A Client Complaint Needs a Way Back Into the Business

Resolve the individual concern, then check whether a promise, decision or recurring part of delivery needs to change.

Someone sends a complaint about the service. The reply matters, and so does what the business learns after the reply is sent.

A refund, correction or explanation may settle the immediate concern. It does not tell you whether the same problem is waiting for the next client. Keep those questions separate so learning does not delay a response.

Start with the concern you can actually resolve

Confirm what the client says happened and what they want addressed. Check the relevant promise and the work delivered. Give one person responsibility for the next response, with a time they can keep.

The person reading the complaint should not have to guess whether they can arrange a correction. Make the available remedies and any approval limits clear inside the business. Wait for the necessary decision before promising the result.

A useful complaint process protects people, too

Respect belongs on both sides of the exchange. In Pew Research Center’s 2024 worker survey, 72% of workers with clients or customers said those people treated them with respect all or most of the time. The survey did not test complaint handling. It is a reminder that client relationships also involve the people doing the work.

Take a service failure seriously without expecting staff to absorb abusive behavior. A manager can own a difficult conversation and still examine whether the business fell short. Treating those as competing obligations makes both harder.

Look for the decision behind the repeat

Once the concern is addressed, keep a short account of what was promised, what happened and what was changed. Review it with the people who can alter the work.

Was the service described too broadly? Was a deadline agreed before capacity was checked? Did the client need information nobody knew they were supposed to provide? Those are questions to investigate, not conclusions to put in a template.

Some complaints reveal an isolated error. Others expose a recurring promise the business cannot reliably keep. The remedy for the second problem belongs where the promise is made, not only with the person answering messages.

Closing the complaint and correcting the cause are separate achievements. Make room to see both.

More from this week

This piece stands on its own. Here are this week's 5 pieces:

• Monday: Know Which Client Loss Would Change Your Plans
• Tuesday: Ask Before You Name a Professional Reference
• Wednesday: A Client Complaint Needs a Way Back Into the Business (this post)
• Thursday: A Career Break Does Not Need an Apology (coming Thursday)
• Friday: Agree How You Will Disagree With an Outside Partner (coming Friday)

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