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Added for You - A Complaint? It's a Compliment! - 7 Tips for Dealing with Complaints at Trade Shows
Are you one of those bosses that people just love to hate? Maybe successful, maybe very intelligent, maybe organized and moving forward but just can't get along with people. Communication and other people skills are as important to the success of your business as your talent, knowledge and entrepreneurial drive. After all, you cannot do it all by yourself and you need good people.I remember being a very arrogant and egotistical program director back in the mid 1970's when my boss called me into the office and flat out told me "Mike, you got talent and drive but you need to learn some diplo
1. Be Prepared
If you know about problems with product, shipping or sales
staff, you should expect some negative comments or direct
complaints. Don’t pretend to be surprised. Decide before
the show how these complaints will be acknowledged. You
can’t hide from problems - surely you’ve made a recall,
rebate, replacement or other adjustment.
2. Make Sure Everyone Knows
What’s the most important word in marketing?Free? Why? Truth? Honesty? Integrity?At first glance, it seems like a simple question. But the more you think about it, the more complex it gets. One could probably argue any number of answers based on his beliefs, values or type of business.But is there really one word that’s more important than all the others? One word without which your marketing efforts will be successful?I recently surveyed dozens of marketing professionals, authors, consultants and small business owners on my
What made you mad last week?
In the past week, how many times were you upset by something? What action did you take? Complain to the neighbors, make a snide remark to a co-worker, post it on a list or email a group? Did you just gossip or did you try to make it into a positive experience? They say we complain to ten people for every one compliment about a product or service.
Did you call the manager of the company, write the company president, email a suggestion for improvement? Probably not. You were upset but not enough to take action. Or you thought you’d be perceived as a whiner. Or that nobody would do anything because you’re nobody special.
Complaints are Compliments
People don’t complain because they don’t like you. They point out faults and know you can do better. They have expectations of your product, your service, your reputation and you’ve let them down. They complain because they’re disappointed - they like you and want you to succeed.
Look back on your history of lost clients. Was it because they complained or did they just slip quietly away. It was the final straw - once too often that the invoice was wrong, the shipment was late, the product was incomplete, the salesman couldn’t solve a problem, the repair person never showed. Etc.
It’s one thing to have complaints come into your office and have them solved. It’s quite anther when the complainant shows up at your exhibit. So, when you’re on the trade show floor, and folks show up with complaints, welcome them. This is an opportunity to gather market intelligence, find out what’s really happening with your product and service and keep a client.
Here are 7 Tips to turn complaints into positive action.
1. Be Prepared
If you know about problems with product, shipping or sales
staff, you should expect some negative comments or direct
complaints. Don’t pretend to be surprised. Decide before
the show how these complaints will be acknowledged. You
can’t hide from problems - surely you’ve made a recall,
rebate, replacement or other adjustment.
2. Make Sure Everyone Knows
Money making ideas are more fun to dream up than to follow through on, so I'll keep on dreaming and let the reader be the entrepreneur. Here are the latest ideas for businesses, services and products that might make some money for those who want to lead the way.1. Market search dogs directly to the public. Dogs work for police departments and search-and-rescue squads, but why limit them to these? Perhaps people would pay to have a dog find lost items, or track lost people that the police have given up trying to find. They could even be used to find lost pets. A deer hunter might pay for th
Complaints are Compliments
People don’t complain because they don’t like you. They point out faults and know you can do better. They have expectations of your product, your service, your reputation and you’ve let them down. They complain because they’re disappointed - they like you and want you to succeed.
Look back on your history of lost clients. Was it because they complained or did they just slip quietly away. It was the final straw - once too often that the invoice was wrong, the shipment was late, the product was incomplete, the salesman couldn’t solve a problem, the repair person never showed. Etc.
It’s one thing to have complaints come into your office and have them solved. It’s quite anther when the complainant shows up at your exhibit. So, when you’re on the trade show floor, and folks show up with complaints, welcome them. This is an opportunity to gather market intelligence, find out what’s really happening with your product and service and keep a client.
Here are 7 Tips to turn complaints into positive action.
1. Be Prepared
If you know about problems with product, shipping or sales
staff, you should expect some negative comments or direct
complaints. Don’t pretend to be surprised. Decide before
the show how these complaints will be acknowledged. You
can’t hide from problems - surely you’ve made a recall,
rebate, replacement or other adjustment.
2. Make Sure Everyone Knows
Ever thought that while searching for employment, work at home jobs would have to be a part of your option list? I sure didn't.When most people even hear the word 'employment' images of company cafeterias and car pooling lanes spring to mind. And those things are fine.But everyone's different...we all have our own employment needs AND issues.Many corporate execs are burning out faster in the jungles and are seeking shelter with their own consulting firms...run 'out of the house.' It a growing trend and it point out the fact that working and living CAN be nicely woven together
Look back on your history of lost clients. Was it because they complained or did they just slip quietly away. It was the final straw - once too often that the invoice was wrong, the shipment was late, the product was incomplete, the salesman couldn’t solve a problem, the repair person never showed. Etc.
It’s one thing to have complaints come into your office and have them solved. It’s quite anther when the complainant shows up at your exhibit. So, when you’re on the trade show floor, and folks show up with complaints, welcome them. This is an opportunity to gather market intelligence, find out what’s really happening with your product and service and keep a client.
Here are 7 Tips to turn complaints into positive action.
1. Be Prepared
If you know about problems with product, shipping or sales
staff, you should expect some negative comments or direct
complaints. Don’t pretend to be surprised. Decide before
the show how these complaints will be acknowledged. You
can’t hide from problems - surely you’ve made a recall,
rebate, replacement or other adjustment.
2. Make Sure Everyone Knows
It's becoming more and more difficult to sift the nuggets of true knowledge from the mountains of data thrown at us from all directions. Of course, we do this to ourselves to a certain extent, because in this age of unlimited access to information through the Internet as well as all the traditional sources, most of us try to take in just too much. No wonder we feel overwhelmed.But if you are an executive or manager, there's one way you can cut down on this data dump: stop the flow you get from your own people in the form of e-mail messages, memos, reports and presentations.
It’s one thing to have complaints come into your office and have them solved. It’s quite anther when the complainant shows up at your exhibit. So, when you’re on the trade show floor, and folks show up with complaints, welcome them. This is an opportunity to gather market intelligence, find out what’s really happening with your product and service and keep a client.
Here are 7 Tips to turn complaints into positive action.
1. Be Prepared
If you know about problems with product, shipping or sales
staff, you should expect some negative comments or direct
complaints. Don’t pretend to be surprised. Decide before
the show how these complaints will be acknowledged. You
can’t hide from problems - surely you’ve made a recall,
rebate, replacement or other adjustment.
2. Make Sure Everyone Knows
Now that you have defined where you are and where you want to be as well as what you are willing to do to get there, you now have to get real about things that might hold you back from getting what you want and create a strategy for handling them.Zig Ziglar, a well known speaker and wildly successful businessman, has spoken to thousands of people about goals and how to clarify and achieve them. One of the greatest tips he offered is that some of your goals must be long range and the reason for that is that there is trouble in front of you. The better you plan for this and the more aware yo
1. Be Prepared
If you know about problems with product, shipping or sales
staff, you should expect some negative comments or direct
complaints. Don’t pretend to be surprised. Decide before
the show how these complaints will be acknowledged. You
can’t hide from problems - surely you’ve made a recall,
rebate, replacement or other adjustment.
2. Make Sure Everyone Knows
Perhaps there were problems resolved at a managerial or
division level. But your booth staff is composed of people
from all levels and areas. Everyone needs to know of
potential problems that might come up. There should be no
secrets. Secrets leak out and become gossip. Gossip can
be deadly.
3. Control the Conversation
The meeting will generally start pleasantly and then get to
the complaint. Sometimes you’ll have a rowdy visitor. In
either case, move to the side, or out of the booth, or best yet,
set an appointment to resolve it off the floor. This is a
problem between your firm and one customer - don’t make
it part of trade show folklore.
4. Listen Carefully
Make sure you understand what the problem really is. Is it a
specific complaint about one shipping disaster, or a general
blast about your shipping carrier? Resolve the first with the
customer. Report the second, find out if it’s widespread and
fix it. You can’t afford to lose business because of
middlemen you can’t control.
5. Write It Down
Ask the complaintant if you may make written notes as you
speak Say you want to make sure you have all the details.
Review them after the encounter. If the person is upset that
you are taking notes - stop, and put the notes aside until he
leaves. NEVER make people fill out forms. That shows you
anticipated a problem but didn't try to reach out to clients.
They took the initiative and found you on their own at the
show.
6. Appoint an Arbitrator.
There has to be one final authority from your firm in the
booth at all times. This is the person who has the authority
to resolve the problem on the spot, to pass it to the right
level and to calm the complainers. Don’t
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