How to Make a Successful Complaint and Get the Results You Want

Making a complaint is part of our lives and so to shy away from it will mean that we are not getting what we want from life. Whatever excuse you may use to avoid complaining, “I don’t like confrontation”, I’m not the argumentative type”, then please ignore this as it’s about standing up for yourself and what you believe is right and wrong. You need to find the courage in yourself to build up your confidence and self esteem and push forward to making that complaint.

Here are Life Coach, Rebekah Fensome’s top tips to get you well on your way to making a good solid complaint that will get you the results you deserve:-

1. Where possible set up a proper time and place to discus the complaint as this will give your comments/feedback more emphasis.
2. Be direct, clear and precise about what you're communicating.
3. Don’t shy away from your complaint. Take full responsibility for your complaint by saying "I think" rather than "we think".
4. Don’t apologise before or after you complain as again this takes away any strength or emphasis.
5. Use the correct tone of voice and body language when making the complaint. For example, don’t talk into yourself or have a tremble in your voice. Maintain eye contact and use a solid strong voice but with a normal volume.
6. Encourage the person at the end of your complaint to summarise what you've said so you know they understand what you've just communicated.
7. Don’t allow people to make excuses and stick to what you’ve said.
8. Don’t avoid complaining because you're scared of talking to a particular person. Be friendly when you approach them, maybe even smile and then communicate what you want to complain about.
9. Get your facts right. When complaining don’t overly exaggerate. Stick to the facts and be objective rather than emotional.
10. Don’t make personal references when complaining. For example, don’t say "I find you really annoying", say instead "Please refrain from talking to me like that."
11. Modelling. Watch assertive people and pick up words, tones, body language that you think makes them successful at being assertive. Keep a list of these attributes and add them to your own portfolio.
12. Each time you're successfully assertive note this down and reward yourself. Try and exhibit your new assertive behaviour so much that people start giving you feedback like "Wow Marcia I didn’t realise you were so assertive ". This is your ultimate reward! Also, don’t get disheartened when you're not successful. Just realise where you went wrong and correct it next time.
13. Practice your newly developed assertiveness skills in low risk situations to start with so that when you have a difficult situation crop up you'll be well rehearsed.
Ultimately it's really important to understand that being assertive will get you further in life than being passive or aggressive.

Ultimately it's really important to understand that being assertive will get you further in life than being passive or aggressive.