When you’re in business, dealing with consumer complaints is a necessary part of the job, and as clients and customers become more demanding market leaders are increasingly using the constructive power of criticism to their advantage. So while some firms battle with their brand image and fail to instil consumer confidence, others excel at delivering consumer-orientated marketing strategies to recover customer loyalty.

Market leaders stand out from the crowd by synergising traditional marketing methods with service-orientated techniques. They believe in providing a great service and not only gear the business to ensure it is delivered, but offer valueadded care in service-recovery situations and handle complaints skilfully. Fundamentally, firms practising high levels of consumer orientation will invest not only in external marketing initiatives, between company and consumer, but internal marketing, between the company and its employees and interactive marketing, between employees and customers. This three tier approach is so vital to business growth because whilst traditional marketing techniques are important there’s no point in advertising ‘excellent service’ if staff are unable or unwilling to provide it.

Internal marketing enhances traditional techniques by ensuring employees with consumer contact are effectively trained and motivated to work well with all support staff, who are also trained in customer satisfaction. When everyone in the company has a common goal, to satisfy dissatisfied customers, consumer loyalty will grow. Furthermore, interactive marketing in such companies will ensure customers’ perceived level of service is high thanks to quality interaction between employees and their customers.

Whilst sales staff will always pursue their main objective ‘to sell’, and rightly so, there is much directors can do to foster a service-orientated culture in a company by using internal marketing to empower staff facing consumer issues. Staff in such companies are less likely to see complaints as personal attacks – and less likely to apportion blame elsewhere. Fundamentally they don’t view complaints as huge problems because they are not penalised for making ‘mistakes’. As a result the interactive marketing channels of communication remain fluid, customers are not discouraged from complaining and more often than not, customers who do complain get satisfactory results.

Handling complaints effectively can make or break a brand but while a consumer complaints programme is an exceptional marketing tool it must form part of the core business strategy:

• Provide companies with insight into
• Potential problems
• Help identify solutions to those problems
• Offer golden opportunities to instil confidence and give satisfaction to dissatisfied customers
• Prevent customer loss
• Strengthen long term customer loyalty
• Generate new business through happy customer recommendations.

For this reason many market leaders instill a no-blame/low-blame culture so staff are rewarded for creating servicerecovery opportunities to maintain high levels of lasting consumer loyalty. Marks and Spencer is renowned for doing this and Avis has empowered its staff to satisfy disgruntled customers at the counter to save money, free-up head office and increase their loyal customer base.

When service-based companies adopt wide reaching marketing service strategies – and keep their promises of customer care and service recovery – they can grow their customer base exponentially.

Danielle Simpson BSc is Creative Director of thebrandeffect and has managed consumer complaints for industry leaders including Budweiser. Visit www.thebrandeffect.co.uk