A Profitable Approach To Managing Complaints

The point at which a customer complains is often the greatest test of the relationship between the customer and their service or product provider. So it is surprising that even today many companies fail to recognize the value complaints can deliver to their organization. This paper explores how companies should begin to look anew at the role and value of complaints and feedback to their organization and to consider complaints no longer as a costly inconvenience but as a key opportunity to develop more profitable and sustainable relationships with their customers.

The two strategic directives this paper addresses are:

• Companies must seize on every complaint they receive; and
• It is not enough simply to process the complaint—companies need to leverage every opportunity to create value from it.

For an organization that adopts this approach, there is a real opportunity for complaints and feedback management to become a competitive differentiator and a source of profit for the business.