The Web Design Business Kit Chapter 11 - Handle Client Complaints

Providing Distinctive Service

I'm a big advocate of making your business distinctive. Make it unique so that people hear about it. After all, people can buy your service only if they know about it.

In Chapter 7, we talked about building your own competitive edge. In Chapter 9, we saw how great service can really set you apart from the rest. Complaints are just another area of your business in which you can leverage your competitive advantage by providing excellent service.

Be known for unique things that are positive things. If you go out searching for those complaints, you'll be fairly unique.

If you provide a 100% money-back guarantee on your service, you could well be unique. If you deal with complaints in a fair and rapid manner, you'll definitely be unique! People are happy to pay a premium price to have their needs met. People will be thrilled if you exceed their expectations, treat them with some dignity, and keep in contact.

Most people believe they receive value for money when they buy a product. There isn't really much scope to move on that. The prices are well-documented, and it's easy to compare products to products and prices to prices.

Measuring value is difficult when the product is intangible. However, the situation with services is very different. People are far more likely to be discontent with the “value for money” they receive, because it's much harder to measure value for money when you're talking about a service.

Let's say you charge $150 for a one hour consultation with a client. Let's say I charge $50. We both sit for an hour and talk with the client. Is your value three times mine? I have no idea. You have no idea. In reality, the client has no idea. The only measurement the client can make here is a perception of value for money.

As we've already discussed, an enormous range of factors will influence that perception. Your voice accounts for 38% of the impression you make on people; 55% depends on how you look and only 7% on what you say. (Source: Mehrabian, Albert. Silent Messages. Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1971.)

Let's apply these statistics to our value for money comparison. If you sound better than me, the perception that you offer better value for money will hold true!

Just how important is distinctive service?
Consider this. In a 1987 Gallup Poll, 83% of those surveyed identified their number one reason for deciding not to return to a restaurant as poor service. Not the food. Not the price. The service.

A Washington Post survey found that almost half of all shoppers believe service is mediocre and getting worse! Other research suggests that more than 40% of consumers experiencing problems are unhappy with the action taken to resolve their complaints.

There's no substitute for service!

Many businesses today try to make up for poor service with lower prices. But quality is the compelling feature you need to project in order to survive and be profitable. If you provide quality, you can charge more. If you charge more, you'll be more profitable.

If you're more profitable, you'll have the resources to allocate to ensuring quality stays high. That's the cycle you need to get into!

Quality control of a product is easy. Typically, there is a set of standards to which the product must adhere, and if it does so, it meets the quality standards. Simple.

The quality of a service is a little harder to define. For a start, a service doesn't exist until you provide it. The client's perception of that service is the only real measurement. You need that feedback to be able to ascertain the quality of your service, and how you can apply it to the next opportunity you get to provide it.

Your challenge is to create a distinctive level of service. Don't aspire to be like the others. You're better than that!

Key Points

• Make your service distinctive.
• People will pay a premium price for great service.
• Quality is the imperative for which you must strive.

Chapter Summary

You will make mistakes in your business—that you can be sure of. You will receive complaints—another truth you can be sure of.

Don't look upon complaints as negative, destructive things. Embrace every complaint and treat it for what it is—a fantastic opportunity to build your business.

Treat lovingly every person who complains, deal with their issues swiftly and with good sense, and you'll have a client—and an advocate—for life. That person who complains about you is the very same person who will be soon be singing your praises—if you deal appropriately with their problem.

Because of their incredible worth, you must actively seek out complaints. In this chapter, we've discussed the amazing value of complaints, and we've seen how responding with a positive, effective solution can inspire client loyalty. We also understand that effective complaints handling is like winning a “new” client, and increases your referral business.

Make your business the distinctive and dynamic enterprise it can be. Go out on a limb, push the boundaries and create something great. You can do it. Grab a big advantage by treating those complaining clients like the wonderfully open, honest and useful people they are!

In Chapter 12, we apply the material we've discussed over the last five chapters in exploring the key methods you can use to increase sales and ramp up your business day by day. Are you ready to grow?

Get ready to grow your business. /#l#/http://www.sitepoint.com/article/1200/#nlt#/Read Chapter 13 - Prepare For Expansion/#enl#/.