Handling Difficult Customers - 8 Strategies
In any business our customers are one of our most important assets. Unfortunately there are days when not all customers want to be friendly or pleasant. On days like this, try these effective tips to help you handle those difficult customers.
Don't take it personally ? remember when a customer complains they are unhappy with the product or your company ? not you.
Remember you are good at your job ? remind yourself of the skills you have and why you are working there. Don't allow customers to make you feel inadequate.
Write down their complaint or concern ? show the customer you are listening by recording their problem and if you are on the phone, tell the customer you are writing down all the details.
Ask a supervisor to join you and be part of the transaction ? if the customer is becoming more difficult, invite a supervisor to join you and the customer will notice you are treating them as important by seeking additional help.
Debrief the situation with someone else when the customer leaves ? sometimes you may need to talk to someone about your difficult customer to debrief and get rid of any negative thoughts and emotions you may have ? this is a very important step.
Learn stress management techniques ? this may help you stay calm if a customer raises their voice or becomes emotional. By learning to breath deeply, focus on the positives and also ensure your body doesn't carry stress you will be able to handle these difficult customers easily.
Recognise and accept you will work with customers who have bad days ? understand when you are working with the public some people take their bad days out on you ? it is not personal.
Consider what you could do differently next time ? if the customer is complaining about a company system or process, take some time to review this and determine if this might need to be changed. Think about the way you handled the customer and note anything you would do differently next time.
Neen is a Global Productivity Expert: by looking at how they spend their time and energy ? and where they focus their attention ? Neen helps people to rocket-charge their productivity and performance. A dynamic speaker, author and corporate trainer, Neen demonstrates how boosting your productivity can help you achieve amazing things. With her unique voice, sense of fun and uncommon common-sense, Neen delivers a powerful lesson in productivity. Find out more at http://neenjames.com/
Related News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Is Your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System Doomed To Fail?
"Right, People. Let's blast out that mail campaign we've been planning for so long."
Turning Customer Mistakes Into Raving Fans
When you make a mistake with a customer, should you write them off as lost -- never to return again?
Courting Customers - From First Date to Marriage
Landing a new client is like courting a potential spouse. The first date is usually a make or break situation and if the door is still open, the work has just begun. Like dating, you'd better give your prospect a pretty good reason to meet with you again, because there is usually more than one suitor.
Writing The Book On Great Customer Service
Q: One of the big chain bookstores recently opened up near my small book store. Already I can see my business starting to decline. Is there anything I can do to compete with the bigger store or should I just accept the inevitable?
-- Peter Q.
Managing Your Business When One Client Takes Alot of Your Time
How often has your schedule been thrown out of whack because of a client's needs?
Doesnt Anybody Work Here? Nametags Impact Employee Communication
Walmart was the first business to require all its employees to wear nametags. (There's a surprise!) Sam Walton created this initiative because he wanted his customers to "get to know the people they bought from."
Develop Loyal Customers for a Lifetime ? part 1 (1 ? 10)
Traditional marketing strategies encourage business owners to continually grow their businesses by adding new customers. In today's competitive world of business, it is more important than ever to aim for more transactions with existing customers by using the power of customer follow-up and attention to good service.
More Customers - Watch those Little Things
Two situations, two perfectly acceptable experiences, but in one case, an excitement about great service and in the other case, just OK.
Why Passenger Surveys are a Transport Operators Best Friend
Public transport operators who already use passenger surveys may not fully appreciate the multiple benefits that surveys can bring. Not only are surveys an efficient method of market research that will help identify areas of passenger dissatisfaction, they are also perfect for measuring the effects of improvements and can, at the same time, help promote new initiatives to customers using the service.
Create a Positive, Upbeat, Can-Do Workforce and Dazzle the Customer with Your Caring!
Given the choice of dealing with a positive, upbeat employee with a "can-do" attitude or dealing with a disgruntled, distracted, uninterested one, which would you choose? No contest. Customers always want the best experience possible; they want it to be easy and pleasant to do business with your company. Enter the real challenge of "Relationship Management," the relationships. Until all of our business is done electronically, and much of it might be, managers, in addition to making sure the work gets done, still need to be concerned with the performance of the most important link in the customer connection - people.
How To Keep Your Customers Coming Back -- Understanding Customer Retention
Why do some businesses offer points, stamps or every tenth coffee for free?
Take Care of Yourself Before You Take Care of Your Customer
One of the most important questions people ask when they are focused on improving their quantity and quality of business is: "What is my competitive advantage? What makes me unique, memorable, special? what truly sets me apart from the rest?"
When a Customer Has Done Everything to Get Your Goat
You try to make your customers happy. You sincerely WANT them to be pleased with your products and service. You go out of your way to provide quality and integrity in everything you do.
Are You Putting Technology Before Your Customers?
Which is more important the technology or the customer?
From Scowl to Smile: 5 Practical Steps to Instill Exceptional Customer Service
Whether in a restaurant, a retail establishment, or the local post office, we have all experienced a decline in customer service. Rarely do smiling, happy employees interact with us anymore. Instead, the person we are dealing with in face-to-face relationships does not even attempt to feign a smile, but rather greets us with a scowl, completely avoids eye contact with us, and grudgingly mutters responses to our requests and questions.
When did customer service cease to exist? Why is it suddenly so difficult for employees to show customers some common courtesy along with a little friendliness? Have we ventured so far from the service standards of yesteryear and become so shortsighted that we refuse to treat others as we would want to be treated ourselves?
Hook Me Up With A Human
Oh, what has happened to the carbon-based organizational interface? Many organizations have digitized humans ? aka carbon-based units - out of existence in their customer service operations. Now, I love digital technology as much as anyone, but it is time to bring the people back into their appropriate customer service roles, don't you think?
In the Villa of the Sick Cat -- A Lesson in Customer Care
If you're a pet owner, you know the stress of having a sick pet and you know that having a great veterinarian is a wonderful thing. My cat, Zoe, came down with a nasty infection that had me racing off to the vet's office last week with an unhappy, howling kitty in tow. (She's doing much better now.)
4 Myths about Customer Value
The purpose of business is to create and retain a customer.
What Every Manager Should Know About How to Learn from the Complaints of Customers and Employees
Listening to complaints, whether they're reasonable or not, is a part of every manager's job. Sometimes complaints can be overwhelming. However, when we take them in stride with an open mind, we can learn much from our employees' and customers' feelings about the workplace. After all, a complaint is nothing more that a person telling you that his (or her) needs have not been met. As dissatisfied customers, they are giving us a second chance to correct something that should have been done properly the first time around. (In some cases the customer might happen to be your employee.)
Caring for Your Customers
You probably think I am going to say something like, "The customer is always right." Right?? Wrong.
|
