Customer complaints are a fact of life for any business, but how they are handled can be the difference between losing a customer for good, or winning them round and reinvigorating their loyalty.
The skill of complaint handling has moved to the very heart of Customer Experience (CX), and in this digital age, customers have found it is much easier to make a complaint thanks to social media, and that their complaint carries more weight.
The growing pool of talent in customer complaint handling is recognised annually at the UK Complaint Handling Awards.
Meanwhile, opportunities exist for companies to prepare employees for dealing with customer concerns, including the upcoming Winning With Complaint Handling conference.
Taking place in London on Wednesday October 18, this unique event will offer participants an invaluable insight into how innovative complaint handling techniques can transform a business.
The day will feature a host of customer service experts providing analysis and training through discussions and presentations.
These include Stephen Yap from Ipsos MORI, Joanne Brown from TNT, Claire Carroll of The Co-Operative Food, and Janis Hambling of YBS Group among others.
Attendees will be inspired by the success stories of previous Complaint Handling Award winners, will gain skills through roundtable discussions with experts, and will learn how to be proactive in complaint handling by seeking feedback from customers.
The conference is also an excellent networking occasion as well as an opportunity to enhance a company’s overall CX performance.
Joanne Brown of TNT explained how fine-tuning complaint handling not only helps bolster customer loyalty, but also binds employees together with a common purpose.
“Winning the UK Complaint Handling Team Award means for us as a business that both our internal and external customers can see that we take their comments, feelings and thoughts seriously and that we have a team of experts on hand to do whatever it takes to resolve their dissatisfaction,” she said.
“As a team, it has just been amazing; we are a very close team anyway but this has cemented the relationships.
“Other teams and individuals in our business are keen to know our secret which, of course, is no secret and we proudly promote the learning and development we have gone through to get where we are.
“The sense of achievement the team feel when a customer is moved from being angry and upset to happy and relieved gives us all huge job satisfaction.”
For a full conference schedule, and to book places, visit http://wwch.awardsinternational.eu/.
A special Early Bird offer is available, but hurry, as this ends at midnight on September 30.