How to Tactfully Discuss Customer Complaints with Employees

Customers are critical to a business’s success. So what happens when you receive multiple complaints from customers about an employee’s behavior? An executive we’re coaching recently faced this problem with a long-term employee. The complaints are centered on her communication style and the tone of voice used when discussing difficult topics or customer concerns. This situation was made extremely difficult when it became clear that the employee was not receptive or in agreement with the feedback.

This isn’t a fun position to be in, but if you don’t handle the performance problem correctly, chances are it will continue to happen. If you don’t effectively deal with the behaviors causing customers to complain, you will lose respect as a leader from not only the employee in question, but your other team members as well. The bottom line: you need people on the front line that every customer views as courteous, knowledgeable and dependable.

We all want our customers to be happy, and to let us know when something has gone awry. But are you prepared to successfully handle situations where multiple customers complain about a long-term employee?

How to Tactfully Discuss Customer Complaints with Employees

First, meet with the employee and find out if they are aware of the complaints. Lead the discussion by asking a question such as, “We’ve had three complaints over the last month from customers who were unhappy with the interactions they had with you. What do you feel has changed in the last month that could have triggered these complaints?”

Second, ask the employee if they see these complaints as a problem. Without the employee’s agreement that the complaints are a problem, the employee will never be motivated to change their behavior.

Third, ask the employee for suggestions on what they are going to do differently to ensure that customers have no reason to, for instance, describe him or her as rude or arrogant. If the employee doesn’t offer suggestions, encourage them to involve you before a problem escalates with the customer in the future. Or, encourage the employee to provide the customer with options to resolve the problem so they feel they have a voice in how the situation is resolved.

Fourth, make sure you leave the meeting with four accomplishments:

1. The employee is aware that you see their behavior as a problem.
2. You and the employee have generated strategies/actions for what the employee is going to do differently to ensure the problem doesn’t happen again.
3. The employee knows that you care about his or her success and value their contributions to the organization.
4. Set a follow-up date within the next week or two to review the employee’s progress at utilizing their new strategies/actions to build stronger relationships with customers.

Some managers fear confronting long-term employees about poor behavior. They ask us, “What if they quit?” If the employee threatens to quit over being held accountable for positive customer relationships, don’t back down or lower the level of accountability. Here’s a shot of confidence to help you deal with these types of difficult employee scenarios: Very seldom do employees actually quit over being held accountable for doing the right thing. Lastly, if the employee actually quits over this conversation, this employee doesn’t truly care about you or the company’s success. Take pride in knowing that you did the right thing. Holding employees accountable ultimately contributes to the success of the business, and keeps your customers happy and loyal.