Handling Difficult Customers

Posted by on Oct 2nd, 2008 | 3 comments

The customer is never wrong – and some customers use
this principle completely. What can you do when faced
with a difficult customer?

Some customers make it their goal to ?cause? strife
when they shop. Do you argue with them or do you let
them abuse the system?

The answer is neither. Knowing that a customer may
have issues from time to time and being willing to
help the customer with their concern is a good thing.

If however this is a customer who repeatedly "has
issues", then it may be necessary to consider the
source.

An example of a customer who abuses the system is one
who buys an item brings it back when it?s not "new"
anymore only to replace it with the same thing, once
isn?t too bad, even twice can be overlooked.

A customer, who brings their items back over and over
again, may be looking at a chance to take advantage of
your stores policies. Sometimes these are the very
people who will cheat a company out of thousands of
dollars.

Before arguing with the customer, prepare to look into
this matter deeper. It may only require a manager
advising the customer that this isn?t good practice or
it may require a professional look into this person?s
record.

The business industry is full of scam artists just
looking to make a buck. Knowing the difference between
a customer in need and a scammer may not be easy, but,
you may need to consider how your company will handle
scammers.

After all the harm a scammer can cause not only
affects your profits, it can also affect other
customers from obtaining their needs.

Tactics to manage difficult customers

* Listen

- Be a good listener if you hear the whole story it
may help in determining what to how to serve their
needs better.

* Think and respond

- consider ways to solve the problem, talk about them
with your management.

* Empathize

- an empathy statement may defuse a customer who may
otherwise be irrational.

* Resolve the issue

- Do all you can to rectify this situation and to
ensure the matter will not happen again.

The customer can make or break your business. Acting
with understanding and courtesy will go a long way.

3 Responses

1. cady says:

   October 2, 2008 at 5:16 am

   i hate people who try to take advantage of the system. i used to work in retail, and i definitely had to deal with my share of these kinds of customers.

   Reply
2. Karen says:

   October 2, 2008 at 5:50 am

   Those are very good ideas for dealing with difficult customers. Some abusive customers are the reasons we have to have all of our stupid rules.

   Reply
3. Christina thecoffeelady says:

   October 2, 2008 at 8:07 am

   I think it is always better to have strict/return or exchange policies. Posted prominately of course. That way when you need to soften up, the customer feels special. There are times, though, when enough is enough. You have kindly and gently come up with a solution to end the situation. No matter how you try you can’t make everyone happy all the time. You need to know when to cut your losses.

   Reply

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