PENGURUSAN ADUAN - part 3

Book Excerpts: A Complaint Is A Gift

Printed with permission from Andrew Gibbons. "Mentoring, Team Leader Development, Management Development Programmes, Customer Service Development"

 

P 41 "Technical Assistance Research Programme (TARP) research found that if companies can get customers to complain directly to them, they can minimise damage. Customers who do complain about their dissatisfactions are also more likely to repurchase, even if their complaint is not handled satisfactorily. In fact, TARP concluded that customers who do not complain are the least loyal customers. Those who complain may become the most loyal customers".

P 42 "Customers also feel positive about successful complaint interactions because they feel powerful and effective". They stood up for themselves when they were not satisfied and used their communication skills to take charge of their lives".

P 43 The authors quote a Case Western Reserve University study which interviewed thousands of people to explore complaint behaviour and patterns: "The researchers wanted to know what people did about their bad experiences and divided their responses into three categories or 'levels of reaction':

Level 1: the customers spoke up and told the salesperson, retailer, or provider directly about
their bad experience (complain to the company).

Level 2: the customers told people that they knew other than the company about their bad experience, and furthermore, they stopped buying from the company in question (complain to other people).

Level 3: the customers went to a third party such as a lawyer to initiate legal action, or a newspaper to tell of their experience in a letter to the editor, or they issued a formal complaint to an agency (complain to third party)".

"The interviewed subjects fell into four clusters and were identified as Voicers 37%; Passives 14%; Irates 21%, and Activists 28%".

P 43 Voicers - "The most desirable of dissatisfied customers, from our point of view, are the Voicers, who tell the organisation when they have had bad experiences. They assist the company in trying to improve services and products. The Voicers will let the company know when something does not please them, and they generally do not go out and tell a bunch of other people about bad service or products".

"Voicers are actively interested in getting redress for their situation. If the company does not handle them well, it is possible they will become Activists. Companies must convert all their dissatisfied customers into Voicers - and they will satisfy them".

P 44 Passives - "A company can provide bad service or products to this group of noncomplainers, and they will keep coming back, at least for a while. Furthermore, they will not tarnish the company's reputation by telling anyone else. More importantly, they will not complain to the company either".

P 45 "Unfortunately companies will not know much about these shoppers because they tend not to complain".

Irates - "The irates are the most lethal of the four groups. In many cases, they will not say a word to the service provider or company. But they will tell lots of people about bad service and will stop buying. The company will lose the opportunity to regain these customers' loyalty because they never come back. ..they just leave, talking all the while as they take their business elsewhere!".

P 46 Activists - "The Activists are potentially even more dangerous than the irates, particularly if they are dissatisfied with the company's response to their initial complaints and are motivated to pay the company back for the kind of service they received. These people are out for than redress, though that is undoubtedly part their motivation. They may be seeking revenge while spreading the word of the company's bad service to everyone and never again patronising the company".

The above summary has been provided to you compliments of Andrew Gibbons