Treat Complaints as a Gift

The Lesson – Complaint = Gift

In late June, Apple launched the highly anticipated iPhone 4 and sold 1.7 million new phones within the first three days, nearly doubling previous iPhone product launches. In fact, pre-orders for the new iPhone allowed AT&T to have its busiest day ever for online sales (so much so that AT&T’s servers crashed). While it appeared that this product launch would go down in history as a huge success, it was only a matter of hours after the phones officially arrived in the hands of consumers that complaints about reception started to rear their head. The iPhone 4’s new design can cause significant reception problems if held in a certain manner (now dubbed “the death grip”). In response to one customer, Apple CEO Steve Jobs wrote in an email, “Just avoid holding it that way.” I could be wrong, but I am guessing that wasn’t quite the response the customer expected to receive, especially from a company as cool as Apple.

Watching the Apple saga unfold has really got me thinking about how we view customer complaints. Let’s face it. The credit and collection industry is ripe with complaints and proper complaint handling is an important part of our job.

In the popular book, A Complaint is a Gift (second edition), authors Janelle Barlow and Claus Moller encourage companies to change their perspective on complaints, and instead of seeing complaints in a negative light, see the complaints as something more positive—as a gift.

According to the authors, “Complaints are a feedback mechanism that can help organizations rapidly and inexpensively shift products, service style, or market focus to meet the needs of their customers—who, after all, pay the bills. It is time for all organizations to think of complaint handling as a strategic tool—an opportunity to learn something about products or services that maybe they did not already know—and as a marketing asset, rather than a nuisance, a cost, and a royal pain.”

The book describes a complaint as, “… statements about expectations that have not been met. They are also, and perhaps more importantly, opportunities for an organization to reconnect with customers by fixing a service or product breakdown.”

It can be all too easy to view complaints negatively. After all, while some complaints are legitimate, many are not, and sadly, some consumers simply want to get their squeaky wheel greased. Regardless, a complaint is a complaint, and a dissatisfied consumer will certainly share their frustration with others (e.g., FTC, Better Business Bureau, online blogs, Attorney Generals, clients, etc.).

The book goes on to state that, “When customers feel dissatisfied with products and services, they have two options: they can say something or they can walk away. If they walk away, they give organizations virtually no opportunity to fix their dissatisfaction. Complaining customers are still talking to us, giving us an opportunity to recapture their interest …”

The Challenge

Don’t worry, your challenge this week is not to read the book (although that wouldn’t be a bad idea). Your challenge is actually much more difficult than that. This week your challenge is to view each complaint as a gift and use the opportunity to recapture the interest of your customers.

Here are four things you can do with your gifts this week:

1.    Thank the person for giving the gift to you.

2.    Be appreciative, even if you don’t necessarily like the gift.
3.    Be determined to do something useful with the gift.
4.    Invite the person to give you more gifts in the future.

For extra credit, spend a few minutes watching Janelle talk about philosophy on complaint handling:

The Reflection

1.    What do you think is the most important part of complaint handling?
2.    Does your company have a formal complaint handling policy?
3.    When you have a complaint about a product or service, how do you expect it to be handled?
4.    How do you deal with frivolous consumer complaints?
5.    Were you able to improve a business processes because of the gift you received?

Unwrap and enjoy!

Gary Jensen
Editor | collector mentor