hi everyone!!
Sere Godira Thabeng
LUCT
The stakeholders are a part of what makes an organisation therefore what they have to say should be taken into consideration by every organisation.
During my exciting 8 weeks i got the chance to respond to the company's complaint letters, that is i responded to the letters filled in by the people who visited our resort.I got to understand that a complaint letter is written for many reasons and it was up to the Pr department to take responsibility for the issues that were presented by the public and work to resolve it.
It is during this time that i also learnt that it was important for the organisation to take into consideration what their stakeholders have to say because it showed that it cares for their feelings, comments and recommendations.
The letters insured that i answer every customers's complaints and appraisal and also i had to make sure that everything was nothing but the truth and that it met the public's needs and wants. As much as i enjoyed doing this, at times it proved to be nerve wrecking as i did not have the right answers for the public, especially since i was new in the organisation and was not familiar with some of the things in the Resort, the other thing was that sometimes customers tend to be very rude and capable of stirring up one's emotions, so it was important that i was in the right frame of mind before i start writing responses to the customer.
I would say that this taught me a lot and i feel that every organisation should have their own complaints letters that way they may keep in contact with the public, know what they want and do not want. Also it is a way of promoting a 2 way symmetrical communication between the organisation and the stakeholders.
Thank you for reading...Until my next post :)
3 comments:
OK- so this must be the not so pleasant side of PR. Responding to the complaints with care and consideration is incredibly important and was probably quite rewarding- like problem solving can be. It sounds like you have had a very valuable experience which will be a skill you can take on to all of your future jobs, both in PR and otherwise.
Your blog has reminded me of a chapter I read in author Stephen Covey's '7 Habits of Highly Effective People'. In this specific section of his book he has a table. Downwards, he has "Important", and then "Not Important", across he has "Urgent" and "Non Urgent". The table indicates what sort of situation would be when two of these words meet up.
Important + Urgent = Quadrant 1 which is things such as crisis, pressing problems, deadlines.
Important + Non-Urgent = Quadrant 2 which is things such as prevention, relationship building, recognising opportunities, planning, recreation
Urgent + Non-Important = Quadrant 3, including interruptions, telephone calls, meetings
Non Urgent + Non Important = Quadrant 4 which is all of the leisurely, procrastinating activities such as facebook, personal emails, etc etc
In the end what it says is that people are most likely to act on the Quadrant 1 (Important + Urgent), but if more time was directed towards Quadrant 2 (Important + Non Urgent), then Quadrant 1 would cease to exist.
I think perhaps answering complaints is a mixture between these two, as it has not become a full blown crisis, but it has reached the point in that it is a pressing problem.
I don't think people would have minded if you did not have the right answer every time- I think they would have simply appreciated the fact that you listened and gave consideration to their complaints and did your best to solve their concerns.
Hi, thanks for your interesting post!
I guess answering complaint letters is one part of PR work no one really likes to do. But I think it is a very important part of our work to ensure customers/clients are satisfied and the organization learns from its mistakes. From own experience I can tell that customers which had a negative experience react very positively when someone takes their complaints seriously, tries to explain from the organization's point of view what and why it went wrong and, where necessary and reasonable, apologies for the mistakes made. This way, disappointed customers that are actually already 'lost' for the organization might consider to give the organization a second chance.
I had such an experience myself when I was flying with Etihad Airways and my connection flight did not wait for me so I had to wait one more day for my connecting flight. I was really angry with the airline and was sure I would never fly with them again. I wrote a complaint letter which was answered within 3 days whereby the Airline's PR team apologized and explained me thoroughly why this happened. So after understanding what went wrong, I decided to give the Airline a second chance and fly with them again.
So from this example you see, how important it can be to take the complaints and issues of your customers seriously and attend to them.
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