It's not always simple, but providing excellent customer service is one of the most fundamental and successful strategies to boost your company's sales and growth. Difficult customers require special customer service Training and strategies in order to be satisfied. It is important that you and your staff are prepared to Handle a variety of hard client circumstances, as your response to the customer will vary depending on the specifics of the case. There are a plethora of training options available to help maintain your customer service personnel in tip-top form and ready to competently manage all types of consumers.
The Importance of Customer Satisfaction
To run a successful business, it is essential to build and keep solid connections with your clientele. More than eighty percent of respondents to a customer satisfaction survey of more than 700 people said they would leave the company because of poor service.
The customer is always right, but they aren't always easy to please. Any business owner, but especially those in customer service, would do well to take a course on dealing with tough clients. There will always be the rare dissatisfied customer, no matter how well a company treats its clients.
Having well-trained employees who can handle challenging customers and resolve complaints is crucial to establishing a good reputation among consumers. According to Kim Angeli, CEO of Thankful Box, the first step in converting a cranky consumer into a grateful one is to thank them for their feedback.
"With a dissatisfied client, our natural instinct is to get defensive and go into a negative attitude," Angeli added. The remark is unexpected because it is not how they usually begin a conversation. The results are astounding once this method is taught to customer service teams, sales departments, and upper management in any company.
Yet that's not the end of the road when dealing with a challenging client. The following part will discuss a variety of other scenario-specific approaches and strategies that your team may learn to improve the quality of customer care when dealing with a variety of problematic consumers.
The Impatient Customer
The Situation:
It's possible that an irritated customer has been waiting in line for longer than normal, and that they're getting antsy while you try to find a solution to their problem.
How to Handle It:
Speak clearly and concisely without coming off as disdainful of their character. Justify the delay or wait clearly and openly, but avoid giving too many specifics. Make sure a frustrated client is aware of your best efforts to find a solution.
In your responses, emphasize the positive. Instead of just mentioning that you're out of something, you could instead say that you're expecting a fresh shipment to arrive by a certain date or that you're working as swiftly as possible to replenish the item in issue.
The Indecisive Customer
The Situation:
The customer may be having trouble deciding between numerous different items or services, but they may not want to tell you that.
How to Handle It:
Feature sets, service tiers, and pricing are just a few examples of the most frequently discussed decision-making considerations that you should inquire about. Refer them to any relevant written materials you may have that will aid in their decision-making process. Pay close attention when they express their worries.
The Angry Customer
The Situation:
An irate client will never be satisfied, no matter what the circumstances or proposed solutions are, and your best efforts to appease them will only make matters worse.
How to Handle It:
Do yourself a favor and start the conversation with an apology, even if you don't think it's necessary. Resolve the conflict by answering their specific concerns about the topic at hand. Be mindful of how much time you spend with each customer; if you spend too much time with any one person, you risk alienating them all and creating more room for complaints.
The Demanding Customer
The Situation:
One difficult client might drain your resources and force you to prioritize them over other clients. They may be fixated on a specific product or solution and refuse to consider others, even though those options would better meet their needs.
How to Handle It:
Don't rush through your sentences, and be patient with others. Listen to what they have to say, and act quickly to solve their problems. Communicate openly. Customers may feel dissatisfied if they are given responses designed to delay or postpone their demands until later.
The Vague Customer
The Situation:
This client approaches your company without having a firm grasp on what it is they require. They might not be able to put their finger on the issue, or they might not know all of their options. The responses you receive to your probing queries may not shed any light on the matter at hand and may even serve to further cloud the picture.
How to Handle It:
Ask the ambiguous customer similar direct and detailed questions to the ones you'd ask an indecisive one. Hopefully, this will provide you the details you need to assist them effectively. If you don't want to keep other customers waiting any longer than necessary, you should ask questions with that goal in mind.
The Customer Who Demands a Refund
The Situation:
This client has been so dissatisfied with the service that they want their money refunded.
How to Handle It:
There are different rules and laws regarding returns and refunds for different businesses. Even while it's preferable to issue a refund in full or in part, your business may opt instead to issue a credit that can be used toward a future purchase. If you decide to issue a refund, make sure to let the customer know exactly when you started processing the refund and how much time they can expect it to take to complete.
The Unhappy Customer
The Situation:
The customer is unsatisfied even after you've tried everything to make them happy.
How to Handle It:
It's important to treat a furious customer the same way you'd treat a dissatisfied one. If you feel that an apology isn't necessary, start with one nevertheless. Take stock of the provided solutions quickly and then try to offer something new; check your company's policies to see what you can offer in this case. Try not to interrupt, and show that you care by listening carefully and empathizing with what they have to say.
The Unhappy Customer10 Strategies for Dealing with Difficult Customers
Former Vendio CEO Mike Effle has extensive experience providing excellent service to clients. He provides 10 suggestions for making the most of a negative customer service experience.
1. First and Foremost, Listen.
Don't interrupt or fight with the client. Even if you know the customer is wrong or doesn't have all the information, or if you can guess what they're going to say next, you should still let them have their say. Develop a sense of familiarity and trust with the customer as you listen to their concerns.
2. Build Rapport Through Empathy
Think like the customer for a moment. Reiterate the cause of their annoyance to demonstrate your comprehension of the problem. Understanding a customer's predicament and offering comforting words helps ease tension.
3. Lower Your Voice
Speaking more slowly and quietly may help you be heard if the customer becomes more aggressive. Your cool approach may convince them to calm down. The customer's wrath will typically subside as you approach the matter with a cool, collected demeanor, unfazed by their tone or volume.
4. Respond as If All Your Customers Are Watching
Imagine that in addition to the customer, you have an audience monitoring your every move. If a customer is being verbally abusive, taking a step back can give a psychological buffer and let you reply rationally. Though a customer is being disruptive, you should treat the situation as if they will tell other potential customers about it. This will help you calm down the consumer and solve their problem.
5. Know When to Give In
It may be preferable to take the high road and compromise in the favor of an unpleasant customer if doing so would take two hours and an entire bottle of aspirin and yet result in poor referrals. As a result, you'll have more time to focus on developing connections with clients who are more likely to become repeat customers. Bear in mind that this is an unusual circumstance and interaction.
6. Stay Calm
Take a deep breath and pretend the customer's yelling and cursing don't bother you as you go about your business. In most cases, responding aggressively will just make the problem worse. It's better to reassure the client that you're available to assist them and that you're also their best bet for a speedy resolution to the problem. The tension is usually lifted when this brief statement is made.
7. Don’t Take It Personally
Even if the consumer brings up a personal matter, you should stick to the topic at hand. Keep in mind that the consumer has no personal investment in you and is simply venting their frustration. Redirect the discussion back to the problem at hand and how you plan to fix it.
8. Remember That You’re Interacting with a Human
It's inevitable that we'll all experience a down day every once in a while. Perhaps your nasty customer had an argument with their partner that morning or was given a traffic ticket. Every one of us can relate, at least a little. Do your best to put yourself in their shoes and be a soothing voice that improves their day. Also, you'll enjoy a pleasant emotional response.
9. If You Promise a Callback, Call Back!
Call the customer at the allotted time even if you don't have the information you promised to provide them. If you follow up with the customer, they will know that you are not attempting to avoid them, and they will be grateful for that.
10. Summarize the Next Steps
Give the client an idea of what to expect at the end of the call, and then make good on that. Make sure you are properly prepared for your next interaction by recording the call.
Training Courses and Workshops for Managing Demanding Customers
Organizations may help their teams succeed by providing them with conflict management training and tools. Workshops focused on customer service can be used to teach staff in sales and management.
Both online and offline, you may find a wealth of excellent training materials to choose from. Through interviews with industry professionals, we were able to prepare a shortlist of fantastic training seminars to assist you in your search for the perfect tools for assembling a cohesive team.
- Peter B. Stark Companies is a leading provider of corporate education services. A whole training program is dedicated to helping employees cope with challenging clients. Taking this class will equip you with the tools you need to calmly and confidently handle even the tensest interactions with clients.
- You may improve your team with things like leadership and critical thinking by taking a course from Business Training Works' extensive library. Training courses lasting half a day or a full day on customer service and a full day on customer relationship management are beneficial for teams that wish to learn how to deal with angry clients and handle service stress.
- Seminars, online courses, classroom instruction, digital downloads, and more are all on the menu at Pryor+. Pryor+ offers training classes for businesses that wish to restore client trust and convert angry clients into loyal advocates.
- As a global leader in customer service education, Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training provides a variety of training options for businesses across the world, including online courses, DVDs, live presentations, and hands-on workshops. Training modules are available for your staff to better handle difficult situations and provide better service to customers.
Activities for Handling Difficult Customer Conversations
Learning how to handle difficult situations and provide excellent customer service is an acquired ability. After sending your staff to seminars and classes, you may employ routine in-house drills to maintain them in tip-top shape in between formal sessions.
We found that role-playing was the top suggested customer service training activity when consulting with experts on how to handle challenging consumers. Employees should be ready to handle a wide variety of conflicts and interactions with customers, as each one is likely to be distinct.
Wave HQ's senior director of demand generation and marketing operations Sarah Bugeja suggests having employees play out case studies in a group environment, with one employee playing the role of the consumer and the other playing the role of the service professional. They can take on the roles of the other side and play out how they would respond to the situation before switching roles once the problem has been solved. This will allow them to see the situation from all angles.
By putting themselves in the shoes of a dissatisfied customer, your staff will be better prepared to deal with real-life complaints.
According to Bugeja, "the plain fact is [that] difficult customers are part of running a business," but this should be seen as "a good" rather than "a negative." "These clients are coming to you because they are seeking answers," says author and business consultant Brian Tracy. "While they may not always do it in the most polite way, you are given the opportunity to acquire the trust of somebody whose trust you did not have prior."
