We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Janelle Barlow a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Janelle thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry? Any stories or anecdotes that illustrate why this matters?

Corporate America, by and large, treats customer complaints as transactional experiences, rather than as relationship building experiences. Transactions can work, no doubt about that — if your goal as a company is to handle what went wrong and then move on to the next customer. But if your goal is to use the complaint experience as an opportunity to build a relationship with your customer (or family member, or friend, or whoever), it maytake a little bit longer. But you can retain the relationship. In business this means saving a great deal of money. It is estimated that in the U.S. alone poor complaint handling costs industry about a trillion dollars a year. That’s money left on the table and is a genuine waste.
Here’s one example. A high end furniture store that sells by catalog or on line handled a situation for me by simply offering a card worth $25.00. The money was irrelevant to me. There were so many other ways to satisfy me. It didn’t happen. They keep sending me their expensive catalogs. The head of Marketing also sent me a $75 certificate. I haven’t bought from them for years now, and they still don’t know what happened to turn me from a consistent reliable customer to one deeply disappointed with how they conduct their business. I just got another catalog this morning. Same beautiful furniture. I just throw the catalog away regardless of what they have to offer. Such a waste. Janele

Janelle, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have been working in the field of customer service/complaint handling for years. I’m fascinated about how people treat their customers. They seem to follow orders from their managers about what to say. The manager or supervisors become the critical players in the industry. — rather than customers. When you consider the cost of marketing and selling to customers, it seems so wasteful to not attempt to keep that customers. And that doesn’t mean giving away the store, as the expression goes. In fact, that’s pretty much a bad idea because customers learn how to get more from the company rather than to build a relationship.
Customer service and complaint handling is not easy. It’s complicated, expensive, and when handled well, it keeps that customer with you. When managers give their service staff or complaint handlers “scripts” to follow, most customers understand that they aren’t really valued by the organization. They clearly see through conversation as a transaction, and that doesn’t please anyone.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Everything that works in business when it comes to complaint handling also applies to our personal life. I’ve learned to let go of disputes and to find my gratitude that my partner, friend, or family member spoke up. It says to me that they want to retain their relationship with me and they are attempting to tell me how to. do that. That is a gift, and reinforces the books I have written, “A Complaint Is a Gift.” At times these situations have cost me emotional pain, money in business, but these situations have always been worth it.

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Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

I offer training programs and culture change consulting. When dealing with a large company, these products and services can be very expensive. I offered one training solution to help a company improve its service. This was in the casino/gaming industry. Relationships are very important in that business. The total cost of training 15,000 employees was over a million dollars. When I announced the cost, the top level managers nearly fell off their chairs. I let the figure sink in, and then told them what it would cost—per employee—for our professional services. It came to less than $100 per person. I explored for them how long it would take for gamers to drop that much money into the casino when service was superb or their complaint was handled. They signed the contract.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.acomplaintisagift.com
• Instagram: [email protected]
• Linkedin: [email protected]
• Youtube: JanelleBarlow
• Other: 702 481 0375

Image Credits

Jew Photogaphers