A Complaint Is a Gift: Using Customer Feedback as a Strategic Tool

The first edition of A Complaint Is a Gift introduced the revolutionary notion that customer complaints are not annoyances to be dodged, denied, or buried but are instead valuable pieces of feedback--in fact, they're your best bargain in market research. Customer complaints can give businesses a wake-up call when they're not achieving their fundamental purpose: meeting customer needs. Complaints provide a feedback mechanism that can help organizations rapidly and inexpensively strengthen products, service style, and market focus. Most importantly, complaints create a moment of truth when a customer who is deciding whether to return can be made even more loyal.

Using numerous real-life examples, authors Janelle Barlow and Claus M ller show precisely how to handle complaints in a way that brings benefit to your organization and satisfaction to your customers-even when you have to say no. The second edition features two brand-new chapters on receiving and responding to complaints online
a new section on how to deal with and take advantage of complaints that are directed at your personally
and, turning the tables, a section on how you can complain constructively and effectively. And throughout, the text has been heavily revised, with a wealth of new examples, tools, and strategies.