How to Handle Customer Complaints At Your Event

Holding an event is a huge undertaking with a lot of variables. It’s inevitable that you will have some customer complaints about the event. Here are some tips to help you be prepare for those potentially angry attendees.

Prepare for Complaints

Expect complaints. Prepare for them. Decide what reactions and solutions you will have for various complaints ahead of time. If you have a good idea of what your plan is for when a complaint arises, you won’t be caught off guard and fumble the ball when it happens.

Stop What You’re Doing

Don’t let what you are doing get in the way of responding to a complaint. Most people just want to be heard and listened to. If you are attentive to the complaining attendee, they will respond better. Show them they have your whole attention with your body language. Make eye contact and make sure your body is facing them, not away. If you are facing away from them, they may feel as if you are getting ready to go off and do something else.

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Be Calm

Don’t let the anger or displeasure of an attendee get under your skin. Remember, it’s not a personal attack. If they attendee senses you getting tense, things might escalate. If the attendee becomes disruptive, move away from the crowd so that they don’t bother your other guests.

Whatever you do, do not argue with your attendee. The customer (or attendee) is always right. If the complaint is bogus, you still cannot argue with the attendee. Simply apologize and find a way to appease them if at all possible.

Apologize & Empathize

Regardless of your feelings about the complaint, you need to apologize. Whether you think the complaint is valid or not is irrelevant. Apologizing can make a big difference in defusing the situation.

Try to understand how it would feel if you were in the attendee’s situation and what you might want to be done to resolve the problem. Showing empathy, “I understand why you feel that way,” can also make a big difference in how your attendee is behaving.

Take Responsibility — Even if it Isn’t Yours

Don’t refuse to take responsibility for the mistake. The complaining attendee couldn’t care less whose fault it was, all they care about is getting it resolved. Once they’ve voiced their dissatisfaction to you, it is up to YOU to ensure that the problem is resolved quickly and effectively.

Fix It

You need to take care of the complaint as soon as possible. If it’s a multi-step solution, keep the attendee in the loop about where you are in the process, so they know that something is being done. Otherwise, they are left wondering if their complaint was disregarded altogether.

Tell Your Team

Once the problem is resolved, you need to take steps to ensure that the issue does not repeat itself. Make sure that the team is aware of the problem, and what they need to do in order to prevent it from happening again.

You Can’t Make Everyone Happy

Remember, you can’t always make everyone happy. Simply do the best you can to put on a thoughtfully planned event that offers something valuable to your attendees, and satisfactorily solve individual problems as they arise. Take feedback from your attendees into consideration when you plan your next event.