Dealing with difficult customers can be draining, time-consuming and emotionally exhausting. Try shifting your perspective and you may find a more effective solution for their needs.
First, listen. Actively and attentively. There is body language involved: sit up straight without hovering over them. Paraphrase what they’ve said so that they know you’ve heard their points, and offer alternatives when appropriate.
Listen
Problem customers have a way of challenging your company’s ability to serve customers’ needs or expectations, even as you are dealing with their challenges. In moments of facing those challenges full on, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that listening is a bi-directional process. One useful strategy that allics those working with angry customers is simply to paraphrase their word choices back to them. When you repeat to your exasperated customer what they just said in slightly changing wording, not only can it be clearer, it also shows that you understand their point. You effectively mirror their anger. Empathy also functions as a strong form of active listening, the third important ingredient in addressing customer dissatisfaction. It’s also relatively cheap. Keeping together in a calm and respectful conversation that frames the problems as common to all, rather than ‘ours’ versus ‘yours’, improves the chances of finding a solution without sacrificing the interests of one party.
Repeat
However you make your living, addressing angry customers is likely to be part of the deal. Having a de-escalation toolkit and strategies for reaching win-win outcomes is a key part of ensuring any venture is a success.
in dealing with an angry customer on the phone or through text, repeating back what they say can be a good way to show that you’re listening to them and taking down what they said or wrote, and to indicate what they can or can’t expect back (‘So I hear you saying you won’t take the package?’).
Ask Questions
After all, excellent customer service is one of the best ways to drive growth in sales and boost customer loyalty for any brand. However, even with the most skilled support staff, there are times when challenging customer relationships simply cannot be avoided. An unhappy customer might just want to verbally vent, and no matter how difficult it might get, if you take the time to let your customer know that you are listening (and that you care), they will feel your responsiveness and your interest. Ask questions to clarify what’s wrong, then use what you learned to rectify, or even improve, the product or service for all users on an ongoing basis – these are the tools to uphold user satisfaction without compromising your own reputation.
Ask for Feedback
From anxious consumers, your business could face an unexpected onslaught that threatens to destroy everything you’ve built up in your brand. But if you listen and respond with empathy, you can both defuse the situation and come to a solution that benefits your brand. To prepare your team for difficult customers, you could train them with commonly used resources, which outline techniques on how best to deal with difficult customers. Moreover, role playing or using a virtual training tool can give your staff an avenue to practice tactics and various strategies prior to encountering real customers.
Be Honest
Whether it’s a testy email or irate person on the phone, don’t take their behaviour personally. They are probably upset about something that needs to be dealt with, and can sometimes become a regular customer and fan when treated properly. Photo by Shutterstock addressing difficult customers can be one of the most difficult things for business owners and their staff, bad reviews, harming a brand’s reputation or even legal issues can come out of a single mistake by an employee when dealing with these types of customers. Understanding what annoys customers and using the right management strategies to solve it can help your business overcome those obstacles to keep customers happy.
Ask for Help
Customer service staff aim to please their customers, but it can be a particular challenge dealing with difficult customers or those who are angry. Having some strategies for dealing with these customers will enable your teams to be better able to serve them. Likewise, if a customer asks for a refund that is against a company policy, your team might recommend giving a ‘partial refund’, or refer them to the other team member who can make exceptions to a policy. There is no avoiding the occasional difficult customer, but the right tools and training can help your staff to de-escalate the confrontation and find a solution that makes both parties happy.
