The idea of embracing complaints is counter-intuitive to many. Popular belief is that complaints are a nuisance. Complaints can damage a company’s reputation, especially in an age of zero-tolerance for service disruptions and lapses. The growing power of social media makes it worse; huge organizations are more likely to be  exposed to great reputational risk as public sentiments towards single minor incidents can be influenced through carefully-framed—and at times malicious—social media postings.

Businesses have to understand that complaints cannot be avoided. Thus, instead of taking complaints into a negative spin, we should embrace complaints and get a positive outcome from them. Embracing complaints entails that we view complaints in a new light. The followings are a few tips in managing complaints effectively.

1. View Complaints as Gifts from Customers

Complaint is a feedback mechanism. If the customer takes the time and effort to complain, it means that this customer cares about us and is giving us a second chance to keep his/her business with us. He/she is also giving us an opportunity to learn from our mistakes. We should review our processes and policies to make adjustments and improvements.

2.  Do the Right Thing

Many organizations adopt a “Do the right things, first time and every time” policy. Whilst there is nothing wrong in this attitude at all, organizations need to realize that there are times when they fail to deliver this promise resulting in complaints from customers. When this happens, we must “do the right things” to manage complaints as well.

3.  Resolve Complaints Promptly

A complaint well-handled may turn a customer’s unhappiness into loyalty. He/she will be encouraged and may become a repeat customer if we manage the complaint well. Organizations should empower front-end staff to resolve complaints in the most prompt and effective manner. Solving the customer complaint may involve making exceptions to an already existing process. Thus, having a senior management support in the complaint resolution process is the key to efficient complaints resolution.

4.  Collect Complaint Data

During the resolution of customer complaints, we should collect as much data as possible. When the customer notices our genuine intention to resolve the complaint, he/she is more likely to be cooperative in sharing information/incidents leading to the complaint. Take note of the parts of the standard process that leads to an inability to serve the customer’s needs. This will be beneficial for the review process.

5.  Review Existing Processes

With the data collected, a process review should take place to enhance existing processes and implement new measures to avert the occurrence of such issues in the future.

With all that said, we should also recognize that some complaints are about situations or policies that cannot be altered to the satisfaction of customers. These complaints could be regarding regulatory compliances or risk considerations. Even so, customers will appreciate and be more forgiving if we respond in a friendly manner and show them that their request is heard and their feelings acknowledged.

Complaints are unique opportunities for us to reflect and review our products and services. We should embrace them to bring the organization to the next level of service excellence.