In the restaurant, not so far away, in the not-so-distant future, the telephone rings, the customer complains ... and the battle begins!
Addressing customer complaints does not have to be a battle, with the right tools and answers you can use complaints to your advantage; to help you build your business. BLAST is a great tool that is used by companies like Yum! (Parent company KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, A & W and Long John Silvers). Train your staff in handling customer complaints. Abbreviation means:
believe
Listen
Apologize
satisfy
Thank you
How does your company handle customer complaints? The easiest way to find out is to take the phone and play the role of a complaining customer. What happened? If you were an annoyed customer, would you return? Using BLAS recommendations, you can create a standardized way to work with your complainers and turn them into loyal customers.
believe
This is the cornerstone of handling customer complaints. Yes, the client can lie and make mistakes in his situation. It is important to understand that your client believes that your institution went to them.
Listen
Stop and listen to your customer's complaint. I'm not sure, natural instinct or just stubbornness. As soon as the client starts complaining, we start thinking about how we will respond to the accusation before we finish listening, and all too often the case already has an answer ready to back down. Take a second, relax and listen. Sometimes a complaining customer will be rude, angry and use vulgar language, staying up to date, staying calm and balanced.
When the customer is ready for release; in a calm, non-judicial tone, repeat your problem. An example I used in my KFC for the wrong set:
“I heard that you said that you came in order and paid for 10 pieces of chicken, and when you returned home, you only got 8, is that correct?”
By repeating the problem, you have demonstrated your ability to the customer that you have heard and understood their problem.
Listen and clarify. Never defend or make excuses. The customer doesn’t care if you are transcribed or if you have a bad day, they don’t care what they take care of. No excuses, just solutions.
Apologize
Always apologize, even if you haven't done anything wrong. From your customers. they have a legitimate complaint and they expect an apology. It can be as simple as "I am sorry that we did not suit you." Egypt "I am very sorry that I know how frustrating it is to buy lunch for my family, only so that everything will be there when I return home." Sincere apologies, as a rule, dissipate a lot of frustration that the client has. There is an exception to this rule, although if a customer calls with a critical complaint, such as food poisoning, do not apologize, this may be interpreted as an admission of guilt, and does not apply to your company's procedures for such events.
satisfy
Make it right. Ask the customer “What can I do to do this for you?” Judge what is true, of course, but give them the opportunity to feel empowered about the situation. Many times they may ask the problem to be taken care of on their next visit, or maybe you are talking to a person who made a mistake and corrected them. We used an excellent system of sending personalized postcards, apologizing for the mistake, it was a couple of handwritten sentences (yes, many times with spelling errors from members of my team), but it was personal and always well received. We also consider them unexpected, maybe a free dessert or an extra side dish to show that we care about them.
Thank you
At the beginning, at the end, in the middle; It does not matter, thanks to the customer for calls and complaints.
What for? With the simple act of complaining, your client tells you: “I care about your business and your success.” They give you the opportunity to correct the problem and invite them back so they can give you more of their money. Imposes on it another rotation, is not it? Thank them for giving you a second chance, so that you know that something in your restaurant is not working, as usual, in order to give you a chance to do everything right, as well as the opportunity not to damage your reputation!
Reputation? I had to give it up. You work a lot from day to day, trying your best to make your business better, and yet one happy customer can take it away from you. A happy client will tell about two or three friends about a good experience, but an unhappy client will tell at least ten friends about their experience, and he always multiplies from word of mouth. For example, when I moved to another hometown, I was at an event in the Chamber of Commerce and was a new person in a group, I introduced myself and what we did. In less than five minutes, I received a list of 10 restaurants in my area who, in their opinion, were “in need of my services.” Only one person has a good restaurant. I did not ask, I was told. Until now, I still have not been in these restaurants as a customer, why do I want to give them my hard earned money when they made my new friends happy? It may not be rational thought, but human nature.
Will some people use your kindness? Of course, the rule of thumb that I used in my restaurant was:
First time shame on me
The second time shame me, but I watch you,
The third time ... Shame on you and I will make a decision on how I will deal with you as a customer.
Keep track of who is calling to complain, names, phone numbers for later viewing, addresses for your postcards. By using the binder and tracking your complaints, you will be able to detect and hold those that will use your new complaint procedures.
Adding BLAST to an expanding set of customer service tools will help you cope with customer complaints and rotate them so they can tell their friends what great service you have!
