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In business there is one certainty: Problems will occur. Products and services will not always perform as they should. People will be disappointed. Employees will make value judgments that wont always pay off. And above all, the one business truth that you can depend on: Customers will have complaints.

Which leads us to one the biggest business misconceptions: Customer complaints and problems are detrimental to your business. This is not true! In fact, customer problems and complaints are often your greatest opportunity to build more sales and create customers for life.

How do you turn problems into profit? By approaching every complaint as a second chance to prove your dedication to good business and to your customers.

For example, if you own a service station. You are in a highly competitive industry because customers tend to go to more than one station to get their gas tank filled, their oil changed, and their cars serviced. A customer makes an appointment to have his or her care tuned up, but you are unable to get to it in the scheduled time. As a result, the customer is greatly inconvenienced, has to make another appointment, and has to rearrange his or her schedule.

Needless to say, the customer is more than a little bit angry and your customer vows never to bring his or her car to your again. How can you turn this situation to your advantage? By putting yourself in your customers shoes. If your car was not ready when promised, what conciliatory services would you expect to be provided?

Remember that you are responsible for your customers; for their convenience, their satisfaction and, most importantly, for their overall happiness. And when you have failed to meet your customers expectations, rather than accepting defeat and letting the customer slip away from you, use your initial failure as a jumping off point for a profitable relationship. Commit yourself to turning customer complaints into sales. When you make this part of your business practice, you will become a trusted friend in the eyes of your customers.

So how do you turn customer complaints into sales? Its really obvious, but very few business owners recognize it. Your number one priority, both before and after a mistake has been made, is to solve your customers problem. Not only solve it, but do it in a way that exceeds your customers expectations.

In the example I gave above about the service station owner, a great way to solve that problem would be to provide the customer with free transportation until his or her car is finished.

Even if the problem is not a direct result of some mistake that you have made, it is still your responsibility to make it right for the customer. You should always reward your customers for their inconvenience. That may mean offering repairs at a reduced rate or even free. It might mean giving them a free fill-up at your station. Whatever you do, you need to earn their trust back, and free gifts and services are a wonderful way to achieve this.

If you want to secure future profit from your customers, you have to give them a reason to transact business with you again. Give them coupons, gift certificates, or vouchers. Give them anything to get them into your store and buying from you again.

As with all promotions of this kind, there is always the chance you could end up spending more than you make on the initial transaction, or even on the follow-up. But your goal is to turn your customer into a customer for life, which gives you plenty of opportunities to make a profit and make your customers happy.

Whenever a customer complaint or problem arises, remember that it is a human being asking you to recognize that their life, their business, and their satisfaction is as important as anyone elses. They want you to recognize this, verbalize it, and compensate them. If you do all of this with compassion and understanding, you will not only earn their lifelong support, but also the support of all those whom they refer to you.

Copyright2006 by Joe Love and JLM &Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and achieve total success. He is the founder and CEO of JLM & Associates, a consulting and training organization, specializing in personal and business development. Through his seminars and lectures, Joe Love addresses thousands of men and women each year, including the executives and staffs of many of Americas largest corporations, on the subjects of leadership, self-esteem, goals, achievement, and success psychology.

Reach Joe at: joe@jlmandassociates.com

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