1. Be Swift When someone has an issue with your company, address it quickly. Promptness goes a long way in letting customers know you truly care about their business.

2. Go Deep Dont just give someones complaint surface treatment. Seek to find the root of the problem, and after correcting it, redirect your employees to keep it from occurring again.

3. Listen Many times clients dont want anything fixed; they just want to tell you what happened. Let them talk and express their feelings, and theyll leave more content.

4. Seek First To Understand This is Coveys 5th Habit: Diagnose before you prescribe. Let your customer share her side of the story before asking what you can do to fix the situation.

5. Send A Note In this age of e-mail and IM, few take the time to send hand-written notes. Investing two minutes and 39-cents after you resolve an issue will make a lasting impression.

6. Never Make Excuses The last thing a client wants to hear is why it happened. He only cares about what youre going to do. Keep this in mind, and choose your responses carefully.

7. Be Fair Resolving complaints is a key part of owning your own small business. When you consider how hard it is to get new customers, it makes sense to seek equitable resolutions.

8. Think Long-Term Remember, the objective is for clients to continue doing business with you. Use their complaints as an opportunity to Wow! them with your unexpected response.

9. Apologize Sometimes all a customer wants is to hear you say Im sorry. Start the conversation with First, I apologize for anything we did, and youll diffuse a lot of his anger.

10. Ask After allowing customers to voice their displeasure, ask what they would like you to do. They may not want much, and for minimal reparations you can save the relationship.

11. Do It Yourself Clients never want to be contacted by someone without power to resolve situations. Dont dodge discomfort. Step up to the plate and handle complaints yourself.

David Handler

The Coach, David Handler, is the founder of Success Handler, LLC, and specializes in helping franchisees, franchisors and business leaders find clarity and take action. He understands the challenges of running a business, because he?s been there ? as a franchisee, franchisor, business owner, corporate leader and trainer. Much like sports coaches, his coaching will show you how to compete on a level playing field in your industry.

There are two ?I?s? in accountability ? You and Me! Together we will achieve your destiny.?

David worked with ABC Sports, ESPN and regional sports programmers HSE (now Fox Sports Southwest) and Raycom. He produced more than 700 live events, including NFL football, NCAA football and basketball, and Major League Baseball. Career highlights were broadcasting Nolan Ryan's 5,000th career strikeout and two of the 15 perfect games in MLB history (Mike Witt-1984 and Kenny Rogers-1994). The second earned a national Telly Award for best sports production and was nominated for an ESPY.

In 1988, David awoke in the middle of the night from a dream and wrote down four words: "Notre Dame, football, travel." Partnering with two lifelong friends, David helped Anthony Travel become the Official Travel Service of the University of Notre Dame, Disney's Wide World of Sports? complex and several other universities. Over one five-year period, Anthony Travel was named one of the 100 fastest growing privately held companies in Dallas on three occasions.

After selling his interest in the travel company in 1998, David joined the International Center for Entrepreneurial Development (ICED) - a family of franchises with nine brands and more than 1,000 locations around the world. As senior VP in charge of marketing, he developed creative programs that franchisees used to gain new customers and increase profits.

David founded Success Handler to utilize the skills gained during his 23-year business career in a coaching capacity with franchisees, franchisors and business owners.