Can you hear me now?

Active listening means listening without interruptions, asking clarifying questions, reiterating your understanding of what was said and discovering what you can do to make it right.

I recommend: Want to hone your listening skills? Go to About: Active Listening for some great tips. The Washington Small Business Development Center offers a clear look at the steps necessary to right the wrongs a customer has experienced. Listening is first on the list.

Use a great I.D.E.A.

The American Management Association (AMA)'s best-selling book, Keeping Customers for Life, promoted this big IDEA: Identify (the problem), Diagnose (the cause), Explore (possible solutions) and Act (on the best solution).

I recommend: Who better to advise about dissatisfied customers than the Better Business Bureau? Check out these BBB tipsheets: Effective Complaint Handling, Dealing with Unruly Customers, and Is Your Company Keeping Existing Customers.

Empower your employees

Give your front-line staff the power to solve problems early on. The earlier you can solve a problem, the less expensive for your company, and the happier the customer.

I recommend: Check out Biz Help 24, to read what happens when an employee is, and is not, given the authority to handle a customer's complaints.

Cut back on future complaints

What is your business's focus? If it's not customer service, it may be time for a change. If you don't make your customers a priority, why should they make you one?

I recommend: Check out Customer Solutions to download and print a Complaint Management System Checklist. Customer Solutions also offers the i-Sight Service and Complaint Management Software, designed specifically for dealing with dissatisfied customers.

Info to go

One essential part of serving your customer is having all the information in one-to-access place.

I recommend: Do you have remote employees? No problem. Office Small Business Management Edition 2006 allows your employees immediate access to customer data from a Pocket PC.