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No matter how good your product or service is sooner or later you’ll face an angry customer. Sometimes it will be your fault it, sometimes it won’t.

So how should you handle their complaint?

1.Say Sorry - It doesn’t matter if you are in the wrong or not, just saying sorry can go a long way to pacifying an upset client. If you believe it’s not your fault then by all means don’t apologise for the problem, instead apologise for the fact that they are not happy with the product or service. For example “I’m sorry to hear that you’re not satisfied with our service”.

2. Ask For An Explanation - Ask them to repeat the problems. No matter what they say don’t answer back, now is the time to listen carefully and take notes. When they have finished read your notes back to them and check you have correctly documented their complaint. By now most people will have “gotten it off their chest” and will start to calm down.

3. Make It Right - Take each of the issues you’ve noted in turn and resolve them, where there’s an obvious solution there’s a fly in my soup - we’ll get you a new soup just do it. Where the solution is not so simple you’re hosting a wedding and you print the couples names incorrectly on the menus but it’s not spotted until all the guests and the happy couple have seen it and it’s too late to change, firstly say sorry. Then offer the customer something as compensation. If the customer is not happy with your offer, or you can’t think of a suitable offer, ask the customer what they would like you to do to resolve the situation. If what they ask for is unreasonable the entire wedding for free smile and explain that you understand their disappointment but you can only offer them a solution that is fair to both of you. If needs be ask if they truly believe their suggestion is reasonable.

4. Make Sure They Are Happy - If you’ve listened to their complaints and dealt with them, make sure they are happy with the resolution you have agreed with them.

5. Follow Through - Make sure you follow through on the actions you agree to take.

6. Offer Them A Reason To Come Back - Even after resolving all the issues it’s worth going that step further and offering them a good reason to use you again, for example a discount on their next purchase.

7. Improve - Evaluate how you can improve your business so you don’t get the same complaint again, then make the change.

What you should never do is:

1.Respond in kind to aggressive or abusive behaviour, if they shout, don’t shout back. No matter what they do, try to stay calm. If they continue to be abusive ask them to refrain and refuse to deal with them until they calm down.

2. Blame them if it’s clearly your fault.

3. Lie.

4. Ignore them.

Remember how you handle it however can have a huge impact on the success of your business. If you’re forever dealing with upset customer in a confrontational way you’ll soon lose interest in the business and the business will gain a bad reputation. On the other hand a customer who complains but then has their complaint dealt with promptly and in a fair manner will often become a regular customer and an advocate for your business.