Dealing with difficult customers

Dealing with difficult customers can be a real challenge for people involved in customer facing roles.

It is the most asked question in customer service training – how can I deal with a difficult or angry customer?

Why?

Because most people employed in customer service roles will be people people. That after all is the reason that they were employed – because they were nice people who had an empathy for your customers.

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The flip side of this is that a majority of them don’t like conflict, and would do anything to avoid it. So when they encounter a difficult customer they don’t like it, it takes them out of their comfort zone. So build in handling difficult customers into your customer service training courses, to help people have the confidence when they are dealing with difficult customers

Give people the opportunity to explore

• what is a difficult customer for them

For some it will be someone who is angry, for others it will be if they are loud, for others it will be if they are persistant. Bear in mind that some people’s difficult customers will just be someone who is highly assertive or very task focused, they don’t want to be your friend, they just want the problem sorted.

• Why the customer is difficult

What is going on for them that makes them difficult to deal with. It may be that you have really let them down with your products or services. It may be that they have very busy lives and have just 10 minutes between meetings to sort out their query.

• What the customer service representative can do to close the gap.

Getting closer to and alongside the customer can really help resolve the situation

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