Complaints can be costly and time consuming for organisations. Social media complaints can devastate staff and impact on brand. Resolving complaints quickly and efficiently can save costs, decrease staff turnover, protect reputation and satisfy customers.
University of Newcastle research released in early 2018 has revealed that every dollar invested in complaints handling has a potential ROI of up to $10 for a business.
More than six million Australians make a complaint every year.
Complaint handling is important for the following reasons:
- The Australian Standard for Complaint Handling, AS ISO 10,002-2006, requires that that all staff who have contact with customers and complainants should be trained in complaint handling (see 5.3.4 of the Standard).
- Compliance with the new Australian Standard may be mandatory.
- Turnover or attrition will often decrease when complaint handling staff receive relevant training.
- Companies can save costs and increase profits by managing complaints effectively.
- 88% of customers who feel a complaint was handled well will remain loyal to the company (from TMI/SOCAP Complaint Culture Survey 2005).
- Companies that manage complaints well minimise risk and reduce the cost of external dispute resolution schemes.
- Companies that handle complaints well and learn from the experience obtain important customer feedback.
- Most companies are unaware of the cost of complaints to their company. Most managers do not view complaints as important.
We can provide the following services:
- In-house 1 or 2 day workshops on Complaint Handling;
- A high level discussion with the executive team on the importance of Complaint Management and the business case for doing it well;
- On-line interactive training modules for call-centre staff. Watch the following short video to hear about our online training modules; Frontline video
- Key-note or presentation at your conference. Nina is a popular and entertaining presenter at conferences.
We can custom design a training program to meet the unique needs of your organisation. We have custom designed in-house workshops for the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Financial Industry Complaints Scheme (FICS) members, The Credit and Investments Ombudsman (CIO), the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman (PHIO) conciliators, the Energy and Water Ombudsman (EWON) conciliators, CommSec, Monash University, Macquarie University, The Fair Work Ombudsman, The Victorian Ombudsman and Optus to name only a few.
Nina Harding co-wrote the first Complaint Handling workshop for postgrad students in Australia. This program was conducted originally at La Trobe University and later at Queensland University.
Our training courses are fun, interactive and educational. We use a variety of tools to stimulate and inspire participants to change the way they resolve conflict; including, video, powerpoint, exercises, role-plays, discussion, fishbowl and demonstration by the course leader.
We have conducted training around Australia, in the Philippines, New Zealand and Hong Kong.
Nina Harding has taught negotiation and mediation training courses for over 20 years. She is a Course Leader for The Resolution Institute (the pre-eminent ADR membership organisation in Australia and NZ). Nina is a casual lecturer at The University of Technology, Sydney and was previously an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at La Trobe University.
Below is a list of topics that have been popular with Complaint Handlers at previous workshops:
- What Complainants Expect / What we can provide
- An interest based approach to negotiation (and complaints handling)
- An introduction to AS ISO 10002 (the new Australian Standard)
- The Importance of Capturing and Resolving Complaints
- The cost of conflict (worksheet on costs and risks)
- Communicating with Complainants (Skills)
- Advanced Communication Skills
- Decision Making and Behavioural Economics
- Managing Stress
- Resolving Disputes Early (Skills)
- A Dispute Resolution Model (Skills)
- Complaint Handling System Design and Review
- Written complaint responses
- Delivering Bad News
- Phone Skills
- Dealing with Angry Complainants
- A 5year plan for complaints handling in your organisation.
For more information or a sample workshop program please contact us on 0408 447525.
