Responding to Complaints – Training Course Outline

A happy customer may tell three people about their experience with you but an unhappy one could share their problems with up to ten. That’s the kind of word-of-mouth that you have to get right.

Dealing with complaints effectively can build a good relationship with your customers, save money by avoiding their escalation, and earn repeat business.

Most companies receive and reply to complaints by telephone, email and letter, and if it’s your job to respond to them, you can be your organisation’s most valuable ambassador. You need to stay motivated and to be confident that you are dealing with customers as effectively and positively as possible. Training in best practice and seeing what works will build that confidence: you can be sure you are using tried and tested techniques.

What you will learn on this course

By the end of the course, you will know how to:

• Listen effectively so you understand what you need to do
• Choose the best response to a complaint
• Structure your responses effectively
• Use best practice for emails and letters
• Write in a clear, concise style
• Check your responses and give them that final polish before you send them

What our customers say

“I found the course very enjoyable and informative. We were able to share experiences and the interactive nature of the course produced a great deal of interaction. Thank you very much.”

JG, Basingstoke & North Hampshire Foundation Trust

“Excellent presentation of lost or never known knowledge.”

JB, Basingstoke & North Hampshire Foundation Trust

“Has given me an opportunity to think about how I deal with complaints and the way to improve content and format.”

LP, Institute for Learning

“It’s been very useful and informal with lots of opportunities to share ideas and ask questions – drawing on specific and current examples. Thank you very much for your time and trouble.”

SC, Institute for Learning

Course Duration

This course is a one-day, interactive workshop. Delegates practise effective complaint handling, learning the techniques through group discussion, exercises and working on sample complaints.

Follow up session

Get the most from a staff training day and make sure valuable ideas aren't forgotten by booking a follow-up session. Our trainer will visit you again a month to six weeks after your course to give delegates the chance to:

• discuss how they implemented what they learnt
• go over points from the course
• practise their skills by working on their own writing with the trainer’s help

Course Contents

1. Handling telephone complaints

• Listening techniques – know what can prevent you from hearing the whole story
• Three listening modes and their impact
• Putting the customer at ease – some things you should never say or do!
• Handling unhappy customers – practical things you can say and do
• Putting things back on a positive track

2. Identifying the best response to complaints

• Techniques to set a clear objective
• Understanding who you’re writing to and what they need from you
• Responding to complaints when you’re at fault, when you wish to make a concession and when you need to stand firm
• Being tactful and diplomatic, and some useful phrases
• How to ask for things without starting a long sequence of replies to replies
• How to give bad news – being up-front and empathising

3. Choosing the right words

• Eight principles to help you get to the point and avoid waffle
• Finding the right level of formality in your writing style
• British Vs American English

4. Responding by email

• Why have email etiquette?
• Email etiquette for subject lines, content, forward and reply
• Using signature files, attachments and different fonts
• Choosing the right structure for your content and objective
• Why correct email style counts
• Sending the right message – what your email could be saying about you
• How to minimise flaming by recognising ambiguous content and knowing when to use the phone instead

5. Responding by letter

• Why it’s important to get the basics right – address, contact details, salutation
• How to choose the correct structure, tone and style
• Standard forms of closures and enclosures
• Making it look good – layouts to support content and draw the reader in
• How form letters can save you time

6. Polishing your prose

• Evaluating the effectiveness of your response – is it simple, readable and complete?
• A top-down approach to improving your response
• How to use effective transitions to hold the flow of thought
• Tips to maximise impact
• Avoiding poppycock and commonly-confused words
• Grammar and punctuation – common mistakes and things that make some people go mad
• Using the tools to check your spelling
• How to proof your own writing – tricks to help you see what’s really there

Book Now!

For details of timetabled courses, see the schedule. For prices, see the costs table.

To reserve your places you can either book on-line or call us on +44 (0)1635 202013.