It is always annoying and dangerous when a customer is not satisfied with a product and complains. Certainly, there are cases where this complaint is unfounded. But a company can also benefit from justified complaints.

Bitter when it turns out for a company that a product has reached the customer in poor quality. This raises several serious questions. Is this just an isolated case or is there a bigger problem at work here? How did the defect come about? Can the disappointed customer still be satisfied? If the company deals with the complaint in a structured and targeted way, the problem at hand can become a great opportunity. Due to the complaint, the company concerned can carry out error analysis, possibly increase the quality of the manufacturing process and the products and thus better satisfy the needs of the customers in the future.

Take a different perspective

The company staff handling the customer's complaint should approach the case with a positive attitude. It is counterproductive to be permanently angry, shocked or annoyed when a buyer comes forward with a justified complaint. The case handler should free himself or herself from such a perception and change perspective. After all, the client is giving the company another chance by contacting them. Many other dissatisfied clients will have said goodbye without a word, most likely forever. The complaint offers the opportunity to enter into a conversation with the client. This is very valuable because it gives the company first-hand feedback and allows them to enter into a dialogue with the client. Talking to the buyer allows the company to demonstrate how customer-focused, flexible and effective it is in dealing with complaints. In addition, complaints provide an opportunity to motivate employees to perform better in the future.

Steps in the processing of complaints

It is helpful to standardise the procedure for handling a complaint. A clearly defined and established process helps to act objectively and rationally on this difficult, emotionally charged issue.

This is how a structured complaints process can be set up:

• We will accept your complaint. Regardless of how the complaint is received, by post, telephone, e-mail or as a returned item
• Immediate and written confirmation that the product has been received by the company.
• Collect missing information: What exactly is faulty? Are there several independent faults? Is only one article or a series of products affected?
• Initiate a replacement delivery for the customer as quickly as possible, in clear cases immediately after receipt of the complaint.
• Screen, analyse and assess the complaint. This is where the company's internal guidelines, agreed standards and the buyer's requirements come into play.
• Final feedback to the client, possibly with communication regarding the measures to be taken to correct the defect and possible assumption of the costs.
• Initiate corrections in the business process. What changes in procedures, processes, materials need to be initiated to avoid this type of error in the future?
• Check whether the improvement measures are working. Are the changes in the business process having a positive effect on the quality of the product? Or is it necessary to make further adjustments here?

Communication is essential in this process. The competent, responsible employees of the company must communicate with the complaining customer. The company should speak with one voice, all employees involved should communicate the same message. Often it is also helpful with business customers if people with the same qualifications exchange information: A sales engineer understands the requirements, needs and problems of a colleague better than a lawyer.