A customer complaint presents you with three opportunities.

• One is to identify something that is not working right in your organization and the opportunity to get feedback.
• Another is converting a disgruntled customer into a loyal customer.
• The opportunity to head off negative publicity is another.

Follow these four steps in order to turn a complaint into something positive.

1. Your initial response. Don’t say it’s not your fault or become defensive. Try to be helpful and respond with respect.
2. Understand the complaint. Listen carefully to what your customer is saying and find out what the true complaint is. An angry customer may be calmed simply by knowing that you are listening. Getting all of the facts provides valuable feedback and could help you determine the problem.
3. Fix the problem. Put procedures in place so employees know who has the authority to resolve an issue. Let the employees know what actions they can take in order to take care of the customer immediately.  Is managerial approval needed to issue a refund or offer an upgrade in order to compensate the customer?
4. Follow up. Turn a disgruntled customer into a loyal customer by taking time to follow up with a phone call or message ensuring the problem has been resolved.