Do you get that sinking feeling every time an employee approaches you and says, "There's a client with a complaint on line two that wants to talk to you."?  It's very normal to feel under attack and to get defensive when someone tells you what they don't like about you or your practice; very normal and very, very wrong.  Too often we assume that clients are calling to complain simply to get a discount on their bill or free services.  The most likely scenario, however, is that they feel slighted in some way and are bothered enough by it to let you know how they feel.  These complainers are as precious to your practice as your top ten and ought to be treated with the same amount of gratitude.  Without them, you could be unwittingly disappointing (and losing) dozens of clients and not realize it until your client base dips below the critical level.

The most important thing to remember when dealing with a client complaint is not that the customer is always right, but rather that the customer is never wrong.  What's the difference?  Take this example: A client calls to say that their lab (who spends part of every day at the dog park) received a bordetella booster last week and today the groomer explained that bordetella vaccinations are only needed if you bring your dog to a boarding kennel.  The client now feels that this was an unnecessary procedure and that you and your team were 'gouging' him.  He wants his money back and wants his chart sent to a new clinic.

Is the client right about bordetella?  Of course not!  However, the client is not wrong to feel taken advantage of.  If you shared the client's 'lay-person' understanding of the situation, you would feel exactly the same way; he is perfectly justified to be angry.  Even when faced with a customer complaint that doesn't seem grounded in reality, remember that this is the client's perception of things and this is the framework you have to work in.  You cannot win an argument with a client; internally accusing them of stupidity or getting frustrated with that groomer's cock-eyed advice will not aid your practice in any way, but understanding the client's view of things and validating the emotions that arise from it will turn this potential liability into an immediate ally.

When a client is upset about anything, the first step is to say, either verbatim or in your own words:

“I understand exactly how you are feeling and I don’t blame you one iota for feeling the way that you do.  If I were in your position I would feel the very same way.”

The client isn’t being a nasty pain just for the fun of it; they are genuinely upset about something and are already gearing up for a fight because it's human nature to get your adrenaline up before a conflict.  You need to remember this when fielding complaint calls and to make a conscious effort to control your own natural reactions to conflict.  Reacting defensively or abruptly will only inflame the situation, which is good for no one.  By using the above phrase or one like it, you will immediately draw the poison from most situations.  You will disarm them before they begin to fight, and will give them permission to relax and accept you as a sympathetic listener, rather than as an opponent.  In most cases, they don’t want to fight, they just want understanding and validation.

A massive customer service study was conducted by American Express in the early 90’s that encompassed nearly every aspect of the service industry from hotels to telemarketing.  The study established two important facts that have practically become clichés:

	For every person calling to complain about some issue with your business, there are eight that have had the identical problem and chosen not to call.
	Only one complainant out of forty-two (industry-wide) is calling under false pretenses to extract free goods or services.

It is critical to your practice that every complaint be treated seriously, quickly and compassionately; if not for the caller then at least for the eight people that remained silent.

After you have established yourself as an ally, you can get the story clarified with less emotion and more facts.  Then you can work together to get this problem resolved.  Generally, when faced with a sympathetic ear that reaffirms their reactions, people will not demand compensation, or might even decline it when offered!  They mainly want validation and understanding, an apology and a promise to correct the problem in the future.

It is easy and natural to go straight to a defensive posture and to immediately throw money at the complainant to make them go away.  It's hard to face the music and correct your mistake, and harder still to admit that a mistake was made, but remember; if no mistake was made by anyone on your staff you would not be having this conversation.  Even if the client is being unbelievably impossible and even if everyone followed protocol exactly, somehow the situation was handled in a way that brought this client to your ear in a fury and that is your practice's fault and no one else's.

When resolving a complaint you shouldn’t part with any money unless there was financial injury to the client, and then only recompense to address that injury and no more.  If a client calls to say that a technician was rude to them in a room or on the phone, they do not suddenly become entitled to financial compensation.  Some attorneys will even argue that financial compensation for substandard or rude service is akin to an admission of complicity on the part of the practice owner.  What the client paid for was medical service, not the manner in which it was delivered.  What they deserve for shoddy treatment is a sincere apology, sympathy, agreement that the issue was unacceptable and a believable promise to take steps to prevent it from ever happening again.   It is important to follow up on this complaint either through a call back in a few days or with a card acknowledging the call and thanking them for taking the time to bring it to your attention.  Whether you follow-up by phone or in writing, you must:

	Thank them for taking the time to inform you of the problem.  Remember, they are the only client out of nine that took the time or had the courage to call you.
	Apologize again for the situation, keeping it sincere and believable.
	Inform them of any corrective actions you have taken, excluding specifics about employee relations.  It is a violation of labor laws to discuss confidential human resource issues such as employee reprimands with anyone other than the employee involved.  You can tell them, without going into details, that you have dealt with the employee involved and taken steps to prevent a recurrence of the situation.
	Tell them that you look forward to seeing them again, and request that they ask for you when they return.  Remember, they are your ally.  They are the one client that cared enough about your practice to call and let you know about a problem that you would not have otherwise known about.  The least you can do is to shake their hand when they come back.

If you handle yourself calmly, sympathetically and sincerely when dealing with complaint issues, you will find that the complainant often evolves into one of your better clients, and one that will continue to patronize you for years because they know that if something does go wrong, they have a friend on the inside to help them correct it.

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