To the untrained eye, an upset customer seems like a problem for business. Actually, this customer is offering you a gift to improve your practices and further delight your customers. By instituting proactive service management you can be prepared to respond quickly to complaints and create a culture of accountability.

I provided a brief review of my five-step process to deal with a complaining customer. There is also a video explaining this process in the first section below:

1. Acknowledge the problem.
2. Apologize for the problem.
3. Fix the problem – or discuss how it will be fixed.
4. Do it with the right attitude – not just being nice, but acting accountable.
5. Doing all of this with a sense of urgency.