If there’s one thing that could be said to be positive about the recession, it’s that companies are taking customer complaints more seriously.

Recently, there has been a lot of press about the tongue-in-cheek complaint letter sent to Virgin Atlantic by one its customers regarding their appalling food experience. This has resulted in the customer being invited to Virgin’s catering centre to give comments and advice. Virgin clearly want to turn the complaint into a positive opportunity for change, though a sceptic could argue that this may be somewhat prompted by the high publicity surrounding the complaint.

Still, Virgin has just emerged top in a recent survey for customer satisfaction, and there is a lesson here for all businesses.

Generally speaking, complaining customers can be very poor in communicating what they actually want, and instead get embroiled with the emotion and frustration surrounding their complaint.

It’s the job of a good customer service representative to interpret this information calmly and analytically into improving their company’s services, not just for that individual but for all their clients.

Remember, every complaining customer is one that wishes you to take action to earn their loyalty, and by resolving the complaint well, you’re likely to keep them for a healthy period of time.

If you’re a manager or business leader who feels your company could be doing more in handling customer complaints to improve your systems and procedures, you might want to consider sending some of your key staff on some quality customer service training courses.