Methods for Dealing with the Difficult Customer

As a business person you would come across a difficult customer at some point in your career, who just wanted to make your life a living pain; the type of customer that would make anything a problem in hope of getting their own way, or for you to start popping out the freebies. Don’t get me wrong, not everyone is so, there are genuine people with genuine problems and it will be up to you to deceiver who is genuine and who is not.

Every business is unique in its own way and we must be able, through experience to identify the real problems. Usually the first question to ask yourself is, are the claims made by the customer actually possible, if you don’t know research it, ask someone who may know, but at all times be honest. You don’t want to lie in order to avoid replacing the item or correcting the problem, this can only damage your reputation, especially if the customer is not making false claims; sometimes the price to replace a product would be cheaper than losing that customer.

Now that this is said, let look at how we should attend to the problem in the event that it may happen;

Attend to the problem immediately; don’t leave a situation to long before attending to it. This will only make matter worse and it can also send signals to the customer, that you care about them or their problem. You don’t want for this customer to get irritated and cause others to become uncomfortable or irritated them. A quick response to these situations can save you from a situation escalating into something bigger.

Try and move the customer away from your other customer if you can, probably to your office or a quiet place. As I said above, you don’t want this customer to be quarreling in front of your other customers. After you have done this, try and find out what is the problem and then shut up and listen. Yes I said shut up. When you’re speaking and the customer is speaking at the same time, guess what, no one listening. Most time we are so caught up in the heat of the moment that, we don’t take the time to listen and understand what the customer’s claims are, you need to give the customer his or her time to vent. Only then you must respond. This way you will have gotten a clearer idea, as to what the problem really is and the customer would have gotten to release that steam that was built up in them, making them a lot calmer to deal with. And remember one important thing, always keep your cool; even if your burning up inside with anger don’t show. Raising your voice or making rude gestures, will only increase the tension.

Apologize to customer the customer for any inconvenience cause and be sincere. Even if you know that you’re not at fault, still do it, it wouldn’t take anything out of you, but make sure within the same breath, that you explain to the customer your views and what your intentions are. And in the event of you being at fault, make sure to attend to the problem as soon as possible.

Don’t run to the freebies for every disgruntle customer you may come across. This will only set a bad precedent. There are situations that can be resolved, without waving specials in front of a customer’s face. What you’ll find is if this becomes a habit of your, there would be customers who will drain this opportunity for what it’s worth, at any given chance they may have. There are situations where you can say NO, but it’s always how you say the NO that makes the difference. You need to remember that you’re in business, and the main objective of many businesses are to make a profit and constantly doing this can hamper with your growth. So analyze your situation carefully before making those types of decisions.