“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.” Sarah Cornelisse of Penn State Extension began a recent webinar with that Bill Gates quote.
Complaints have value: Your clientele care about the ultimate success of your business and complaints offer a unique window into prospective clients’ value systems and purchasing preferences – and how you as a producer can better meet their standards, strengthen your recordkeeping efforts, tighten up procedures and place a renewed emphasis on a positive, prompt response and quality customer service.
The types of individuals who complain very greatly. There’s the “meek customer,” one who doesn’t like to complain but will do so on social media or other forums when they feel like they have been pushed too far and need validation.
The “high-roller” expects the best and is willing to pay for it. They tend to be very solution oriented.
The “chronic complainer” speaks for themselves, but they can still be a strong advocate for you and your business if you deal positively with them.
The types of complaints themselves vary as well. The spectrum stretches from “constructive criticism” (a customer explaining how something in your physical facility location or a facet of your services or product offerings might be improved) to “trolling” (conflict farming without a productive goal in view).
While there can be some positive takeaways from resolving other types of complaints, it’s best to avoid responding to trolls – or let your existing community of customers address the troll (and potentially deal with the situation for you).
What kind of complaints might you receive? Milk might be separating. If your operation bottles, perhaps buyers are experiencing shortened shelf life. Perhaps there are packaging issues with vacuum seal tops or carton closures. Any facet of the production process has the potential to either go awry or not meet standards in some way.
The problem management and response process are crucial. When complaints are presented, a detailed plan is key: receive (ask questions, gather data, categorize); review (identify the potential issue); implement a solution; respond to the specific customer in question or to the public at large; and provide regular observation and analysis to make sure the issue doesn’t arise again.
The response step of that process is key. Thank the complainant for voicing their feedback – remember, they are choosing to purchase from you. This feedback means they value your business’s success.
Prioritize listening before you respond. Ask lots of questions and gather details about the experience in question, evaluating the impact and any ripple effects it might have had. Respond to all comments and criticisms that are being brought to the table.
If this interaction is taking place online, again, prioritize authenticity. Avoid canned responses. Provide clear information detailing the cause of the issue and offer solutions. Take a pause before posting, especially if flustered or frustrated by the situation. Have a trusted colleague or partner read what has been written prior to posting.
Sometimes you might have to take a conversation offline. Be open to extending an invitation to your farm or business and discussing in person.
Whenever possible, post the resolution for your online community to benefit from – with appropriate details – and be sure to follow up with the complainant at some point. The goal is to retain a customer and community member for years to come.
Besides general procedure, it’s helpful if the farm or business team has assigned duties internally when dealing with criticism from the market and customers at large. Who is going to respond to complaints? How quickly should the business respond? What will be responded to and what will be ignored? When is the team going to make the decision to take a conversation offline? What documentation is crucial to have accessible when navigating complaints?
Knowing who takes responsibility and what role they are responsible for gives an added sense of confidence when navigating complaints.
Beyond social media, there are a lot of different reputation management or monitoring tools. Make sure your business’s Google listing is claimed, up-to-date and that alerts are enabled. Claim any current business listings on review sites like Yelp.
There are also several paid/fee-based services and tools that Cornelisse recommended: Sprout Social (sproutsocial.com), Podium (auth.podium.com), Gatherup (go.gatherup.com) and Mention (mention.com). These platforms help monitor some aspect of the customer conversation.
What can sabotage your customer response plan? Not knowing your customer base well and what they value can have a tremendously negative effect on your response. Engaging with anger or negativity as a “keyboard warrior” can halt any credibility to a response. A lack of transparency about your procedures or operational details can also cause a lack of trust.
Solid recordkeeping is a great line of defense. Strong records are a crucial component of your business’s food safety plan and they can help you troubleshoot a complaint.
It’s okay to start small. As Cornelisse noted, “It’s better to do something than to do nothing at all.” Focus on consistency and accuracy and remember that your recordkeeping tools don’t need to be complex or expensive. Paper is a great starting point, but it’s limited in its ability to tie together data across different segments of the business. Spreadsheets like Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets are even better.
“Relational databases allow employees from other segments of the business to pull data from other areas and integrate it into their own operations. Some examples might include load data, product ID numbers, sales data, production data at the creamery and more,” she said.
There’s lots of data and procedures to track across an operation, beginning on the farm: milking practices, cleaning procedures, bulk tank temperature, water data and more, as well as raw milk data such as standard plate count/total bacteria count, somatic cell count and more.
On the creamery end there is processing and environmental data (cleaning and sanitation procedures, indicator organisms and more), product data (microbial count, sensory characteristics, hygiene indicators and more), storing and aging data (temperature, humidity and more) and marketing and distribution data (delivery and shipping conditions, temperatures, timeframes and more).
Remember to keep it simple, but be consistent. You won’t build extensive recordkeeping systems overnight, but making sure there is no margin for error is key to combatting future complaints and poor customer experiences when it comes to your dairy products.
Cornelisse concluded with some brief reminders: “View complaints as valuable information. Remember that some records are better than no records – and how you handle and respond to a customer complaint is just as important, if not more so, than troubleshooting the problem that prompted it.”
Keeping the customer in view equips everyone for success.
by Andy Haman
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