36pt headline - afta

Today’s Topics

• Overview of AIDC & ACDC

• Why Complaints are Important to your Business

• Understanding the Australian Standard on Complaints Handling

• Documenting a Complaints Handling Policy & Procedure

• Continuous Improvement through recording complaints and reporting on the cause and outcomes of complaints

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© Australian International Disputes Centre (AIDC) & ACDC p. 61 2 9239 0700 www.disputescentre.com.au

Overview of AIDC & ACDC

• ACDC pioneers in best practice ADR education for over 25 years.

• Providing a wide range of training, advice and consultancy services in Complaints Handling, Conflict Resolution, Mediation & Arbitration.

• AIDC was established in 2010 in recognition of the integral role that ADR plays in global business.

• Not-for-profit assisting parties with the efficient resolution of disputes to maintain profitable business and build community confidence. 9


The AIDC Facilities

10 custom built dispute resolution rooms.

State of the art training facilities.

Contemporary corporate environment.

Positioned in the heart of Sydney’s CBD at 1 Castlereagh Street.

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Why Complaints are important

to your Business

• Complaints are one category of customer feedback [you may also receive compliments and suggestions].

• Customer feedback is the cheapest market research available – your customers telling you what they need.

• Managed well – complaints help you:

• build customer loyalty & protect your brand

• improve your business

• add value to your business

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Why Complaints are important

to your Business

Managed poorly – complaints:

• drain valuable resources

• damage your brand

• fail to highlight the areas of your business that need improvement

• add unnecessary costs your business

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Understanding the Australian Standard on Complaints Handling

• Growing consumerism in Australia from the early ‘90’s prompted the development of the Australian Standard in 1995 – AS 4269.

• Embraced by regulators and industry-based dispute resolution schemes as a set of objective criteria.

• The ISO standard 10002 was developed with the benefit of AS 4269.

• Australia adopted the international standard with some changes - AS ISO10002 published in 2006

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1. Commitment • Organisation actively committed to effective & efficient

complaints handling. • Demonstrated by all levels of management in promoting best

practice complaints handling.

2. Resources • Management ensures that the complaints process is

documented and working efficiently & effectively, • assesses the need for resources and provides those resources

without undue delay, and • makes available a senior staff member to deal with complaints.

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3. Visibility

• Process readily available to consumers and complainants.

• Details of you complaints process in a convenient & accessible form e.g. website.

• All staff have an understanding of the complaints process.

4. Accessibility

• Process easy to understand & in plain language.

• Complaints can be received by telephone, email, letter, fax & online.

• Provide assistance if the claimant has difficulty expressing themselves.

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5. Charges

• Complainants should not have to pay to access the complaints process.

Recap – Your Complaints Process “Enablers”:

1. Commitment

2. Resources

3. Visibility

4. Accessibility

5. Charges 16



6. Responsiveness

• Clear response times that are communicated to the complainant. • Prioritise your complaints according to urgency.

7. Objectivity • Manage & respond to each complaint equitably, objectively and

without bias. • Adequate opportunity for complainant to state their concerns. • Investigated by staff not involved in the subject of the complaint

[if possible]. • Address all issues.

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8. Confidentiality

• Personal identifiable information concerning the complaint should not be disclosed to others unless it’s needed to respond to the complaint.

• Disclosure can only be made if the complainant gives their consent.

9. Customer Focused

• Ensure process is Client Centric – being helpful & user-friendly.

• Be open to feedback.

• Show commitment to resolving complaints or disputes by how you handle them.

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10. Accountability

• Reports about complaints should be prepared for senior management.

• Report on timeliness, actions taken and decisions made.

Recap – Your Complaints Process “Resolvers”:

6. Responsiveness

7. Objectivity

8. Confidentiality

9. Customer Focus

10. Accountability

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11. Collection of Information

• A recording system for managing complaints.

• Complaints system to specify the steps for identifying, gathering, maintaining, storing and disposing of records.

• Protect personal information.

12. Analysis and evaluation of Complaints

• All complaints & disputes to be classified and analysed to identify systemic, recurring and single incidents & trends.

• Depending on volume - categorise by type, subject, outcome & timeliness.

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13. Continual Improvement

• Continual improvement of your complaints process AND your products and services is an ongoing business objective.

• Feeding back improvements to staff encourages and promotes the value of best-practice complaints handling.

• Regular reviews of your complaints process (e.g. every 2 years) to ensure it is working effectively.

Recap – Your Complaints Process “Learners”:

11. Collection of Information

12. Analysis and evaluation of Complaints

13. Continual Improvement

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Documenting Policy & Procedures

1. Receipt

2. Tracking

3. Acknowledgement

4. Assessment

5. Investigation

6. Response

7. Communication of decision

8. Closure

9. Reporting

10. Continual business improvement

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Draft and check your policy against AS ISO 10002 to ensure that the policy and your complaints handling procedures respond to each of the guidelines provided.

Continuous Business Improvement

• Complaints are a gift [i.e. valuable customer feedback]

• By exceeding expectations in resolving your complaints you build customer loyalty.

And

• By recording & analysing complaints,

• Learning what went wrong,

• Making the necessary changes e.g. training, processes, procedures and client facing documentation, and

• Communicating those business improvements to staff and customers [certainly the complainant]

• You get the job done right first time next time!

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Continuous Business Improvement

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Complaint Comes in

Recorded

& Investigated

Response to the client

Analyse

what went wrong

Make & communicate

business improvements

Summary

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• Are we getting the job done right first time?

• Are we committed to responding effectively to resolve complaints?

• Do we have the right policy & procedures in place?

• Can our customers make a complaint easily?

• Do we have the skills needed to limit complaints and their escalation?

• How pragmatic, customer focussed and fair are we when complaints arise?

• Are we learning from our complaints to get the job done right first time next time?

Complaint Handling

Approach & Strategies for a Positive Outcome

Your complaining customers – what do they want?

What Do Complainants Want?

To be heard

To be understood

To be respected

An explanation

An apology, where one is warranted

Appropriate and timely action to resolve the issue

How Do Complainants Behave? Some complainant’ behaviours can be difficult to manage:

Exaggeration, misrepresentation

Unreasonable demands

Unreasonable persistence

Abuse, aggression, threats

Patronising, demanding

Rudeness, offensive language

Malicious, frivolous, trivial or vexatious

Sarcasm

A Word of Warning

The more dissatisfied customers become, the

more likely they are to use word of

mouth to express their displeasure’

Reasons to Welcome Complaints It takes time & effort to complain – most people don’t

bother

Complainers are more likely than non-complainers to happily do business with us in the future – your loyal customers care

Seldom isolated – usually symptomatic of how the organisation operates

Valuable, free information – warnings

Customer Feedback

“One of the most direct and meaningful ways customers can express their dissatisfaction to an organisation is through what we have come to call a complaint”

Complaints Are Opportunities

54-70% of customers will do business with us again if the complaint is well- handled.

95% of customers will do business with us again if the complaint is also handled quickly.

A well-handled complaint results in an even more loyal customer than if all had gone smoothly

The Key to Complaint-Handling

People can sometimes be part of the problem but they are always part of the solution

“People are the single most important resource in the complaints handling process”

Australian Standard Complaints Handling AS 4269-1995

People are a Key Business Enabler

Motivated, committed, skilled employees

capability

competence

confidence

Deliver consistent, high quality client service

How is Attitude Conveyed? It’s the little things...

A problem to be solved, not “a customer to be fixed”

Complaints: Instant Reaction It’s human to react when threatened, whether the threat is

physical, verbal or psychological

(the threat may be “packaged” as a complaining client)

Reaction is a defense mechanism – it serves to protect us from perceived harm. However it doesn’t always serve us well in business & customer service settings

Initial reactions are influenced by

past experience and our perceptions.

What are your initial reactions to the following complainants?

A Free-Spirited Retiree?

He’s about to discover his luggage is making a round the world trip…solo. Expect a call

A Young Snowboarder?

He only took out travel insurance because of your advice. He opted for the cheapest available…decided not to mention the snowboard. This one’s borrowed as his disappeared on the first day… he’s leaning on the board on account of his broken toe…had to pay the excess. He’s not happy…

A Business Traveller?

This lawyer missed a very important meeting due to an airline dispute– he needs to get to the destination asap and expects you to fix it NOW!

Celebrating the 45th Wedding Anniversary?

The happy couple have failed to make the departure of their pre-paid, deluxe grand tour. They got lost… somewhere between Rome and Paris on the “independent leg” of their “trip of a lifetime”. They would like a full refund please…

A Guy with Wheels?

Things Are Not Always As They Seem

Sometimes, we see what we expect to see rather than

what’s in front of us

Handling Complaints Effectively

1. Respond rather than react

2. Manage your own emotions

3. Manage the customer’s emotions

4. Manage the issue

Top Ten Tips for Talking with Complainants

Manage YOUR Emotions Complaints aren’t generally intended as personal insults. They just

feel that way. Try not to take them personally Try to remain calm – breathe deeply

Positive “self-talk” – “I can handle this”

Model the behaviour you want to see

Respond rather than react

The Boomerang Principle We get back what we send out – so be kind, not curt, to

customers with a problem.

NO-oooo! Don’t do it!

Oh no….Too late…

Manage the Emotion First Contain the energy of anger Attacks usually aren’t personal – they just feel that way

Separate attacks from helpful criticism

Shift quickly to see what can be learned

“How can this help me/the organisation to improve?”

If you are in the way of someone’s unexpressed anger, mentally step aside.

If it’s genuine feedback, learn from it

Manage the Complainant’s Emotion Mirror the emotional state – the intensity Use a non-confrontational communication style

“Sir, you sound very upset. How can I help you ?” Listen to the real message behind the emotion. Underlying needs

& interests Resist the urge to defend yourself Allow them to let off steam Use silence to your advantage. Try not to judge When venting subsides, ask questions Show you understand – paraphrase, summarise

Find Some Common Ground

Find something to agree with

without necessarily agreeing with the complainant’s point of view. For example: “I agree that $10,000 is a lot of money to lose” “I agree that not hearing back would be very frustrating”

Explain Why You Appreciate the Complaint “It’s important that we hear from customers on this issue”

“We need to know when your expectations haven’t been met”

“It’s helpful to learn when things aren’t working as well as they could”

Acknowledge Feelings and Actions

“I can hear that you’re very upset about this”

“I’d be very concerned about losing money, too”

“l can see that you’ve gone to a lot of trouble to get all this material together”

Apologise if there’s been a Mistake If an error was made, apologise.

If no error was made, apologise for the impact that the

situation has had on the customer.

“I am sorry that this has caused you such concern” “I’m sorry that the new fee structure has impacted on you in this way ” “I’m sorry that you’re expectations haven’t been met…” “I’m sorry that you were disappointed …” “This is clearly very important to you ”

Actively Listen Use your summarising, paraphrasing and reflecting skills to

demonstrate understanding and empathy Take notes Record details as per the organisation’s guidelines Confirm understanding by summarising back Check for accuracy

“Have I captured the main points? ” “Did I understand that correctly?” “From what you tell me, it seems...is this the case?” “Would you like to add anything?”

Avoid saying “I understand”

It’s usually Ok to say you understand the information being conveyed by the

complainant BUT Saying you understand about the complainant’s specific situation, how they

feel or their personal experience is NOT

You run the risk of being rebuked. eg

“ No you don’t! You have no idea! You weren’t there. You are not me.” This may get the complainant further off-side and escalate the tension

Clarify

Ask for the necessary information, do not assume

“Would you help me to understand what happened step

by step?”

“May I ask you a few questions to see

whether the information I have is correct?”

Ask open-ended questions

“How did it happen?”

“What were your expectations at the time?”

Clarify If you need more information, ask for it politely and

respectfully. Explain how it will benefit them.

Ask, don’t interrogate

Make notes

“To move things forward as quickly as possible, some

additional details would be very helpful. The first things

we need are … so that we can….Would you mind…?”

Resolution: Acknowledge, Respond, Explain

Correct any misunderstanding promptly If a mistake was made, apologise. Acknowledge the complainant’s perspective, don’t debate or argue Explain the resolution/action to be taken “We’d like to suggest…” “A fair solution might be…” “I understand that your view is...and ... our view is a little different...” “I’m sorry we were not able to do what you wanted. The situation is...(explain)” “I can see that you consider that ....we have come to a different conclusion”

Check satisfaction with the remedy/action Agree and Act – summarise planned action Follow-up as appropriate Prevent future misunderstandings/mistakes

Remain Calm & Professional Don’t take it personally. Mentally “step aside” Be polite. Maintain a professional detachment; ignore the rudeness Gently repeat the message that you want to help Listen for the real issue Set limits when rudeness & anger crosses personal boundaries:

“Excuse me, Mr Phillips, have I done something to offend you because if I have I’d like to apologise” If the offensive language/behaviour continues: “Excuse me, Mr Phillips. I don’t have to listen to this offensive language. Please call back when you are ready to talk respectfully with me. I am going to hang up now”

Top Ten Tips for Talking with Complainants

OK. There’s Eleven...

And Finally, The Personal Touch

Use the customer’s name, tell them your name, give them your

business card or a future contact point (as appropriate)

If it is your client, you will have established a relationship with them. Ensure that they know that the relationship is important and that you value them

Thank You

To discuss your training needs or for more information about ACDC’s Complaint Handling, Conflict Resolution, Facilitating Difficult Discussions or Mediation Training courses ,please contact:

Lynne Richards National Training Manager ACDC Level 16, 1 Castlereagh Street Sydney NSW 2000

Ph: (02) 9230 0700 www.disputescentre.com.au [email protected]

http://www.disputescentre.com.au/

http://www.afta.com.au/

http://www.atas.com.au/

36pt headline - afta

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