Customer Complaints | Martin Print Blog

May 09, 2013

BAD MANNERS AND RUDE BUSINESS
How to Avoid the Most Common Ways
of Annoying Your Clients and Colleagues

“Good morning, Sir. You’re looking well today! May I take your coat? Please do take a seat. I’ll be with you as soon as I possibly can. May I offer you some refreshments while you wait?”

This is the kind of greeting that I often dream of hearing as I’m reluctantly making my way to the local gent’s hairdressers just around the corner from Martin Print H.Q.

However, the reality never quite matches my hopes.
Instead, I usually get something along the lines of;

“Oh no, not you again! Are you really due another haircut so soon? You’re determined to ruin my day, aren’t you? Oh well, sit down and be quiet, and try not to scare off my other customers. Don’t touch anything either, I’ve got my eye on you…”

To be fair, it’s not quite as bad as it may sound. I’ve been enjoying this kind of ‘banter’ with my local hairdresser for years. Besides, he’s the only one around for miles, so he knows that I’m unlikely to take my custom elsewhere.
I’m fairly sure that he wouldn’t treat new clients like this. If he did, his business would never have lasted much longer than a week…

But are Small Business owners ever in danger of accidentally annoying customers and colleagues with Bad Business Etiquette? Could some of us be at risk of displaying common rude behaviour without even realising it?

I got thinking about this topic as I settled back down at my office desk again, following my typically blunt experience at the Hairdressers.
Doris, our resident cleaner, popped her head round the door to say hello.
Well, kind of.

”Oh no, you’re back again!” she cried. “I was going to clean your office, but you’re in my way again. You’re always in my way! Can’t you just go away and do something constructive instead of sitting there and pretending to look busy? Why don’t you go and get your hair cut or something? What? You have? Oh, right. It looks terrible. Did you ask for your money back?”

Hmm.
You know, any normal person might start to feel paranoid about constantly soaking up so much abuse in one day!
But, fortunately for everyone concerned, I’m far from normal.
And I know for sure that no harm or malice was intended in any of these abrupt conversations. No offence was taken.

I’m also fairly confident that most of us would never dream of communicating in such a seemingly discourteous manner in the professional arena of Small Business – either to customers, business associates, or fellow team members.

But what if we’ve picked up some bad business habits which cause offence without our knowledge?
Here are some of the most common examples of rude business behaviour which should be avoided at all costs…

CONTINUE READING

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Posted In Business Clinic, Customer Care, Customer Complaints, Customer Rewards, Entrepreneur Zone, How-To's and Tutorials, Social Media Marketing, Staff Management, Technology & The Web

April 18, 2013

DON’T PANIC! DON’T PANIC!
How to Avoid Getting in a Dizzy Spin with Your Business Customers

Aaargh! Look out! A minor unforeseen problem is on the horizon, and it might just take us all down! Run away! Run away!

It’s fair to say that the life of a Small Business owner is packed with new challenges and unexpected hurdles, particularly when we’re dealing with slightly ‘tricky’ customers who perhaps need a little more help and dedication than others.

I’m sure that most of us have good days and bad days.
We have those days when we feel as if we can overcome any kind of problem without even breaking into a sweat, and then we have those days when even the tiniest unwanted surprise can make us crumble and reach out desperately for the Panic Button.

So, how can we ensure that we stay calm and professional with our customers at all times, even when they might be making demands that are making our heads spin with hysteria?

This week, I had to reluctantly participate in a very expensive shopping trip for new tools with Old Bert.
We have this rather odd arrangement which involves Old Bert dragging me around every tool shop in town, picking out a selection of obscure instruments which are apparently essential for the ongoing maintenance of Martin Print H.Q, even though I haven’t got a clue what most of them actually do.
For my side of the bargain, I just get out my wallet and pay for everything without question.

It has to be said that Old Bert can be quite a demanding customer, and I could tell that some of his questions and requests were baffling the store owners and getting them all flustered.
If Old Bert ever felt that he couldn’t get a straight answer or a helpful response, then he’d drag me out of the shop and try his luck with the next one on his list.

We eventually found a store owner who could confidently meet every one of Old Bert’s confusing demands, and this turned out to be the store that ended up taking most of my money.
I should probably stress at this point that I had very little to do with the decision-making process here. I just felt like an innocent bystander caught up in the horror.

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Posted In Business Clinic, Customer Care, Customer Complaints, Customer Rewards, Entrepreneur Zone, Staff Management

April 09, 2013

THE SOUND OF SILENCE
Is a Lack of Customer Complaints
a Reassuring Sign of Good Business?

“Complaints? Don’t be silly! That’s not something that my business ever has to deal with, thank goodness. I’m far too busy for that kind of nonsense!”

Honest Howard was making another one of his bold boasts down at Smokey Joe’s Small Business Bar.
The rest of us had been enjoying a reasonably intelligent and insightful debate on the most effective ways of dealing with a valid customer complaint, when Honest Howard suddenly popped up from nowhere and hi-jacked the discussion to make one of his typically flamboyant statements.

“My business doesn’t make mistakes,” was his slightly ridiculous opening gambit.
“And if you don’t make mistakes, then you don’t get complaints. It’s perfectly simple, really. You lot could learn a thing or two from me, you know. I don’t waste my time handling complaints, because I never get any. That leaves me free to concentrate on the important things in life, like business growth and golf.”

Hmm.
Well, the logic seemed sound enough.
But then again, there’s very little sound to be heard if your customers aren’t actually saying anything at all…

To be honest, I would have been quite happy to have left Howard’s claims unchallenged, if only because Honest Howard’s voice gets on my nerves at the best of times, and I wasn’t really in the mood for fanning the flames any further.

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Posted In Business Clinic, Customer Care, Customer Complaints, Entrepreneur Zone, Starting a New Business

March 28, 2013

ARE YOU TALKING TO ME?
Why the New ‘Reply’ Option on Facebook Business Pages is Good News for Your Fans!

This week, Facebook rolled out a small but perfectly formed new feature for Business Pages, which could prove to be far more useful and valuable than it may appear on first glance.

The new ‘Reply’ option underneath individual comments on your posts means that you can now reply directly to the person who left the comment, instead of having to post your responses right at the very bottom of a potentially huge thread.

In order to appreciate the significance and worth of this handy new feature, let’s take a quick look at the sort of lunacy and sheer madness that used to take you by surprise when you were simply trying to engage with your treasured Facebook fans.

Here’s a snippet of the type of bewildering conversation that could so easily have popped up on the Martin Print Facebook page in the past…

MARTIN PRINT: Another cracking day of custom-crafted printing ahead! Please just let me know if you have any queries at all that I can help you with!

CLAIRE LANGFORD: Hi Martin Print! I was just wondering if you can create Business Cards in a special die-cut shape, and how I go about getting a quote?

PATRICK POTTER: Hello! Can you tell me if you run tap-dancing classes for dogs? Not sure if I’ve got the right page.

MARTIN PRINT: Yes, of course, we certainly do! If you pop along to the Quotations page on our website and give us a few details, then we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!

PATRICK POTTER: Oh, great! Can I give you a few details now? My dog hasn’t had much tap-dancing experience, but she’s quick to learn. She’s a Miniature Fox Terrier called Poppy. Is that all you need?

MARTIN PRINT: No, no, I think there’s been a misunderstanding, we don’t provide that kind of service.

CLAIRE LANGFORD: Really? I thought you guys were a print and design company? Oh well, never mind, I’ll go and have a look elsewhere for my Business Cards. You should think about changing your business name, though.

CONTINUE READING

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Posted In Archives, Business Clinic, Customer Care, Customer Complaints, Entrepreneur Zone, Facebook, How-To's and Tutorials, March 2013, Newsdesk, Online Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Technology & The Web, Weird & Wonderful

March 12, 2013

STUDYING THE TEXT (MESSAGE)
Is SMS Marketing Pulling In the Biggest Business Results of All?

Just how many text messages were sent worldwide during the course of 2012?
Is SMS Marketing really developing into the most wildly successful platform for delivering your business messages and generating a healthy response?
If so, then how exactly should we be using promotional text messages to our advantage, and what are the basic rules of SMS Marketing Etiquette?

Well, according to a new report conducted by Leads360 – a provider of cloud-based lead management solutions – a staggering 9.6 trillion text messages were composed and despatched by the human race last year.
That’s an awful lot of button-pushing and screen-tapping for just one species.

Even some of the more ‘mature’ members of the Martin Print team have finally decided to join in the fun, despite previously making solemn vows that they would never ever resort to owning and using a silly old Smartphone.

Doris, our resident cleaner, certainly displayed some initial hesitation and suspicion towards these pocket-sized devices that make dreadful little noises every two minutes.
But she’s now very happy to send me daily text message warnings, demanding that I evacuate my office within 5 minutes so that I don’t get in the way of her cleaning ritual.

Meanwhile, Old Bert may have previously poured scorn and ridicule over these pesky mobile phones that were apparently sapping away the brain cells of the entire population…but he now sends me whole batches of text messages every day.

Admittedly, I receive the vast majority of these when I’m on my way to the Sweet Pastry Shop at lunchtime, and I inevitably discover that Old Bert can’t make up his mind about what he wants me to fetch back for him.
Ping! “A rainbow cookie!”
Ping! “No, a raspberry chocolate mousse cake!”
Ping! “No, I’ll have a coconut macaroon….”
Still, it’s a positive step in the right direction. I think.

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Posted In Archives, Business Clinic, Creative Marketing, Customer Care, Customer Complaints, Entrepreneur Zone, March 2013, Mobile Phones/Smartphones, Newsdesk, Offline Marketing, Technology & The Web

February 14, 2013

DON’T FEED THE TROLLS!
How to Respond to Negative Feedback
and Unfair Online Criticism of Your Business

“RAAAAAAARGH!”

The whole team froze as that horrifying familiar roar echoed around the winding corridors of Martin Print H.Q.

To the untrained ear, it may well have sounded like the war cry of a monstrous creature on the rampage.
But we all knew from crushing experience that it was far, far worse than that.

Old Bert, our resident caretaker, had been let loose on the internet again…and he was venting his fury at the online Trolls.

But has your Business ever become involved in a long-winded and ultimately pointless battle with the fiendishly provocative creatures that lurk in the darker corners of Cyberspace?
And just how do you defeat the nasty internet Trolls?

Old Bert is currently running a Barn Dancing Class on Thursday evenings, and he recently enlisted the help of our tech-savvy Martin Print designer, Josh, to help him promote the new venture online with Social Media pages and Message Boards.

Unfortunately, poor Old Bert’s perfectly innocent promotional updates have been targeted by the hate-fuelled beasts of the internet!

Every single time he posts an update or a message for the benefit of his new Barn Dancing gang, he comes back to the computer to find a string of abusive new comments relating to the pricing of his classes, the quality of his lessons, the style of his haircut, and the inevitable aggression in his defensive responses.

I’ve advised Old Bert a million times that the best course of action here is to simply ignore those messages that have clearly been engineered by people with way too much time on their hands, and who are only trying to stir up trouble.
After all, rule number one is;
You don’t feed the Trolls!

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Posted In Business Clinic, Customer Care, Customer Complaints, Entrepreneur Zone, How-To's and Tutorials, Online Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Technology & The Web

January 22, 2013

WARM SMILES
AND COLD COMMUNICATIONS
Just How Approachable and Friendly is YOUR Small Business?

A very warm welcome to today’s new article on the Martin Print Blog.
Please do take a seat and make yourself comfortable.
May I take your coat?
Help yourself to a nice hot drink, a luxury biscuit, and a pickled onion sandwich.

No, wait, hang on, you’d better leave those sandwiches alone.
Old Bert will only get into another one of his grumpy moods if he sees that the vital sandwich supplies went down when his back was turned…

Grouchy caretakers aside, I’m sure that most of us tend to be naturally warm, friendly and approachable when meeting new people in the flesh.

But could we be in danger of accidentally turning down the heat in many of our crucial communications in Cyberspace, casting a chilly spell over our online presence and driving away our audience without even realising it?

An entrepreneurial friend of mine is just about one of the happiest and smiliest blokes that you could ever hope to meet.
If you spend just a couple of minutes in his engaging presence, you’ll inevitably end up with a big silly grin on your face, an instinctive desire to meet up again, and a receipt for a range of business services that you never even knew you needed.

But unfortunately, this charming disposition is never successfully reflected in his online persona.

His website and Social Media profiles are cold, stiff, and formal, and do nothing to convey the wit and humour of this great man.
Whenever I write him a long and detailed email relating to a business matter, he tends to reply in a couple of blunt sentences.
On the rare occasions that he bothers to interact with his online audience, his comments come across as cold, distant, and perhaps even slightly unpleasant.

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Posted In Business Clinic, Customer Care, Customer Complaints, Customer Rewards, Entrepreneur Zone, Online Marketing, Social Media Marketing

January 14, 2013

FORTY MILLION REASONS
TO AVOID EXAGGERATION*
Why Customers are Turning Away from Exaggerated Claims in Business Advertising

*Please note that due to space restrictions and basic common sense, the number of reasons in actual Blog article may differ slightly to the frankly ridiculous number shown above.

Honesty in advertising.
Some of your more cynical potential customers might laugh out loud at the very idea.

But is this instinctive distrust of business advertising even more deep-rooted in the conscience of everyday consumers than we ever dared imagine?
Just how many customers believe that advertisement claims are likely to be exaggerated well beyond the truth?
And do we sometimes make wild exaggerations in our business marketing without even realising it?

My new puppy, Monty, has the rather annoying tendency to completely destroy expensive new dog toys within a matter of mere minutes.
So I was particularly enthralled when I recently came across an online advertisement which promised a more durable and cost-effective solution to the dog toy dilemma;

UNBREAKABALL!
The world’s first completely indestructible Dog Toy! Made from the toughest materials in the cosmos, new Unbreakaball is guaranteed to last for a lifetime!

Hmm.
I can only assume that the makers of this toy had somehow come to the conclusion that an average lifetime lasted for about 17.2 seconds, because that’s exactly how long it took for Monty to reduce this new Unbreakaball into thousands of tiny pieces scattered right across my house.

I couldn’t help feeling that in this case, I’d been more than a little misled by the bold claims made in the advertising.

But just how many of your own potential customers have developed strong negative feelings on business advertisements in general, and are inclined to dismiss any genuine claims that you might make as being an unreliable exaggeration?

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Posted In Archives, Business Clinic, Creative Marketing, Customer Care, Customer Complaints, Email Campaigns, Entrepreneur Zone, January 2013, Newsdesk, Offline Marketing, Online Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Video Campaigns

January 07, 2013

SORRY, NO REFUNDS!
How to Restore Customer Faith with a Winning Returns Policy

Three simple words that are packed with the power to stir up feelings of anguish, rage, injustice, and deep regret;
Sorry. No Refunds.

January is a typically busy month for testing the strength of your own Small Business Return Policy.
The manic buying spree of the holiday season is well and truly over, and now the world is full of people with second thoughts.

Perhaps they were too hasty in making a purchase and didn’t check all the details before buying.
Perhaps the product didn’t quite live up to their expectations.
Perhaps it was the wrong colour or size or shape.
Or perhaps they simply received a well-intentioned gift which they never honestly wanted in the first place!

Whatever the reasons, the post-Holiday season is traditionally the time of year when customers come flocking back to businesses for a rather unfortunate reason;
They want their money back!

But has your business adopted the right strategy for a painless refund? Or could your policy be causing more harm than good?

I was recently enjoying a quiet drink down at Smokey Joe’s Small Business Bar, when the peace and tranquillity was suddenly disturbed by a dramatic entrance from one of the regulars, Forgetful Fred, who came crashing through the doors with several tins of paint and a look of thunder upon his face.

Apparently, Fred had bought all these tins of paint over the Christmas period, as he was planning on making a solemn New Year’s resolution to finally paint the fence in his back garden.
It was only when he got back home and went to put the tins of paint in his shed that he suddenly remembered he hadn’t actually got a fence in his back garden.
Or a shed.

Good old Forgetful Fred. I can’t remember how he got his nickname. Neither can he.

Fred had assumed that returning the unwanted goods would be a slightly inconvenient but relatively painless procedure.
However, he was now outraged to learn that the business in question had point blank refused to accept the return and refund his money, despite the fact that Fred had been a loyal customer for over ten years.

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Posted In Business Clinic, Customer Care, Customer Complaints, Customer Rewards, Entrepreneur Zone, Staff Management

December 04, 2012

MIND YOUR LANGUAGE!
Voicing the Right and Wrong Words
of Excellent Customer Service

Is your business speaking spaghetti hoops long trousers fish kettle with a twist of lemon and a paddling pool of peanuts?
Erm…no, hang on, that might have been a bit of a false start, let’s try that again.

Is your business speaking the language that your customers would expect?
Do you take care and consideration in picking out the polite and positive words that will encourage your clients to keep on coming back to your business?

It’s an incredibly easy thing to get right…so why do we always see far too many examples of it all going so horribly wrong?
And what are the right and wrong words of customer service language anyway?

I recently ventured out on a doomed cycling trip with Big Ted, the Chief Printing Wizard here at Martin Print.
I should really stop agreeing to these silly ideas after a few glasses of rum. They always end in total disaster.

We’d only made it a few miles out of town before we suddenly realised that we’d forgotten to pack any sandwiches or drinks, we’d somehow both managed to get a flat tyre at the same time, and we had foolishly neglected to bring either a puncture repair kit or a bike pump with us.
Very poor preparation on our part.

For a brief moment though, we dared to believe that luck might just have been on our side for a change, as all this had happened just a few yards away from a friendly looking shop which appeared to sell just about everything under the sun.

But our luck ran out as soon as we walked in through the door and approached the guy at the counter for assistance.
Throughout the next ten painful minutes, we were subjected to a string of words and phrases that should never be uttered in the general direction of an enthusiastic potential customer.

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Posted In Business Clinic, Customer Care, Customer Complaints, Customer Rewards, Entrepreneur Zone, Staff Management