Four F’s sake – dealing with customer complaints

This tip for dealing with customer complaints is a regular favourite in many of our business trainings – Feel, Felt, Found, Find:

FEEL – Identify with the emotion of the complaint, but not the complaint itself
(I can see/hear that you feel disappointed)

FELT – Distance them from the intensity of their thinking about it by offering a different perspective
(other people in this situation have felt similar to this at first )

FOUND – Suggest others have found a solution and even suggest your preferred outcome
(one man found a cool solution to the situation when he …)

FIND – Future pace their thinking towards a finding a new outcome
(I think you will find things … (much improved) next time)