| |
| |
|
WebsiteAlways |
|
What Every Manager Should Know About How to Learn from the Complaints of Customers and Employees
Listening to complaints, whether they're reasonable or not, is a part of every manager's job. Sometimes complaints can be overwhelming. However, when we take them in stride with an open mind, we can learn much from our employees' and customers' feelings about the workplace. After all, a complaint is nothing more that a person telling you that his (or her) needs have not been met. As dissatisfied customers, they are giving us a second chance to correct something that should have been done properly the first time around. (In some cases the customer might happen to be your employee.) If you listen to them patiently and attentively, their complaints will alert you to a real or potential problem, or tell you of a better way to handle a situation. We are not use, however, to coping with complaints. We let our emotions rule our thinking usually. Consequently, we let complaints wear us out because we take on the complaint as a personal attack on us. It is not! The next time you are faced with an irate employee, here are some steps to consider: * Try doing something new and different. * Listen attentively, patiently, and with good nature. * Even if the complaint seems unreasonable, don't tell him so. Keep it to yourself. * Because nobody wants to be accused of being unreasonable, especially if it's true, admit that he might be right. (The implication is that you may be wrong.) * Invite him to offer you in his own words a solution to his complaint. Say, for example, "If you were in my shoes, what would you do to correct the situation?" (Be careful not to call his complaint or situation a problem, because doing so might aggravate him to the point that he loses his ability to think and express himself clearly.) * Listen carefully and actively. Read his body language. * Use feedback questions or statements to let him know that you're trying to understand and meet his needs. (Begin responses with statements like, "If I understand you correctly, ...") When you take the time to listen to your complaining customers or employee, you'll hear what he's telling you. Then you'll be in a better position to turn him into a satisfied customer. Remember: When you maximize your potential, everyone wins. When you don't, we all lose. © Etienne A. Gibbs, MSW PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in ezines, newsletters, and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Although advance permission is not required, please notify us at execandgroup-consulting@yahoo.com when you use this article. Etienne A. Gibbs, MSW, Management Consultant and Trainer, conducts seminars, lectures, and writes articles on his theme: ... helping you maximize your potential. He offers management, marketing, and parenting resources at his Maximizing Your Potential blog.
MORE RESOURCES:
Customer-Service - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Whats Love Got To Do With It? Customer Loyalty, we all want it. Don't we?Some people say it's dead - they say that customers are fickle, that they don't want loyalty, that they just want the lowest price and the fastest way to get it. Customer Service - How Good Are YOU? At 8.30 am a wealthy client (on his way to make a presentation to the local council at 9 am) walked into a store that sells photocopiers. Clients... and 38 ways to communicate with them As Alan Weiss (guru to the savvy consultant) says: "It is actually difficult to contact clients too much. It is easy to fail to contact them frequently enough. How To Boost Your Bottom Line With Two Little Words I hate to sound like one of those cheesy get-rich-quick commercials, but this week I am going to let you in on a little secret that is so powerful that it will immediately change the way you do business.In fact, this little secret is so powerful that you will be amazed at its immediate effect on you, your employees, and your bottom line. Post Office, Incredible Lady Postmaster There are two Post Offices that I routinely visit. One is the office that delivers my mail and the other is frequently on the path of some daily errands. Adjustment DENIED It's just a simple thing - I bought a new set of shelves for my office. It wasn't a real problem, but when I got the shelves home, I found dents on the front of the shelves where the package had been leaned up on some other object, the shelves had been removed from the original box and put into another box. Responding to Complaints It's possible that in the course of your business dealings, you may (just may) have to deal with a complaint from a customer or client .. Your Voice Print "Mountains are built one pebble at a time and climbed one step at a time." This is a quote of mine that I personally put into practice each day as I progress towards fulfilling my WHY in life. Customer First Customer Service The world of customer service is rapidly changing. Thirty years ago, telephones and mail services were the norm for most companies. 5 Golden Online/Offline Business Rules To LIVE Or DIE By Whether online or off, if you plan on running or maintaining any type of credibility within your business, there are some guidelines that are safe to say any existing or potential customer expects if they are to do immediate or future business with you.As an online entrepreneur for over 3 years I have found that even though I don't have the pleasure of meeting face-to-face with my customers, ones perception of you and your business can be viewed as good or bad all depending on the way you handle questions or comments posted by people interested in your product. Have You Hugged a Customer Today? It all started a couple of weeks ago when a friend asked me if I could scan and print some of her slides. No problem, I said. The Drawback of Hacking Off a Blogger Through Weak Process Gaps and Pathetic Customer Service With all of the recent data theft in the financial sector, it is important to make sure that we don't go crazy trying to protect ourselves from risk. Risk management does have a value but this value lies mostly on the front end. How to Walk the Floor and Talk to Customers This may seem a strange topic to introduce. Yet, it is the most under-used skill by many retail managers, but one of the most important roles in their supervision. Listen to Suggestions If you are up to your ears in a stressful situation, it becomes difficult to think clearly. Sometimes, it is best to walk away from a problem, and think about it, rather than try to solve it with an instant solution. To Complain and Win! - My Personal Recipe Prime directive: Make sure your claim is reasonable! Otherwise, forget it.First thing: If you have a legitimate claim denied or a beef with a company (my method can be applied to insurance companies, dealerships, bad fish, or whatever), prepare yourself for the likelihood of frustrating conversations with people who either can't think for themselves or have been told by their boss not to. Write a Business Thank-You Note Have you seen that thing on TV where the gal tells the nerd she wonders why he never asked her to marry him and he stumbles and says "Thank You" and she turns to butter?The point of the message is that "Thank You" goes a long way to making people feel better.Personally and in business, develop the "Thank You" habit. The Death of the Loyal Customer One of my classes in management focused on the repeat customer. The course stressed the importance of the repeat customer to the financial welfare of the business. The History of CRM -- Moving Beyond the Customer Database Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is one of those magnificent concepts that swept the business world in the 1990's with the promise of forever changing the way businesses small and large interacted with their customer bases. In the short term, however, it proved to be an unwieldy process that was better in theory than in practice for a variety of reasons. 7 Bits Of Critical Information You Cant Afford NOT To Know About Your Customers If you think customer relationship management is just a piece of software, you're dead wrong. Customer relationship management is about understanding your customers. Automating Your Help Desk Workflow Do you know you can open, answer, close and report help desk information without human intervention?Automation is a powerful feature provided by most enterprise level help desk products; however, most organizations rarely take advantage of these features. Based on a survey conducted by RightStar Systems, only 5% of the help desk managers interviewed were using automation to its fullest capacity.
|
| Interesting articles | Home | site map | Link |
| © 2006 |