Thanks to everyone who chimed in on Friday’s post expressing your opinion on the content mill issue. Deb Ng has agreed to stop by and write a post voicing her side of things, which given her history is exactly what I expected from her. You may not agree with her opinion, but she’s always been okay with that from what I’ve witnessed. That kind of acceptance is the best forum for real discussion.
In Friday’s comments, I made mention to one of the more ardent of Deb’s supporters that these complaints, which veered from content mills to why they left her blog community, that all complaints were learning experiences. She has the chance to rebuild her community if she can find a way to address and repair these issues. The reasons given by all of you on why you were no longer visiting the blog are gifts.
Companies learn from complaints. They examine them, measure their frequency, and they build responses to them that attempt to regain the customers they’ve lost or are about to lose. The smart ones put a lot of stock in what their customers say. They use them as business improvement tools. Why shouldn’t we?
Usually, the complaints are the last we hear of that customer we’re working with, but there’s no reason why our clients’ complaints can’t teach us and help us improve things in the future. Taking a bad situation and improving it is just as critical to our success as it is for other businesses (yours is a business, you know). For example, I once had a horrible outcome to a long-term project. The client had pulled all the strings from the start, which skewed my editing process and caused no end of grief when he blamed me for edits he’d removed. Worse, he’d handed the whole project over to another person, who said I wasn’t much of an editor because of the “mistakes” in the copy. Lessons learned – never let a client control your editorial process, and have a contract that’s voided the moment a third party starts advising.
But be careful. Not all complaints are useful. I’ve had more than one potential client gripe about my rates, which are much higher than the pittance they shell out, or the clients who complain three months after the check was due that they hated everything you did. There are such things as lousy, self-serving complaints. Those we ignore.
When have you learned something from a complaint?
One of the most important things I've learned from being on both sides of the Complaint Table is to pick my battles. Some people are drama queens and they want to stir something up to fill whatever void they've currently got going. Some people want something for nothing. Some people have a genuine problem with something and are trying to get information across — when you listen and are receptive in a positive way — even if you still don't agree — you can at least create a conversation that moves both sides forward. It might be in different directions, but you're both moving forward.
You also have to learn when it's a better use of time and energy to walk away — whether you're the complainer or complainee. Sometimes neither side will budge.
The biggest lesson I've learned is from complaints in general–don't let them break you down. There's always going to be somebody who's not 100% satisfied. If you know you did your best, or if you do what's in your power to make the customer satisfied, then move on.