Complaints training

We were asked to help a large insurance broker which was strengthening the way it handled customer complaints to both comply with FCA rules and to make sure that customers got their complaints addressed correctly. The client wanted to ensure its customers were treated with courtesy and respect and had their concerns dealt with professionally so that even if their complaint was not upheld they would feel they had been treated fairly.

Misconduct in complaints handling can severely damage reputation, lose customers and cost large amounts in compensation. Regulators are also interested in what complaints handling indicates about culture, management, governance, and how customers are treated more broadly.

All customer-facing staff in the insurance firm needed to understand how to recognise a customer complaint and what to do at that point. Culturally, it was important that staff and managers understand that complaints were not attacks on the company but a normal part of customer service and so did not automatically adopt a negative mindset when dealing with complaining customers.

Staff also had to understand the processes they were expected to follow in dealing with complaints, including what they were allowed to deal with and what needed to be escalated to their managers or to the central customer complaints team.

We developed modules of specialist training for over 500 team leaders, managers and the central complaints team covering the following:

1. What is a complaint?
2. Handling difficult conversations
3. What should I do when I receive a complaint?
4. How to manage a complaint

The programme consisted of a blend of different approaches including e-learning, self-study manuals, face-to-face training, manager-led team sessions and formal assessments.

At the end of the training, the programme scored an average of 4.5 out of 5 from participants’ feedback forms.

Overall, complaints are now being dealt with effectively and correctly, quality checking is showing a marked increase in positive grades and staff are reporting a significant increase in their confidence in dealing with complaints.