The other day an entrepreneur asked me this question:
How do I resolve a customer complaint when his version of events is wildly different from my frontline employee’s story? Must I always take the side of the customer? What about my employee’s word?
More often than not the go-to response to this particular issue is the customer is always right. However, your frontline employee who originally provided the customer with a product/service deserves to have his or her side considered and responded to also. It’s not acceptable to give in to customers who are always seeking reimbursements or discounts for services or products delivered, without ensuring your employees have a full understanding of your actions.
To make an accurate judgement on this question I suggest analyzing each situation through the following 3 steps:
Listen
Speak with your customer to understand the entire scope of their complaint. Don’t be afraid to ask questions that dig deep into the situation and be sure to remain neutral throughout your information- gathering. Then speak with the employee responsible for the initial customer interaction. If the concern involved multiple employees speaking with each of them individually will help you to connect the dots a lot easier as you take each account into consideration from the source. Your broad approach will likely show up any disconnects, thereby leading to a speedier resolution.
Learn
Examine your customer’s profile. Are they notorious for filing complaints? Do they have a history of demoralizing your staff? Or have they been a faithful, long-time customer with no prior instances of complaints or seeking reimbursements or discounts?
Then, do the same with your employees. Do they have a history of complaints from customers? Did they have a negative event in their life that day that may have resulted in a less than stellar customer interaction?
Answering these questions will clarify the drivers of the complaint and help to determine the resolution.
Conclude
With your due diligence with both customer and employee complete, you are prepared to take appropriate action to resolve the complaint. If you determine that the customer has a valid complaint which justifies a reimbursement or discount, immediately fulfill their request. Follow up with your employee to tell him why you have decided this course.
On the other hand, if you find that this customer is notorious for seeking unjustified reimbursements or discounts, or continuously hassling your employees with complaints, you may consider declining the customer’s request or possibly even firing them as a customer. Carefully explain to the customer why you have chosen to do this. Some may argue that declining the customers request goes against all customer experience best practices, however, as an entrepreneur you have standards by which you run your business effectively. Do not abuse those standards. You can live without one customer but you can’t live without your dedicated employees.
To support the LLC structure, set a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to have all complaints resolved within a set time frame. For example, “At Joe Smith’s Autobody, we strive to have all customer feedback addressed and resolved within one business days.”
Have you set your SLA for complaint management?