You know the feeling… the phone rings…. The drama is unfolding 12,000 km away and it's your job to fix it. Whether it is travel or selling mangoes, check out marketing idea  33 of 101  which includes:

“… make sure every customer query, especially post sales, is addressed… If we have made a mistake, we respond back quickly and with a solution, it surprises many customers. …. ”

You sometimes actually have to lose battles (the individual sales) in order to win the ongoing war (of maintaining and growing healthy business).

Here are three reasons why you must  put effective complaints management and customer service ahead of micro-term profitability to grow and sustain your business.

1. Complainers complain loudly, advocate louder
   
   Understand the complaint and own the complaint. If you don't, these people will yell at a ratio of 10 to one about their perception of poor service. But if you turn the situation around, the human is to then tell everyone how wonderful the product or service is, but louder.
   
   
2. Customers are expensive to get – value them
   
   Last week one of our best clients had an issue with a transfer. By the terms accepted at the time of the agreement, they were not due a refund. But they are fantastic clients, we value them enormously, we did not want them out of pocket and so they got the refund they were not due.   You can’t always do it but sometimes you have to.
   
   Given their feedback, and I know we have held on to the client and strengthened that relationship.
   
   
3. Good service generates good stories
   
   Nothing validates our buying decisions like our friends copying us.
   
   To impress your friends you need to have a good story about the product and service you received. Make good service the story that your customers tell about you.

These values are the core of roomsXML . On many occasions it means sacrificing a little profitability to demonstrate to customers that we were there and we were supporting them. Our customers see our behaviors as those of a company who will be here for some time. 

It sustains our growth and supports our agents.

Given that our competitors now copy our  “support agents” communication (as opposed to last year when they were selling deals direct to public) …imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. 

We appear to be onto something. Get onto it yourself!