How Do I Manage Complaints About My Business Venture to Maintain an A+ BBB Rating?

This article is part of an on-going series of blog posts under the Guide to Providing Excellent Customer Experience to E-commerce Customers, to help you with your business, brought to you by My Business Venture.

Most business owners, and even consumers, consider the Better Business Bureau as the largest and most respected independent business review organization in the US. Getting an A+ rating from them is often enough assurance for customers that a particular business is reliable and trustworthy.

How Businesses Get an A+ Rating

The BBB itself outlined several factors that they consider when giving a rating to a particular business. Other than the type of business and the length of time it has been operating, the BBB also considers the business’ complaint history with the BBB and its transparency when it comes to their practices.

The BBB computes points based on five factors, namely complaint volume, unanswered complaints, unresolved complaints, complaint resolution delayed, and time in business. These factors add up to 100 points, 90 of which is concerned with complaints. Generally, businesses need only get 97 points to get an A+ rating.

If your business is fortunate enough to get that sought-after A+ rating from the BBB, the next best thing to do is to maintain it. You may be asking yourself, though: “does it mean that my business venture shouldn’t have any complaints to maintain an A+ rating?” Surprisingly, maintaining an A+ rating doesn’t have to be that way.

Evaluate Complaints as Objectively as Possible

In his study, John Goodman states that half of consumers often complain about a problem to a front-line person, and seldom would it reach the manager. Thankfully, BBB lets you know about a particular complaint from a disgruntled customer. With this knowledge, you can then pinpoint the problem within your organization, thus giving you an opportunity to fix it.

What could the problem be? Is it an issue with the delivery or warranty, or is it something related to a particular product you’re offering? Once you’ve determined the problem, take steps toward ensuring that it will never happen again in the near future.

Respond Evenly and Quickly

As stated earlier, the BBB looks at how fast you respond to a complaint. Once you’ve looked into the complaint properly, you may present your side of the story by contacting the BBB in writing. Failure to do so can have a negative impact on your rating.

Maintaining an A+ rating from the BBB is perhaps among the greatest achievements and the distinguishing mark of successful businesses that most consumers trust. It’s no wonder why companies like My Business Venture, which has been in business for over 23 years, has maintained an A+ rating through the years.