Most managers view customer complaints as annoying headaches, and they avoid facing dissatisfied customers. Customer-service driven managers, however, welcomes complaints. They know that complaints represent an opportunity to excel and become even more profitable. Dozens of studies conducted by government, universities, and industries have proved that a customer whose complaint has been resolved will create much more revenue than they ever cost. A satisfied customer will return to buy more, and he or she will refer more new customers than a customer who never gave a manager the opportunity to resolve his or her complaint.
Lets examine that last point.
The TARP study tells us that for every one customer who bothers to complain there are 26 who remain silent. The unhappy customer quickly becomes someone else's customer. I recall a conversation I had with the manager of a Washington D.C. restaurant some years ago. The waitress serving the table right behind me had just told the customers there was no charge for the meal since they did not have the wine he had ordered. The manager told me that the waitress had made the decision on her own, and she had made it because the customer was a regular.