Alexas_Fotos / Pixabay
Complaints vs Comps
Ever notice how many customer complaints are “solved” today by some sort of compensation? Comps have become the standard solution for addressing complaints but they do not fix the underlying problem. If you work in an office environment and don’t deal directly with customers you probably figure this doesn’t apply to you. But it does – if only because comps have crept into our collective mindset as the way to solve problems. Unfortunately, they don’t solve problems; in fact things can get worse because providing comps allow the bad practices to continue until they become standard ways of doing business.
Taking Complaints For Granted
A big part of your job as a manager is to recognize potential problems and fix them before they get to the “comp” stage – to be proactive. Apologies and comps are reactive. Something goes wrong; we apologize and try to make it up to the customer. We have addressed the symptom (the situation) but not the disease (the underlying cause).
What’s the Real Issue?
Here’s an example. One evening I parked my convertible under a tree and forgot to put the top up. The next morning the back seat was full of leaves along with a few gifts from the resident birds so I headed for the car wash. I didn’t lower the top until the next day and when I did, I noticed that the back seat was still full of leaves and bird droppings. Naturally, I called and asked for the manager. The young man on the phone told me he wasn’t in at the moment but would call later me that day – he didn’t. However, the next day, the assistant manager called. I told him about my experience (the symptom) and that I had noticed a decline in overall quality (the disease) for some time.
The assistant manager heard that I had a bad car wash. Unfortunately, that’s all he heard. His solution: come back and specifically ask for him but he didn’t want to learn more about the problem. He wanted to make sure that I was “taken care of” so he started talking about discounts and a bunch of other things that had no bearing on the problem. When I tried to explain that the car wash wasn’t the problem he explained, “I need you to give me a chance to fix the problem, this is how we fix things”. He was not trying to fix the problem – he was fixing what he thought was the problem. I knew that my next car wash wouldn’t be any better because he wanted to address the car and not the service. After ten years of patronizing them, I’m looking for a new place.
Turning the Tide
My point is, as a manager your job is to not let things get to the point that your customers leave. Listen long and hard enough to find out what the real issue is. This will stop things from getting worse and salvage the relationship. The truth is when you only address the symptoms, problems persists. You just buy time for the disease to spread. In fact, you give your staff tacit permission to under perform because they count on you to take give the customer just enough to quiet them. The result is you now have a customer who is only partly satisfied and an employee that isn’t held accountable for the situation. Here are some suggestions to help you cure the disease:
Get to the heart of the problem from the start
Ask questions. Ask for real feedback. Why did you take the approach you did? Was it the right approach? What could you have been done differently?
Take it personally
See the problem as a reflection of your management skills. rust me, others will. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. What got them to the point where they needed to contact you? Would you accept the quality they received? Put yourself in your staff’s shoes. Did they have the skills and tools they need to prevent the problem in the first place?
Take action
Engage and empower staff. Talk candidly about complaints and seek collective solutions. Do you need to provide additional training or tools? Can you empower them to make certain decisions or take actions without you? Is it a topic for team training? Is it a discipline issue? Talk to other managers. Do they have similar situations (it may not be isolated to your staff)? Find out if your boss has any insight.
To learn more resolving complaints, check out our services here.