In an ever-changing business world, how do we avoid to lose customers?  We are bombarded each day with suggestions on how to grow our customer base, on how to generate sales leads, but do we know how to keep our customers happy?

A satisfied client is a happy client is a loyal client.

Sounds very easy, but unhappy customers can have a big impact on your business too – and not in a good way. You may never see your unhappy customer again. If they share their negative experience, you may lose potential customers too.

To err is human, of course. But putting systems in place to avoid errors and oversights that lead to disgruntled customers should be a priority.

By using Custrack's customer service module you will enable more efficient and effective customer interactions by enabling employees to respond more quickly to service issues and easily pull up complete customer information.

5 Steps for turning complaints into cash!
from How to turn complaints into Cash by Ian Brooks and Michelle Comeau, Nahanni Business, Auckland, 2000

 Do it with a LAUGH .....  and you could be laughing all the way to the bank.

1.  Listen and empathise
2.  Acknowledge the wrong and empathise
3.  Understand and take ownership
4.  Give - fix the problem and do something extra
5.  Hit home with a follow up and learn from the mistake.

So here's a crazy idea for you... how about seeing complaints as opportunities rather than as impediments to doing better business?

By tracking the type of complaints you receive, you can gain a keen insight of your customer's experience of your products and of your company. You can identify your own weak points and problem areas and subsequently better your product and/or service offering. Your relationships with your customers will also greatly benefit from taking a positive approach to complaints - imagine a company that not only listens to your complaints and solves your problems but are actually grateful to you for focusing their attention on it!

 Building Loyalty by Solving the Customer's Problem

Customer loyalty is interlinked to Customer Satisfaction. A customer with unattended problems is a risk to your company.  You have to have a customer service strategy in place to solve a customer problem. You have to set the following in place:

Provide good information.  Customer service has to have access to the customer marketing database. They have to know what products the customer has bought in the past. They have to have a record of past complaints and compliments. They have to know who the key people are in each firm.

Empower customer service. If customer service personnel are just message takers, no one will unburden themselves to them.  They must be knowledgeable about your products - they have to represent your firm.  They must know who to assign problems to.

Increase insight into top customer issues. By analyzing and understanding the source of regular customer enquiries, customer service and support staff can proactively address issues to improve customer satisfaction and reduce volume of customer enquiries