Yes, you read that correctly I actually emailed my clients current and past to request that they complain to me.
You see my reasoning behind this is that everyone is happy to tell you when they are pleased with your service. However, they may not be so forthcoming when it comes to telling you what you have done wrong.
More often or not they will choose to tell their friends and family. And then they will simply finish the contract and never use you again.
“A Complaint is a unique opportunity to strengthen the relationship with the client” – Kevin Kelly
Why do I know this? Because I have been guilty of it myself. Rather than give negative feedback when its not a really big complain I would often choose to simply not use them again.
So this is the part I came to. I need complaints not because I want my business to do badly but because I want it to succeed!
I can only improve on my services and products if people actually complain to me. I am always striving to find new ways to exceed their expectations and one way to do this is to honestly ask them what I did wrong.
Then I can turn it into an opportunity to showcase how we are improving our services to ensure that the previous fault does not happen again.
People often do not mind if you make a mistake, or something goes wrong. As long as you can show that you have learnt from it and that you are willing to grow from it.
So the next time you receive a complaint from a customer. Please do not get upset or take it personally. Think of it was a way that you can improve your product and service to ensure that this does not happen again.