Use those customer complaints

This is an old, old message: a customer complaint is an *opportunity*. Just last night I had a practical lesson.

A lesson for me. The business itself failed to use the opportunity to learn...

We are visiting Barcelona. Never been here before. Choices of places to eat are... almost... endless. We selected a conveniently close restaurant.

The drinks waiter gave no eye contact, he was too busy to provide more than token politeness. No worries, the restaurant was chock-a-block full of tourists, with more queuing. The waiter took a little more time.

Overall, service was accurate and efficient. Just the way we like it.

Gazpacho, good. Ham and melon, good. Veal steak, excellent. Veal stew, tough, stringy, uneatable.

As the waiter cleared my half uneaten meal I told him, the "veal" was stringy, tough, inedible. His English was adequate, enough to understand that I was not satisfied... we were not charged for the veal stew.

But...

The waiter clearly did not understand *why* I could not finish my meal. I no like? No! I no able to eat it!

Was there a fault with the "veal"? Was there a fault with the cooking? Could the cooking method be changed, to improve the final quality of the final dish? Some businesses put enormous effort into surveys, to answer these questions.

None of these questions will be answered -- because the restaurant did not identify the problem. I was sitting there, ready and willing to explain what I saw as a problem. I was not given the opportunity.

Results: Customer dissatisfied with meal. With no "getting it off my chest". Opportunity for customer feedback -- lost.

When a client is dissatisfied -- use the opportunity. Apologise, yes. Make amends, as far as possible.

And find out -- then and there -- exactly what caused the dissatisfaction. So you can fix it.

Or, at least, be better prepared for a similar problem with future clients.

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Problems ? Solved