advertising in the world if you don’t handle your customers properly. Customer whose experience with your company has been bad will tell even more people than happy ones.

None of us are perfect nor are the products we sell. You will have customers who have complaints about you, your company or what you sell. How you handle those complaints will determine whether the customer talks positively or negatively about you.

Here is the number of people your customer will talk to based upon how well you handle their complaint:

If you do a good job                        3

If you do a great job                      10

If you do a bad job                         25

If you get in an argument               50

Handling customer complaints poorly will usually lose you that customer for life. In addition to losing any future sales that customer would have made, you will also lose any future sales from people that customer would have referred to you.

Handling customer complaints well can solidify that customer’s loyalty for life. You gain all future purchases that customer will make and customers who are impressed with the way you resolve conflicts are far more likely to recommend you to others, gaining you all those referral purchases.

In order to handle customer complaints properly you must be prepared to do so. You need to plan out your process and train your staff just like you did with your sales process. Everyone in the company should know what to do the minute they receive a complaint or a customer has an issue.

Here are some suggestions on what your plan should include:

Take responsibility immediately. The person who receives the complaint should own it even if they are not at fault or will not be the one ultimately fixing it. ‘That’s not my job’ or even ‘Let me find out who handles that’ will only increase your customers frustration and pain and make resolving the issue more difficult.

Empathize with your customer. Tell them you understand. Agree that they have a problem and that you would be mad to. Defuse their anger; don’t add to it by arguing.

Listen to everything they have to say. Ask questions so that you understand what their problem really is. Take notes to illustrate how seriously you take their problems. Once they have finished, confirm what you think the problem is with them. Find out what they think the solution should be.

Don’t blame others. Don’t look for a scapegoat. Don’t pass the buck. You are the spokesperson for your company in this situation. Accept that responsibility and take it as a challenge to see how well you can make this turn out.

Resolve the issue. Find out what solutions are available quickly. If possible, let the customer take ownership of the solution by allowing them to choose from a couple of alternatives.

Follow up with the customer. Many companies stop this process once the problem is resolved. If you fail to follow up, you will never know if the customer is actually satisfied with the outcome or is unhappy and telling everyone they know. Following up will let you make sure the issue is resolved to everyone’s satisfaction and that your customer is happy. Speaking with your customer again to make sure they are happy shows them you care and fortifies their loyalty. It also gives you a chance to ask for a written testimonial on your customer service.

Don’t be an ostrich and bury your head in the sand when you experience trouble. Have a process in place and be confident in your ability to handle trouble. The proper handling of customer complaints will generate as many sales as your advertising if done properly. Remember what Bill Gates said, ” Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”