Queries And Complaints

resolving a query or complaint properly will give you happy loyal customers – advice on how to do just that!

Walk the walk

I believe there are 7 key mistakes (or sins!) a business can make. Any one of them will mean that they don’t deliver a great experience for their customers. The 3rd is: FAIL TO KEEP YOUR PROMISES. Most of us have felt let down by an individual or business because they made a promise but […]

When mistakes happen

I believe there are 7 key mistakes (or sins!) a business can make. Any one of them will mean that they don’t deliver a great experience for their customers. The 6th is DON’T SORT OUT MISTAKES. By this, I don’t mean resolving an individual error to the customer’s satisfaction. I mean failing to get to the […]

Why you should welcome complaints!

If you have a poor experience in a restaurant and the waiter asks if everything has been OK what do you say? Most people will say “fine, thanks” then walk out vowing never to go back. Research proves 96% of customers don’t tell you if they are not happy with your product or service. It also shows […]

The end has to justify the means…

I recently had to phone my energy company. It’s often hard to get through to an agent so I was expecting a long wait. To my pleasant surprise, I got through to a human being within a minute. Not only that, she was excellent – polite and professional, and focused on my needs. She took full ownership […]

Sorry seems to be the hardest word

“What do I do when lightning strikes me?”. That’s a lyric from the Elton John song “Sorry seems to be the hardest word”. It came to mind when I read VW had installed devices on some cars to cheat the emission tests. They had known about this for some time (and not disclosed it). […]

Be proactive about customer concerns

I’m embarrassed to admit that I know nothing about car mechanics. And so for me when my car starts to make odd noises or not perform in the usual way my heart sinks because I know: 1 – I’ll be paying a trip to the garage 2 – I’ll be forking out cash to get […]

So what happens now?

After 25 years of working to improve customer experiences, I believe there are 7 key mistakes (or sins!) a business can make. Any one of them will mean that they don’t deliver a great experience for their customers. The second is DON’T SET EXPECTATIONS. Many businesses don’t think about what information the customer will want, […]

Self-service – help customers to help themselves!

Sometimes the best customer service is self-service. Giving customers the right tools and information to make their own choices is key. It saves everyone time and money. Take for example a customer wanting information – either about buying a product or using one. If they can get the information they need without having to contact […]

It’s the little things that count

I recently complained about a flight from Cyprus to Manchester. When I phoned, they kept saying “but that’s just a minor issue”. I had to explain it was the cumulative effect of some small issues that caused my complaint. I also said that, as a business, it was important to “sweat the small stuff”. It […]

Handling feedback effectively

A Blackpool hotel had some bad press recently. It had fined a couple £100 for leaving a bad review on Trip Advisor. It prompted us to think what are the wrong things and the right things to do about customer feedback. Here’s our list: DON’T: Fine people if they leave a bad review Respond in a negative way. […]