Chapter Two

Managing Customer complain

INTRDUCTION
How do you react to customer complaints about the way you do in work? Especially when
you think you are doing your best?
2.1. The manner of customer during complains
In a marketing there are several kinds of customers, the manner of those customers vary
according their behaviour and the types of businesses. When customers are complaining
portray the following characteristics :- They
 Lack of polite social skills to communicate properly.
 Become nervousness, harshness, one sided and very emotional
 Lack understanding of you or your organization’s limitations
 Lack understanding of commercial/regulatory limitations.
 They also show rudeness and unreasonableness
2.2. Skills Necessary for Dealing with Problems
Skills necessary for dealing with customers’ problems may include and not limited to the
following:
 Calm and helpful
 Understanding
 Diplomatic (Tactful) and discreet
 Empathetic etc.
2.3. Ways of Handling Customer Complaints
Group discussion question
1, How to Handle Customer Complaints
When the customers show bad ethics, you must have skills of handling customers
complain to turn unhappy people into happy. The followings are some of the of the ways
helps to handle customers complain:-
 Listen your customer problem carefully and describe them with civility.
 Give the customer your full attention and establish eye contact.
 Paraphrase their complaint in your own words to determine whether you have
correctly understood the situation.

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  Don’t be defensive, don’t take criticisms personally offer an apology (say “I am
sorry”). Even if the disservice is not your fault.
 Show empathy by using such phrases as: “I can understand how you feel”, “I
appreciate what you’re saying.”
 Don’t make excuses or blame others in your organization.
 Give the customer your full attention and establish eye contact.
 Paraphrase their complaint in your own words to determine whether you have
correctly understood the situation.
Finally, to give solution for your customers complain implement the following activities:-
 Tell them what you can do and not what you can’t do.
 If you don’t know the answer to their problem, don’t lie.
 Find out what it will take to turn their dissatisfaction into satisfaction.
 If they agree to that solution, act quickly before they change their mind, follow up
and remember and
 You can never win an argument with a customer.
2.4. Steps to Handle a Customer Complaint
1. Listen carefully
2. Stay Calm, Provide customers with the opportunity to complain.
3. Be empathetic
4. Be aware of the guest’s Self-esteem.
5. Give customers your full and undivided attention.
6. Take notes.
7. Tell the guest what can be done.
8. Set approximate time for the hotel’s action.
9. Monitor the progress of the solution and corrective action taken.
10. Follow-up.
11. Thank the customer for bringing the complaint to your attention.
2.5. Recipient’s Negative Reaction to Complaints
 Ignore complaints
 Defensiveness and anger.
 Annoyance, time consuming, rectification costs.

 Hindrance-wish they would just go away!

 Not believe some or all of what the customer was saying.

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These reactions are as a result of “negative attribution” –blame is being attributed to us or
our business. A complaint is evidence that, in the customer’s view, we have not met there.
2.5.1. Customer deterrent /warning techniques
 Apology only, no rectification.
 Blame.
 Promise but don’t deliver.
 No response.
 Rudeness.
 Pass on to another department.
 Customer interrogation.
2.6. The consequence of bad handling of customer complain
People react to customer complaints in different ways:- For example Some are ignore
complaints; become defensive, angry or annoyed.
Some business man does not believe some or all of what the customer is complaining
about or they wish to loss their customers. As a result, not accepting customer complaints
have the following consequences:-
 Loss of trade or the damage to their professional reputation.
 Customers go away to other places.
 It leads to deficit/wastage
 It reduce productivity,
 Dissatisfied Customer.
 Unable to solve problems.
 It leads to poverty etc.