If a complaint is a gift, what do you call it when you don't get any complaints? Should you settle for the old axiom that "No news is good news"? Not in my experience. It's foolish to assume that silence from your customers is a good thing. It's the quiet clients who just stop returning Realtors' calls and start working with someone else.

They are the ones who don't make a fuss about any problems they are experiencing. They let their complaints build up until the point where they think it's easier to leave than attempt to fix all that's wrong.

If you look at human nature, you know that most people just don't complain. Remember the last time a waitress stopped by your table to ask, "Is everything all right?" "Fine, fine," you mumble through a mouthful of cold potatoes and rubbery meat. Why? Because complaining is tough on everyone, including the complainer. So you just swallow (literally) the bad service or awful food and vow never to go back to the restaurant again.

I call it the "accumulation of silences." These are all the times that a client experiences a problem and chooses not to say anything about it. Once those silences build up, anyone who asks an innocent question like "How's the house-hunting going?" is likely to unleash a floodgate of complaints that no one can fix. Why? Because the situation's gone too far. At that point, they feel it's easier to start all over with a new Realtor.

Here are my profiles of the most common "non-squeaky wheelers"; the people who never complain until it's too late:

1. The Satisfied Client – This is what we'd also like to assume when we don't get complaints – that all is well and things are just going along. All of us have those satisfied clients (thankfully) and that's good. But, my contention is that there are fewer of them than we think.

2. The Accumulator – This person is so busy that they allow problems to mount up. All it takes is for someone to ask an innocent question like "Is everything okay?" to open the floodgates of everything you've done "wrong" (in their eyes) for as long as you've been working with them. Do you want that client to be delivering that tirade to a competitor, another client of yours or, even worse, a potential client? Or, do you want to clear the air by letting them unload on you before the "flood" builds up? It's a terrible choice, but I'm suggesting you'd better pick the last question or suffer more far-reaching problems.

3. The Thinker – This client's the one who says to him or herself,"They must know this already". This implies that you know about the problem and are choosing not to do anything about it. This can't be good for business.

4. The Runner – These are the people who hate conflict and will do anything to avoid it. For them, it's easier to run away and find a new Realtor than to let you know about a problem.

5. The Avoider – You can summarize this person with one phrase, "It's not my job".

6. The Procrastinator -- Of course, it's human nature to put off a tough conversation. Most of us are very good at putting things off until they just go away. Just remember that might mean it's you that they're hoping will "go away."

7. The Busy Bee – This person uses the excuse that pointing out a problem will take up too much of their time and energy. They will tell themselves "I'm too busy. I'll find the easiest way out." And, I'll bet you know what that will be: going to another Realtor.

What's a Realtor to do? Make it easier for clients to give you good, honest and regular feedback and then responding to them. You see, it's not just what you do when you get a complaint. It's what you do about the complaint that allows a company to keep and grow its client base. If you encourage the non-squeaker to squeak, you'd better respond to what they say. That means treating every complaint as the key to developing a better way of doing things. We're back to the idea of a complaint as a gift. And, what you do with that gift holds the key to your agency's growth or decline.

So, how do you develop your relationship with your clients to the point where they feel safe enough to complain about things while there's still time to fix them? Here are a few tips:

• Encourage your customers to become partners. Underscore the fact that both of you can and should work together to make the relationship more productive.

• Respond to all customer complaints professionally and courteously. If you want their requests to be constructive, make sure that you respond to them politely. That sounds pretty basic, but I can't tell you the number of times that I've heard stories about surly responses to client complaints.

• Make sure your responses are direct and professional. Give specific and realistic feedback about what the next steps will be in response to a complaint. For example, will you report it to a supervisor? Will you research why the problem happened and how it can be fixed? And when will you get back to them? Will it be in writing, by phone or by e-mail?

• Use what is working well as a model to change what needs to be improved. Rather than just looking at the negative, try considering the positive comments you are getting. Repeat the actions that lead to that positive feedback and you'll end up with a client-driven solution.

• Suggest the solution. If a client doesn't like the way things are going now, suggest other ways to handle similar situations. Then, find out if using one of those alternatives would work better for them.

• Set a reasonable timeframe for the resolution. Once a client feels safe enough to complain, make sure you have an agreement with them that includes a timeline for a response.

• Respond with a thank you and then some. If a customer opens up with a complaint, what should they expect in return? First and foremost is a thank you. Thank them for being vocal and thank them for helping you improve the way you do things. Then, they have a right to hear a recap of what you heard about the problem to make sure that everybody involved heard it the same way. Lastly, they deserve an honest assessment of how doable any solutions are. So, instead of responding with an automatic "We'll fix that", I'm suggesting you deliver an explanation of what you can do and when and why.

The bottom line is this: No news is usually not good news. Cultivating honest and involved relationships with clients means that they feel safe delivering complaints that are gifts, not time bombs.

Jeanne Rinaldo is Vice President of Relationship Management for Integrated Loan Services. She has been involved in the lending industry since 1974 and was formerly a Relationship Manager for one of ILS' sister Fiserv companies.

Published: October 5, 2004

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