FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Tom Ellis
February 13, 2004 Ellis Communications, Inc.
Phone: (417) 881-5635
Email: tom@elliscomm.com
PHOENIX, Ariz. – Most utilities think customer complaints are a primary source
of their ongoing headaches. In fact, these complaints are a second chance.
“Complaints have a very different meaning depending upon whether you are
standing in your customer’s shoes or the company’s,” says David Saxby, president
of Phoenix-based Measure-X, a company that specializes in helping utilities
improve their customer service and sales. “The reality of the situation is that
these customers are giving you a rare second opportunity to make things right.
Can you follow through on this lucky break?”
Saxby offers the following
five tips on how to turn a complaint from a negative to a positive.
Tip No. 1. Customers who complain are saying, “Give
me a reason to believe in you one more time.” These rare pleas should be
embraced and acted upon immediately, Saxby says. “After all, the alternative is
worse,” he notes. “With customers who are upset and did not bother to call, who
knows what they’re thinking or saying?”
Tip No. 2. Actively listen and don’t interrupt the
customer. “Interruptions will fuel an agitated customer,” Saxby says. “If your
customer has been inconvenienced, listen and then extend a sincere apology – the
operative word being sincere.”
Tip. No. 3. Make an action-based gesture. Even the
smallest gesture of this type can diffuse an upset customer, Saxby explains.
“It’s critical that you take responsibility and demonstrate that you own the
problem,” Saxby says. “Depending upon the situation, the gesture can be
something as simple as making an adjustment to the customer’s account or sending
a small token of apology, such as movie tickets.”
Tip No. 4. Speed is critical. Your resolution must
be presented immediately, if possible, and without layers of management
approval, Saxby says. “This is how you turn a disgruntled customer into a happy
one. This also turns second chances into a loyalty-building activity.”
Tip No. 5. Customers always have a choice: they
can call or not call. If they don’t call, their frustration doesn’t go away,
Saxby points out. “They may just put it ‘on hold’ until something else happens
and then they are even more upset,” Saxby says. “Or they can share their
frustration and opinion of your utility with others and in those conversations,
you are certain to be the bad guy.”
So be glad when customers call to complain, Saxby says.
“Second chances are few and far between,” Saxby notes.
“Take these opportunities to help your customers when they
really need you.”
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Measure-X is a measurement, training and recognition company that specializes
in customer service and sales skills. For more information on Measure-X,
call 888-644-5499 or visit its Web site at www.measure-x.com.
