Definition: The act of putting a smile on a customer’s face after you have made a mistake.

Listening to CustomersDo NOT interrupt a customer when they

come to you with a complaint!Listen to the customer so you can

determine what they perceive as a fair solution.

Listening to CustomersA customer comes in complaining about

poor treatment by a particular associate.The manager should listen to the entire

complaint to decide what the customer will feel is a fair compensation, be it simply talking to the employee or offering a discount on their next visit.

Providing a Fair Solution.Distributive Fairness: a customer’s

perception of the benefits received compared with their costs in terms of inconvenience or monetary loss.

Procedural Fairness: the perceived fairness of the process used to resolve complaints1. Did the employee collect information about the

situation?2. Was this information used to resolve the

complaint?3. Did the customer have some influence over the

outcome?

Providing a Fair SolutionDistributive Fairness: most usually offered

as a monetary reimbursement to the customer for their time and inconvenience.

Procedural Fairness: A customer calls into a store about not receiving an item.Make sure that you gather all of the

customers information.See to ordering the part and see about

sending it directly to the customer.Call back the customer to let them know about

the solution.

Resolving Problems QuicklyCustomers are more satisfied when the

first person they contact can resolve a problem.

Resolving complaints increases satisfaction.

Retailers must recognize the trade-off between resolving the problem quickly and taking time to listen to and show concern for the customer.

Resolving Problems QuicklyA customer complains about a product

that went rotten.Give your employees the ability to handle

these kind of problems on their own. Follow policies such as to give a refund and also offer them the product back for free.