Building confidence and capability to handle any feedback coming into your social housing organisation lays the foundation for higher scores for complaint handling against the Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs). It is becoming widely reported that achievement against this measure was lower than organisations in the sector can feel comfortable with. In our discussions across the sector, customer service leaders are working diligently to improve all aspects of the complaint handling process.  

MGI Learning has a 10-step process for excelling at handling complaints which can be used to evaluate how well your team members are performing against the core elements of excellent complaint handling. By listening in to your complaint handling teams and reviewing their written communications against these ten steps, you will get some insight into any training they may need:

 

1. Listen without interrupting 

When a tenant contacts your team with feedback or a complaint, do they listen without interrupting to graciously let the customer express their views and any dissatisfaction? 

2. Be non-defensive 

Tenants may present their views in many different ways and regardless of their behaviour, it is important that our teams are non-defensive in their responses. Tenants may not have all the proper information or be misinformed and may exaggerate. They may display frustration, anger or irritation. Whatever the behaviour, ensuring non-defensive responses will lead to a better collaboration to resolve any issue. When considering the non-defensive behaviour of your team, it is worth considering whether in an attempt to ‘manage expectations’ they create doubt in the tenant’s mind that a solution will be found.  

3. Demonstrate willingness to help 

Does your team respond positively with solution-focus to the information being given? For example, do they welcome feedback and thank the customer for making contact and explaining their dissatisfaction? Do they articulate that they are ready and willing to investigate the situation and are committed to finding a way forward? 

4. Express appropriate empathy 

When you listen in to your team, would you assess that they are being empathetic to customer situations? In our experience, customer service team members can become de-sensitised to the situation tenants find themselves in due to the day in and day out pressures they can experience. Providing support for your team members to ensure they are resilient and able to still empathise with tenants will help create better tenant satisfaction as they feel heard and understood. 

 

5. Understand the full situation through questions 

Do your team ask appropriate questions to make sure they have all the information they need to investigate the tenant’s situation? Do they summarise the situation and ensure the tenant believes they have understood the feedback or complaint being made? It is important to be sure that there is agreement on exactly what the problem is. 

6. Find out what the tenant wants 

It may be obvious from the previous steps what the tenant wants to happen. If so, does the service giver repeat it and make sure the tenant agrees? If this is not clear, do your team members ask? It may be that a tenant is just making contact to let you know of a situation and does not want any action other than appreciation that they have taken the time to make contact. If the customer is asking for something specific, it is important to understand that.  

7. Explain what you can do 

Does your team explain what they can do and let the customer know that they will be taking action straight away? Focusing on what is possible first keeps the other person listening and working with us. Here you can also assess whether your team members are appropriately offering solutions or over promising to tenants. Under the pressures of handling a complaint sometimes team members may feel pressurised and raise false hope of a solution.  

If what the tenant wants is something that your team are unable to do, see point 8. 

8. Discuss alternatives and agree on action 

Of course, sometimes it is not possible to do exactly what the customer is asking. Are your people equipped to say ‘no’ or give disappointing news whilst still building a positive relationship with a tenant? Offering alternatives or what is possible before any disappointing news requires our team to be well informed and solution-focused in their communication.  

9. Take action 

How quickly is action taken following a complaint being made, and how well does your team keep tenants informed of progress? Ensuring tenants are kept informed when their complaint needs investigation by giving regular progress reports and ensuring tenants are aware of specific timescales involved can significantly improve satisfaction. 

10. Follow up 

In your procedures, do you have appropriate follow-up with customers to ensure the resolution that was agreed on has improved the situation for them and resolved their complaint? Follow-up is the ultimate in excellent customer service and an opportunity to build satisfaction with complaints and overall tenant perception of your service.  

Find out here how our Mindset, Language & Actions Toolkit, workshops and eLearning can help your people build high levels of tenant satisfaction. 

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