Turn complaints into opportunities

​Is Complaining Good or Bad.

Complaining is Good when

1.When you find yourself complaining about something that does not have any solution & then go on to find how many people have similar needs & complaints. Then you create a start-up serving those unmet needs.
2.You use your complaints to negotiate better solutions for all stakeholders affected
3.You find the reasons of complaints of customers to create an awesome product & services that takes you to the top of its genre
4.You use the complaints of the people/customer to develop solution to win a job or contract at an organization
5.You use the regular complaints to create a disruptive enterprise
6.You use the complaint to introspect and work on improving to become a powerful person
7.When you use the complain to create mega changes that may benefit the generations to come
8.When you actually look forward to uncertainties & disruptions and using the power of inconvenience to build something new
9.You use complaints for breakthrough
10.When you are voicing your complaint with the genuine desire to help the recipient improve

Complaining is bad when

1.You just Shout, get angry, rave about and leave at that
2.When you get into fights & arguments
3.When you take your anger on others who are not in position to fight back
4.When you get into a bad mood because being at the bad end of service
5.When you just walk away & let your anger simmer within yourself as you are complaining internally[this happens when you are by nature submissive]
6.When because of the frustrations of not able to handle the cause of complaint, you keep beating yourself down with why you did not do it
7.When you find faults with everything and everyone[including your own luck] & complain all the time
8.When you are unable to see your role in the situation and purpose of your complain is only to blame & pass the buck
9.When you actually enjoy complaining by putting people down through pointing their weaknesses, drawbacks and shortcoming or highlighting what is missing in an imperfect world
10.When you tend to complain only, whenever things go bad
11.When you use the complain to do nothing, to justify and use it as an excuse for not taking action
12.When you fail to see why the nature or the customer or the people who care about you complains, they are giving you a big opportunity to improve and grow

.I recall one experience happened about 10 years back, I had arrived in a country for the first time and had booked into a hotel late in the evening.

It was extremely cold there and because of time zone difference I was totally zapped & immediately crashed on the bed. The room was damp & cold as the heater was not working and the blanket was not enough to make me warm and comfortable, as a result I could not sleep but did not get up either to do something.
Whole night I kept on running the battle in my mind in a state of delirium about what action I am going to take against the hotel, it started with my protesting to the management, the went on to spreading the word to the world and then to bring it to the notice of that country's government and so on.
In the morning I was angry and in such a un-resourceful state, that I shouted at the reception and changed the hotel.
Did I get any benefit by acting the way I did, absolutely nothing.
Because I felt ashamed of my behavior, I introspected a lot on what I could have done differently, how could I had handled the situation more effectively and how I could have behaved maintaining my dignity & yet got remunerated for my troubles.
After this incident, I started to identify thoroughly, in advance, on how the service provider should compensate for sub-standard service or shabby treatment.
As I was not blaming & actually providing multiple ways to the service-providers on how to redeem, not only I started getting the materialistic benefits but also started getting treated more respectfully.

See whether the following Clicks with you about the problems, under-lying causes, solutions and probable impact of most common types of seemingly innocent complaining

1."The economy is terrible [So, are you just going to wait for it to improve indefinitely or take actions to mitigate its impact]

2."The leadership/government/people are incompetent."[Are you going to run for office and fix it or leave it the way as it is even though it is impacting you in a major way]

3."People are prejudiced and don't understand me"[ Do you have a plan for how you are going to change them, or are you going to take a different approach]

4.'I cannot get a job, because of my age"[are you really going to sit lame-duck till your starved to..]

5."I am a loser"[so would you let be a loser throughout the rest of your life]

6."Life is not fair"[that may be true, but would rather accept this suicidal thought and remain depressed or take appropriate action]

7."I work hard, but my seniors don't recognize my talents & others get promoted"[come-on, did you sign an contract with God, that you must work in this organization or are you going to learn how to create power in this organization so that you are recognized and rewarded]

8."I am too old, nothing can happen" [are you willing to spend rest of the life as a victim full of regrets & self-pity]

9."No jobs in the market/competition is too big & strong"[have you heard of remarkable stories of David defeating the Goliath or people who went from looking-for-job to creating-jobs-for-others]

10."It is his/her/their fault, not mine"[It is like defensive driving, where even if you drive safe, you have to ensure that other's rash driving does not cause you any damage/hurt/loss]

You can only turn complaints into opportunities when you start operating from your AREA OF CONTROL and find what all actions are possible in even an AREA OF CONCERN

How to Turn customer complaint into business opportunities and positive experience for all the stake holders

1.Provide customers with ALL necessary information be transparent about limitations & conditions, even before they buy, no hidden clauses

2.Encourage complaints through feedback from customers, vendors and your employees

3.Don't fear the negative complaints

4. Make it easy for customers to complain, create various ways 5. Log your complaints

6.Acknowledge the complaints immediately

7.Apologize sincerely
8.Explain how and when a particular aspect of complaint would be resolve

9. Focus on resolving complaints promptly, find a solution not consolation

10.Focus on eliminating the recurring complaints rather than short term resolving

11.Understand the cost of losing customers because of not handling complaints effectively

12.Create ways to make-up

13.Follow-up after the complaint is resolved

14.Create a value-addition to encourage feedback from customer after resolving complaints

15.Brain storm the ways to create unique memorable & positive experience for the customers by using the complaint as a training tool

16.Engage the customers in big ways, go extra mile, no need to spend big amount

17.Drill the wisdom into each employee that when a customer, who is using your product or services tells you where's a problem. It's a free information about what goes wrong and what can be improved. It gives you a clue what your customers like and dislike.

18.Always analyze asking yourself the following questions

I.When did the problem begin?

II.Has the problem occurred before?

III.Are all users affected or only one?

IV.Has anyone had this problem before?

How to turn perceived, hidden and real gaps in everyday life to make you turn into a disruptive entrepreneur

1.Look for your opportunity where people are complaining, Look for points of dissatisfactions around -Jack Mae saw the small traders complaining about not being able to sell their products abroad and he used the Internet to resolve this problem
2.Have people in your who believe in the project as much as you
3.Encourage yourself & your people to develop an innovative spirit by challenging the accepted, the experts and all the assumptions and creating new solutions, methods, product & services that redefines the definition of how to serve the customer, how to do business
4.Create your business model solely based on helping a big mass of people get rid of regular irritations, issues and problems
5.Ensure that you provide platform for many people to succeed, it is only when other people are successful and happy that they will make your business successful
6.Opportunities are never lost as they always exists, You only need to know how to discover it
7.Always understand when you start your own business, you are not going to have a regular income like in a job, as it is the uncertainties & risks that makes it possible to create wealth

The problems, the crises, the troubles, the setbacks don't bog you down & you are able to bounce back with even more emotional maturity, When you accept the following

1.If anything that bothers me, only I can take action to solve it as only my responsibility to for fix it.

2.If I want something, it's up to me to achieve it.

3.If I want certain people in my life, I must attract and invite them to be with me.

4.If I don't like my present circumstances, I must ensure to change by proactively changing my actions, attitude and process

The real solution to complaining is taking your own personal responsibility & ownership.

This means you learn to accept and say both internally as well as externally, "I accept complete responsibility for everything happening in my life & I am going to explore all the possible actions & solutions, I can take".

Why We Complain, because 1. We're Stressed 2. We're Stuck in a soup

3. We Focus on pitying ourselves how our work is not appreciated, or how no one understands our stress, workload, or deadlines 4.We focus on others by being judgmental about them
5.We focus on our fears of the future & uncertainties
6.We don't know how to solve a problem, handle an issue or face a situation or a person
7.We try to to find other like-minded people with whom to talk about the impending failure to justify and feel good
8.We don't want to take action or responsibility
9.When things don't go as per our expectations
10.When people do not act the way, we think they should
11.When we are uncomfortable with change
12.When we want to hide our incompetence
13.When we compare with others
14.When we look for growth remaining in our comfort zones
15.When we want the world to change without changing ourselves
16.When we have fear of missing out and are not able to say no to many less important things & then lament
17.When we only want but don't do anything about it as anyone can say, "I'm going to be rich one day."
18.We only focus on the end result & not about the process, the journey and wait for the bid day, big event, big opportunity
19.When we hang about negative, whining people and watch and read negative news all the time
20.We find it easy to complain to cover our inabilities and make someone else responsible for that
21.It satisfies our EGO
22.We complain to simply gain attention
23.When we try to justify ourselves to prove right
24.When I am feeling insecure & loss of control

How to Kick This Big-Ugly Habit

First understand that success, relationship, happiness will not fly through the window and land on your lap. We have to go out there and get it.

Even if we have big ideas, big ideas are not unique, anyone can have big ideas. On their own, dreams are powerless.

It is the huge action that turns the idea into a big reality.

About his book "encyclopedia of bodybuilding", Arnold Schwarzenegger was told that although the book was good, it had a very niche market so he should not expect significant sales. But Arnold Schwarzenegger is not a man that likes to think or do small, so he decided, against all the "sensible" advice & poor odds that he was going to get to the top of the New York Times Best Seller list. He took his book and a small team of people and went on the road. He visited US cities the length and breadth of America, promoting his book to everyone that would listen. True to form he climbed to the very top of the New York Times Best Sellers and defied all his critics.

Some essentials to get rid of this major limitation

A.First become aware about your own complaining tendencies, by asking yourself

1.In which situations I tend to complain

2.What things do I tend to typically complain about

3.Why really I complain

4.Am I a chronic complainer

5.What are my triggers which gets me in complaining mood & state

6.Does my complaining creates any positive impact or it actually puts me down as a weak person

7.How does my complaining tend to make observe more, learn more, improve more

8.How does my complaining potentially is hindering my growth, my relationship, my power

9.How can I use my complaining as growth vehicle

B.Secondly prepare yourself mentally for handling your triggers, both situations & people

1.Create your effective response to people & situations, specific solutions to each specific situation

2.How will I need to develop myself, what I need to learn, know & practice to be more effective in long term fashion

3.What tools I may use to help me in this directions

4.What signs should I start paying attention to, to identify the moment something triggers my inner-complainer, to become consciously aware

5.Questioning, challenging & finding if this is a legitimate complaint

6.Is this a major problem, or possibly just a minor inconvenience

7.If I complain what value-addition I may get

8.What can I do about this & How can I turn this situation around

C.Thirdly use all the following to stop complaining [if it is without right action towards a meaningful outcome]

1. Get rid of or Avoid Negative People 2. Stop Focusing on the Past

3. Complain Constructively 4.Learn to say no, practice assertiveness
5.Own-up your own mistakes
6.Accept responsibility for your part in the way things are
7.Identify, accept & acknowledge your role in current un-resourceful situation
8.Realize that you are the only person with the power take action to improve any aspect of your life if you are unhappy with it.
9.Offer constructive criticism instead. Unlike complaining, constructive criticism offers solutions or information to help the problem-solving process instead of just pointing out the negative in the situation. Constructive criticism generally does not contain the negative undertones or blame that complaining or nagging does.
10.Modify your perspective
11.Stop judging others—and yourself. Complaining not only judges others harshly but it also often sets you up to be your own worst critic.
12.Sometimes, people judge others merely because their way is different
13.Learn the difference between someone doing something different than your preferred way and doing something "wrong."
14.Someone may take a different route to get things done. But, if the outcome still meets the goal, that's all that matters.
15.Appreciate the value of diversity instead of focusing on differences.
16.You may find yourself actually growing and learning from those who are different from you, if you open yourself up to different views of things around you.
17.Look for the lesson in unfortunate situations
18.Give yourself time to vent, get angry or feel however you need to in the moment.
19.Know that each mistake is a chance to change how you act in the future, and this is a huge part of learning.

20.Try to resolve the problems of the rest

21. Determine why you are unhappy, are you working a job that you don't truly love, or working with people you don't enjoy being around or doing something you don't feel worthwhile about, or it because of the toxic & unhealthy relationships 22. Create a plan to reach happiness.

23.Take action and don't look back.

24. Venting is good thing Complaining and venting often get used interchangeably, Venting is simply about temporarily (key word) blowing off some steam or appropriately releasing some frustration, venting can be done alone

25.Don't Stop Complaining - Complain Effectively as Complaints also make things happen.

26.Complaints, in and of themselves, aren't the problem. The problem is
and how we complain. So change the way you look at, focus on & act on the complain

27.Apologize if we complain a lot in a moment of weakness

How to handle the chronic complainers

1.Schedule a one on one meeting

2.Express empathy

3.Acknowledge their point of view without agreeing and showing sympathy

4.Make no judgment on the validity of the issue if you believe they are wrong.

5.Don't try to cheer them

6.Don't waste time trying to convince the complainer that things are not as bad as they seem

7.It's very possible that they may live their life from a "complaining" viewpoint.

8.Ask for a solution

9.Ask if they want your opinion

10.Distract them

If the complainer can't stop complaining, it may be time to fire him or her by asking, "Would you be happier working somewhere else?"

11.Stop paying attention to whining and complaining

12.Walk away from the complainer and allow the whining to drone on and on

13.Don't respond to any form of whining or complaining, for any reason

14.Be steadfast in your resolve to put your attention elsewhere

15.Let them find their own solutions

16.Ignore any requests that stem from complaining or whining

17.If you reward or get rewarded for a behavior especially unwanted ones it will GET WORSE

If you wait to do something until you think you are ready in some way? Are You Waiting Until You Are Good Enough– then you are preparing the grounds for complaining. How many times have you told yourself you will:

1.Start dating

2.Take a vacation

3.Start a hobby

4.Create something

5.Sell something

6.Start something

7.Learn something

8.Do something

One thing you need to know about this is if you wait until you are perfect, that day may never come & then you will have lots of regret and complain