Customer Complaints: Deal With Them, Don't Just Delete Them

Recently, I had a complaint with a late fee from my gym (automatic credit card processing issue), so I posted a request for assistance on their facebook page. When I went back there to check the resolution, having heard nothing from them online or in RL, I noticed that my post had been deleted. No resolution offered. Simply "poof" gone.

So, of course I reposted it. And added a handy tip about social media strategies ... but this got me to thinking.

We rarely remember moments when we've been provided efficient service, since we expect that we will be treated fairly and that most things will go well. Sad but true that we simply don't take the time to appreciate when things go right, or don't even think about it (until we get a customer satisfaction survey.)

What we remember is how we are treated – or mistreated – when things go wrong.

Meaning: Your opportunity to create a loyal customer and promoter – or an unwilling hostage and detractor (or a lost customer and detractor) – often starts when they bring you a problem to help them solve. You might even have caused this problem and all they are asking is for you to undo the damage.

Most companies seem to see complaints as issues to be resolved (and assign low-level, disempowered staff accordingly), not opportunities to reward customers for their patronage and create long-term loyalty.

Many, many years ago, we ordered a product from Home Improvements and it arrived with a chip in it. Perfectly functional, but it had a slight chip. We called them up and they said they would ship another one out immediately. We asked how we should return the chipped one and the CSR said, "Either throw it away or put it in a place where no one will see it and now you have two." (Which made sense for the item.)

I've told this story a number of times and, I expect, this simple and inexpensive act on their part has earned them at least a small handful of new customers over the years. And it cost them nothing. In fact, I expect it saved them money.

So... how do you handle complaints? Do you simply deal with them? Do you delete them? Or do you use them as rare opportunitites to show customers that you value their loyalty.

Technical Ability vs. Marketing Ability? It's Time to Graduate from this High School Mentality.

Back in high school, there was peer pressure to actually do poorly on tests. Why? Because getting straight A's and being cool were mutually exclusive. Cool vs. Smart. Pick one.

We knew, then, that this was stupid. Not simply because the dichotomy was imaginary, but also because acting on it would limit our future success.

Fast forward to our career lives and there is an equally stupid either/or proposition: Technical ability vs. Marketing ability.

And the syllogism is just as stupid as it was when we were fifteen.

Then:
1) He gets good grades.
2) Therefore: He must be uncool.

Now:
1) She can make it rain.
2) Therefore: She must have, at best, mediocre technical ability.

Back in high school, I heard good students called 'losers' by others who didn't even know them.

Now, I hear strong networkers and marketers dinged for having 'poor technical skills' by people who have zero insights into that person's work product.

Do we think we get so many points and have to assign them to one category or the other? Of course, we don't. But we do believe that if we are technically able and cannot market, then we have made a positive choice.

Let me rip off your blinders and give you a new syllogism:

1) You are unable to be good at both marketing and service.
2) Therefore: You are jealous at others who might actually be good at both.

And, though this news will make you really unhappy, you need to hear it: There are plenty of rainmakers who have far stronger technical ability than you.

We do not get a fixed number of points and the skill sets that make people good marketers do not conflict with the ones that make people good at their craft.

Life is unfair. You are jealous. << Let's admit to both of these RIGHT HERE and RIGHT NOW.

Done? Good.

Now you can stop assuming that people who can bring in business cannot also service that business or engineer innovative solutions. They can. And they do. And, very likely, they make far more money than you. And they deserve it.

So, why am I writing this? Because I am tired of companies rejecting strong marketers since they assume that these people cannot deliver on the technical side. And I am tired of the technical snobs rolling their eyes in marketing meetings, believing that marketing is for people without technical abilities.

All you are doing is limiting your own future and your company's future. Just like others tried to do to you back in high school. But now you are doing it to yourself and, worse, to others and to your organization.

It's not their fault you are bad at developing business; it's yours. And it's not because you have (or believe you have) superior technical ability. It's because you stupidly think that people only get so many points to assign.

It's time to graduate from high school. And, if you haven't noticed, the economy is weak right now. So, it's also time to improve your marketing skills.

The only thing holding you back is your belief that marketing ability and technical ability are on the same slider knob. They are on different controls and they can both go up to 10. (Or 11 for you Spinal Tap fans.)