Dealing with Customer Complaints – The ‘Act Now’ Policy
By Eric Gilboord

A business coach, when explaining to a group of entrepreneurs how to deal with a dissatisfied customer, asked how serious is the following customer complaint?  (Add complaint here_________________.)

Answers ranged from an easy fix to unrecoverable. The coach replied the actual seriousness can be immaterial; it depends on how long you wait to deal with it. A ten dollar problem to one person can be as serious as a ten thousand dollar problem to someone else.

If I don’t respond for a few minutes that’s not really a problem. If I wait an hour, my customer will be somewhat angrier and less forgiving. If I wait a month I may not be able to recover and lose my customer altogether.  In each case, it’s the same problem, but the longer I wait, the more serious it becomes.

And that’s why dealing with customer complaints ASAP is so important. If we wait we make the problem bigger and tougher to deal with. So before you just add the complaint to your To Do list or worse have no mechanism in place at your company to deal with it, make it an  ‘act now’ policy. When a customer complains it is dealt with on the spot.

Don’t let small problems become large and much more difficult to resolve. Save your company hours of unnecessary work and devote that time to finding new even bigger and even better customers.

And that's According to Eric, A2E

Erasing Failure to Find Success
by Eric Gilboord

Let's start with understanding that much of our power, direction and success comes from within us. We can blame outside forces, but in the end it's up to us. Can you eliminate failure, wipe it off the board? Of course not and in fact why would you? 

Paralysis by analysis is a common reason for not succeeding. Fear of failure is often stronger than the anticipation of success. You over think a move, an idea, a deal, a call, a sale, an email etc. and under try. You don't do anything because it's too much work, too difficult, might not work (excuse goes here ______________).

Failure is part of the process so don't let it freeze you. Failure comes when something doesn't work the way you thought it might. You learn a bit more, make some changes and try again. The three rules of success are Pivot Pivot Pivot.

Over the past year I've visited with many business owners who are inches away from the success they desire. This is not limited to business success but easily crosses over to their personal lives as well. The problem is not some external force. It's the fight they have within themselves. So what is standing in the way of our success and what can we do about it?

Here are 7 common problems and my solutions:  

1. If an employee, customer or friend is more trouble than they are worth - let them go.
   
2. If a friend, employee or supplier frequently lets their personal life issues interfere with how you run your life or business - warn them once and then fire them.
   
3. If you think you are the only one in the family or company who can do a task - find someone else who can or teach someone to do it.
   
4. If someone you talk to, work with or consult with consistently says no to trying new ideas and ways of thinking - find more out of the box thinkers.
   
5. If you are constantly chasing something so elusive you've never had success - try looking at it in a different way, from another angle. There is always another way. Bring in fresh eyes.  
   
6. If you are spending all your time making someone else rich, successful or happy - try looking in the mirror for your next customer or boss.                     
   
7. If your goals are so high you don't believe they are achievable - try something smaller. Baby steps.  
   

If you believe this post has been helpful please send me an email or call and share your thoughts. I try to balance my posts between business and personal development, while some naturally cross over. Please take a few seconds and click one or both of the links below to let me know where your preference is.

I like improving my life with Eric's PERSONAL growth messages. 
I like growing my company with Eric's BUSINESS oriented messages.  

Eric Gilboord, A2E