How to Handle Any Type of Demanding Customers?
What makes customers difficult:
Customers are difficult to handle when they are unsatisfied with the service or the quality of the served product. These customers are unconditionally angry and have a valid reason to exhibit such behavior. It is on us business owners to handle them the best way possible.
Any business owner can understand the importance of handling the situation. For example, the repair shop owner has mistakenly clicked the status to ready on his cellphone repair shop software. It was initially pending, and now a customer is waiting outside. His reaction to being angry at this point is understandable.
This is important for us as not only our company reputation is at stake but also customer loyalty. It’s at this point that we could either make or break the deal.
Categories
Demanding customers come under multiple categories, but here we’ve narrowed it down to 3 common types.
The most common being the rude ones. We understand that they are having some trouble or the order didn’t go as expected, but it doesn’t give them the ticket to be rude.
The bad part about such customers is that they never stop saying what they are saying. If you keep quiet, they will take it as another reason to be further rude. You can choose to be kind, just simply by being empathetic.
Frustrated customers are the ones that start to cry or scream just because things didn’t go as planned. These customers will come out of this situation only when they are comforted. You can help them with this by acknowledging the problem and then offering a solution that would calm them down.
Complaining customers are the ones who have to complain. Either the package was not what they assumed it to be, or why is a small size that small. You know they want to complain about everything. For such a customer, just trying to convince them that it is all that you offer will be helpful.
Strategies to effectively manage customers
Following are the strategies that could be used to handle such customers.
Stay Calm
The most common advice in any situation is to stay calm. Let me tell you why it is that important.
When you stay calm, you are technically controlling your nerves. This means that you are in complete control of yourself no matter what the situation is.
This helps you while dealing with a rude customer as you will become an active listener and use your mouth responsibly. No matter how much the customer is out of his mind, you can give him a second chance with your calm behavior.
Since you are an active listener at this point, you can get to really understand the problem and take things ahead.
The problem with such customers is that sometimes they don’t know what they are fighting on. When the other person is a bit calm, they can hear themselves.
Apologize
When you immediately apologize for a mistake, the other person realizes that you genuinely were apologetic. But, on the other hand, if you apologize after the other person considerably making his point and arguing, it gives an impression that you didn’t accept your mistake.
It’s just like whenever you call customer service over the phone and tell them of the problem. Their first response is, “We are sorry for the inconvenience.”
Even before the problem is scanned, they make a mistake and tell you that they are trying to fix it.
Don’t consider it a personal attack
Remember this; whenever a customer is difficult, the verbal attacks are not on you. Yes, they are being said to you but not to you. They are angry with the business, not with you.
It’s just like an angry customer walks to the first person he sees on the counter. The reason behind this anger is that repair didn’t go the right way. The mistake is not of the person in the reception, but the technician at the back of the shop. So if you are that person at the reception, don’t take it personally. Stay calm and listen to the problem. Inform him that whoever made that mistake would also fix it. And also that you are apologetic that it took place in the first place.
Try to look for ways you can compensate.
When you have understood the problem try to devise ways you can compensate. It is the best way to get back that losing customer.
Let’s say you mistyped the repair ticket on cellphone repair shop software. This resulted in improper repair on the cellphone repair shop software. Here you can offer the customer another repair that week for free.
When you compensate customers, they realize that you care and that you do want to correct your mistakes.
Guide him properly through the solution
Often your customer runs in your store with a problem that has a simple solution. But it comes down to multiple steps.
The confusion that arises is that sometimes you are not able to communicate the solution properly. This leaves the customer in a state of confusion. Despite you offering an answer, he is unable to understand it and keeps on being angry.
You can deal with such solutions by simply guiding him through the whole process.
Let’s say the customer ordered that chicken patty burger, but your employee mistakenly placed an order for that hamburger that your customer hates. It’s home delivery, so you really cannot deal with it face to face. However, you could handle the situation by guiding them that you will be sending a code, that is to be typed in the app to claim their free purchase. If you told them that a free purchase is being offered, they wouldn’t know how it will be working.
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Get yourself together
It is emotionally frustrating to get over an episode of an angry, rude customer screaming on your face.
Whenever you encounter such a situation, take a step out of that place, take a deep breath and realize that none of it was a personal attack. You were sorry for something you hadn’t done in the first place. You were in that situation only because you were representing the firm at that point.
Realize that it’s not your fault, and you are not the reason behind all of it.
Be supportive
When you work in teams, it is your responsibility to support each other through thick and thin. Situations like this are stressful for a single person to handle.
Consider a repair shop where they use a cellphone repair shop software. The problems that occur on the customer-end are primarily because of the employees mistyping or wrongly updating the status of repairs. The aggressive customers that come in are really in the wrong mood. Since their phones are a personal belonging and they cannot wait to use them again. It seems like a prank when you get a false notification of your phone getting fixed.
Ensure the manager is right at the reception with the attending employee to cover their back in an unfortunate situation.
Summing up, aggressive customers can be a pain. They abuse you emotionally, but mostly they are fighting you for the bad service of your firm. Don’t take such things personally and be apologetic. Stay calm and try to compensate the best you can.