Complaint-Recovery Process

1. Complaint-Recovery Process Jason Paster The Pennsylvania State University

2. What will be covered today? • Improvements of the complaint-recovery process for your business • Classifying customer complaints • Responding to the customer • The complaint-recovery process in action • A self evaluation of your business

3. What is the Complaint-Recovery Process? • The process where companies receive complaints, process them, and communicate back to the customer.

4. What is the goal? • 100% customer satisfaction • Documentation of customers problems/concerns for future reference • To fix the customers problem/concern wherever feasible, as soon as possible

5. How does your organization measure up? • What has your office done to makes sure it listens to the voice of the customer? • How do the leaders in your organization view complaints? • How does your organization make it easy for customers to complain? • What does your organization do to make it easy for employees to solve problems? Federal Benchmarking Consortium , “Best Practices in Resolving Customer Complaints,” Internet. http://www.npr.gov/library/papers/benchmrk/bstprac.html. (2/16/01)

6. How does your organization measure up? • How does your organization track and analyze complaints? • How does your organization use information about complaints to fix easy problems fast? • How does your organization use information about complaints to identify and address underlying problems? Federal Benchmarking Consortium , “Best Practices in Resolving Customer Complaints,” Internet. http://www.npr.gov/library/papers/benchmrk/bstprac.html. (2/16/01)

7. How does your organization measure up? • How is customer service incorporated in your organization’s vision, plans and actions? • How do you get complaint information to the CEO or top management? • How does your organization measure customer satisfaction for your overall service? Federal Benchmarking Consortium , “Best Practices in Resolving Customer Complaints,” Internet. http://www.npr.gov/library/papers/benchmrk/bstprac.html. (2/16/01)

8. Classifying Complaints • Develop a system within your organization to rank complaints on urgency. • What is the magnitude of the complaint? • EVERY COMPLAINT IS IMPORTANT!

9. Complaint-Free Customer Service? • No one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes! • Sounds nice, but it will be counterproductive in the long run. “A good service accepts that things are wrong and fixes it.” -Ken Birkby, head of customer service for Marks & Spencer

10. Complaint-Friendly Customer Service • It should be easy for customers to get in touch with your company. • Customers should always be treated with respect and courtesy. • The customer is ALWAYS right, even when they’re wrong.

11. Communicating to the Customer • Organization • Patience • Understanding • Assurance • Honesty

12. Getting Customer Feedback Passively Solicited Customer Feedback Waiting for the customer to come to you about grievances/gratitude's. Actively Solicited Customer Feedback Asking the customer if he/she has any grievances/gratitude’s regarding his/her experience with your business. Foster, S. Thomas. Managing Quality, an Interactive Approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2001.

13. Implementation of a New System • Issue a policy statement • Establish an implementation team • Establish a tracking system • Develop recommendations for improvement • Implement Federal Benchmarking Consortium , “Best Practices in Resolving Customer Complaints,” Internet. http://www.npr.gov/library/papers/benchmrk/bstprac.html. (2/16/01)

14. Some Suggestions for Improvement… • Make it easy for your customers to complain and your customers will make it easy for you to improve. • Respond to complaints quickly and courteously with common sense and you will improve customer loyalty. Federal Benchmarking Consortium , “Best Practices in Resolving Customer Complaints,” Internet. http://www.npr.gov/library/papers/benchmrk/bstprac.html. (2/16/01)

15. Key to Success Doing the job right the first time + Effective complaint management Maximum customer satisfaction/loyalty - Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc. has adopted this formula for customer satisfaction

16. More Suggestions for Improvement… • Using technology is very important in a complaint handling system. • Recruit and hire the best for customer service jobs. • Resolve complaints on the first contact. Federal Benchmarking Consortium , “Best Practices in Resolving Customer Complaints,” Internet. http://www.npr.gov/library/papers/benchmrk/bstprac.html. (2/16/01)

17. Electronic Controls Company (ECCO) -THE PROBLEM • Started receiving an unusually large number of complaints • No way to keep track of complaints • Management sensed they were getting the same complaints repetitively Finegan, Jay. “The rigorous customer-complaint form.” ABI Inform. March 1994. V16 n3. P. 101-103

18. Electronic Controls Company (ECCO) -THE SOLUTION • The customers information, complaint, and corrective action were all stored into a database. • Hard copies of complaints were filed in two binders • Open - complaints which are pending • Closed- complaints which have been solved • Management was able to track the common problems to figure out the source of the problem, which yielded a fix. Finegan, Jay. “The rigorous customer-complaint form.” ABI Inform. March 1994. V16 n3. P. 101-103

19. Activity Write down 4 ways to improve your company’s complaint-recovery process. Do your improvements include: • Less Red-Tape • Better use of Technology • More Knowledgeable Customer Service Employees • Faster Response Times

20. Summary • The complaint-recovery process is key to surviving in business. • The process should be constantly reviewed for improvements. • The customer should play an active role in evaluating your process. • With a winning process your customers will be happier, which in turn will make your business more successful.

21. Bibliography Brown, Stephen W. “Service recovery through IT: Complaint handling will differentiate firms in the future.” Marketing Management. v6 n3. Fall 1997. p.25-27. “Complaint handling can increase customer loyalty.” Management Today. December 1998. p. 11 Federal Benchmarking Consortium , “Best Practices in Resolving Customer Complaints,” Internet. http://www.npr.gov/library/papers/benchmrk/bstprac.html. (2/16/01) Finegan, Jay. “The rigorous customer-complaint form.” ABI Inform. March 1994. V16 n3. p. 101-103 Foster, S. Thomas. Managing Quality, an Interactive Approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2001. McClendon, Bruce. “Complaint-free customer service.” Public Management. V79 n3. March 1997. p. 21-23. S, Stephen. “Customer evaluations of service complaint experiences: Impliceations of relationship marketing.” Journal of Marketing. v62 n 2. April 1998. p. 60-76.