Starting your own business isn’t exactly simple. There are instances when customers aren’t happy. Should you be discouraged if you have unhappy customers? It’s part of running your operations. It is something that you will encounter along the way.

When Steve Barbarich started his business, he also can’t help but notice complaints. Steve Barbarich San Francisco businesses had their share of ups and downs. But over the years, he proved that he has what it takes to run different types of businesses.

So how did Steve Barbarich deal with complaints? Steve Barbarich complaints 101 can be summarized in three steps. First, it is important to identify where the customer is coming from. Next, it is important to be transparent. And third, it is important to act fast whenever there are complaints.

Here are concrete strategies that Barbarich did over the years.

Make things easy for the customer

The first thing that Steve Barbarich noticed before he started his e-commerce business is that a lot of businesses make it difficult for their customers to get a refund or return a product. Some would make the person wait for 100 days before they can ask for a replacement. Others create tricky fine prints that customers “agree” with just for them to deny a full refund.

For Steve Barbarich, he made things easy for the person to ask for a refund. There was even a time when he opened a hotline. But since most people nowadays prefer to write emails or tweet, he concentrated on providing different avenues online where customers can complain. Social media is the number one place where people go nowadays. To make it easier for the customers, he even used AI in answering simple questions. This serves as a filter to the easy-to-answer queries.

Be honest with customers

There are instances when it is the company’s fault. There will be instances when you will need to apologize to your customers. Steve Barbarich realized that a lot of customers are happy to hear an apology from the company. At times, messing up is part of starting your small business. And between big and small businesses, a lot of customers are more tolerant of small businesses.

So what if you admitted your fault? What should you do next? The next step is to make sure that you compensate your customer. Try to do your best to provide a replacement for the product that they bought or even provide a coupon code for a discount.

Act fast

Another important step to make sure that the customer is happy despite the complaint is to always act fast. Whether it is in getting the product or answering the email, be sure that you always prioritize the customer. A lot of times, businesses miss this out.

Starting an online business can be stressful. One way to make sure that you don’t get too stressed is to make sure that you address the complaints. Steve Barbarich realized that startups and big companies will always have their share of complaints. It’s how you answer these complaints that will make the difference.