Not that long ago customer complaints were viewed as, well, a nuisance. Then came the quality movement and we all realized that in order to improve we need to pay attention to what’s going wrong as well as what’s going right.  As we were adjusting our attitudes toward complaints and those who make them, A Complaint is a Gift came along. This refreshing book by Janelle Barlow and Claus Moller offered us a new way to look at complaints and serves as a reminder that feedback from customers, while sometimes hard to hear, is a growth opportunity.

The first edition of A Complaint is a Gift (1996) introduced the revolutionary notion that customer complaints are not annoyances to be dodged, denied or buried, but are instead valuable pieces of feedback that can be used to improve an organization’s products and services. The new edition (2008) has been thoroughly revised and updated. View the FREE excerpt here.

A Complaint is a Gift urges us to remember the following:

• Complaints are gold nuggets covered in dirt. Once you clean off the dirt (emotion and negativity) they can be used to strengthen the customer relationship and increase profit.
• Organizations receive the most honest and valuable feedback from complaints, which are way more valuable than costly market research.
• Customers either complain or go elsewhere. Those who complain are giving the organization another chance.
• Less is not more when it comes to complaints. Trying to lower the number of monthly complaints is missing the boat completely. It’s like telling a loved one to only communicate with you when their happy… No connection, no relationship.

Welcoming complaints and getting to the gold nugget with compassionate listening is a solid first step. Organizations that use this information to improve bring the complaint full circle by using a product like Everest to capture the information and use it to solve the root problem. Using customer feedback to drive improvement is the most effective way organizations can thrive. This approach not only provides the information needed to ensure quality products or services, it also provides an opportunity to build a lasting relationship with the customer. I think Barlow and Moller were on to something – a complaint truly is a gift.