Internal Marketing and its Consequences for Complaint Handling Effectiveness

Abstract

An operational complaint management system is a practical expression of a customer-oriented business strategy, and includes the planning, implementation and control of all measures available to an enterprise for dealing with customer complaints. It has proved an indispensable part of the contemporary marketing approach required for the maintenance and intensification of customer relationships. The following chapter centers on a particular aspect of complaint management that has until now received only minimal coverage in the literature: the customer complaint as a special kind of relationship between the enterprise and its customer. The authors suggests that a relationship-oriented approach which emphasizes the profound psychological aspects of the conflict situation allows us to better understand complaints. The authors then use this perspective to discuss the role of internal marketing in structuring the psychological framework for an effective complaint management process.