Difficult Customers - Theres No Such Thing

A couple of years ago I had a call from a Customer ServiceManager working in the paper industry. He wanted me to run aseminar for his team, on "How to Deal with DifficultCustomers".

I had several telephone conversations with this managerorganising dates, times and getting to understand hisbusiness. If I was to describe his style on the telephone Iwould use words like, businesslike, cold, curt and somewhatimpatient. I started to realise that if I was one of hiscustomers then I might have been a bit "difficult". Hecertainly knew his business and I don't think he was a badperson but warm and friendly - forget it.

There are actually very few genuinely difficult customers inthe world. And I hear you say - "we've got all of them".However the majority of customers in the world arereasonable people. They may not think the way, look the way,sound the way that you do. However they are your customersand if you want their business then you've got to deal withthem. They may get "difficult" from time to time if theyfeel they've been let down. It's how you handle them that'lldetermine if they continue to be a problem or if you canturn them around.

Difficult customers and situations usually occur becausesome part of our core service has failed or the customerperceives it to have failed. We've not delivered on time,the customer has the wrong product, it doesn't work or it'snot what the customer expected.What happens then is, the customer comes to the interactionwith us in a negative frame of mind. It's what happens thenthat'll decide whether they deal with us again or bad mouthus to other people.

The trick is not just to concentrate on fixing the coreservice issues. Telling the customer that you'll replace the product, deliver it in half an hour orknock something off the price, isn't theanswer. Sometimes you may not have an answer and thecustomer is going to hear "NO". However as you're aware,it's how you say "NO" that matters. Let's consider some ofthe reasons customer interactions go wrong and why they maybecome more "difficult".

* We don't care. - We don't sound or look as if we care, areconcerned or appreciate the customer's situation. Maybe youdo care, however you've really got to say caring words andlook and sound as if you care. After all, the customer can'tread your mind.

* We don't listen. - Too often we try to jump in withsolutions and don't allow the customer to vent theirfeelings. Again we need to show the customer that we'relistening by what we say, how we say it and our bodylanguage.

* We let the customer "get to us". We often allow thecustomers attitude to irritate or annoy us. This becomesobvious to the customer, again through our tone of voice,our body language and only fuels a difficult situation.

* We use the wrong words. - There are certain trigger wordsthat cause a customer to become more difficult. Some ofthese are "cant, have to, sorry 'bout that". Even yourorganisation's jargon can have a negative effect on acustomer interaction.

* We don't see it from the customer's point of view. - Toooften customer service people think the customer is makingtoo much of a fuss. They think - "What's the big deal, we'llfix it right away". The thing is, it is a big deal for thecustomer and they want us to appreciate that.

Customers will often judge the level of your service basedon howwell you recover from a difficult situation and they're verylikely to forgive you if you do it well.

Discover how you can generate more business without havingto cold call!Alan Fairweather is the author of "How to get More Saleswithout Selling" This book is packed with practical thingsthat you can do to - get customers to come to you . Click here nowhttp://www.howtogetmoresales.com/Without%20Selling.htm

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Customer Service Information:

Related Articles

Accountants / Lawyers Do Yourself a Favor - What do Your Customers Want?
In my day to day practice in strategic human resource management I often come across customers looking for a 'good' accountant or 'good lawyer'. As an accountant myself the common thread for a 'good acountant or lawyer' seems to be 'I want someone who can explain things in plain english without the jargon'.
Revealed - A Simple Formula For Success! Exceeding Expectations
Delight = Customer Expectation plus 1. This was the simple formula for delighting your customers that Ken Blanchard informed us of in his book "Raving Fans" For me this is a great formula, but in itself it also raises a number of questions.
Communicating Value
Abstract: People buy for their reasons, not yours. This article covers the key elements that prospects want to hear you talk about.
Setting Up a Customer of the Week Program for a Mobile Car Wash
In a mobile detail or mobile car wash business you are on a first name basis with your customers. You sink or swim with your ability to please your customer and rely on them to build your business by referring their friends, associates and neighbors.
A New Way To Handle Complaints, Or Is It?
What a lot of money we have been wasting on dealing with customer complaints.Instead of dealing with them and attempting to satisfy the customer we should create a process that makes complaining so difficult then when customers complain they get such a huge negative experience and never receive any satisfaction.
What's in a Name?
Different people call their Customers by different names. If they don't have Customers, they have Clients, purchasers, licensees, users, patients, members, franchisees, or buyers.
Customer Service - Winning Customer Experiences
Winning Customer ExperiencesMuch research has been done on what the makes a winning customer experience. What is it that makes customers come back to your business instead of going to someone else's? If your repeat business is low, what is it that you are doing to drive your customers away? There is a consistent theme that emerges across the research - winning customer experiences are built on consistency.
Customer Service A Chickens Way
Anyone who knows me knows my favorite fast food restaurant is Chick-fil-A. Aside from the fact their chicken is especially good and I can always get sweet tea, I have a valuable business reason for eating there - they serve up amazing customer service.
4 Things Your Clients Want From Your Company
Sure, all clients are different. They have different kinds of strengths, weaknesses, cultures and goals.
Top 10 customer service tips
1. Hire people who have a service attitude.
Proofs of Delivery and Logistics: Speeding Throughput and Avoiding Pitfalls
It should be a straightforward business scenario: making sure that the delivery documentation from the supplier or haulier matches up with the documentation at the target destination.However life is rarely straightforward, and if problems do arise, order completion times and cash flow will inevitably suffer as a result.
Reducing Customer Resistance to Your Product or Service
Resistance has to do with putting up blocks that prevent us from doing, being, or accomplishing what we want for our business. There are many reasons for feeling resistance including fear of new things or change, fear of failure or success or even fear of not being perfect.
The History of CRM -- Moving Beyond the Customer Database
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is one of those magnificent concepts that swept the business world in the 1990's with the promise of forever changing the way businesses small and large interacted with their customer bases. In the short term, however, it proved to be an unwieldy process that was better in theory than in practice for a variety of reasons.
Get Customers to Stop Calling You--12 Easy Ways to Save Money with Online Customer Support
Despite rumors to the contrary, the Web is not dead. More people are using it, they have faster bandwidth, and in many cases Net-time is taking over TV-time.
How to Deliver Exceptional Customer Service
Having been in business a number of years, I'm amazed at the number of people who don't have the slightest idea of what customer service is. Customer service is not a way of doing things - it's an attitude.
Is your Online Business Customer-Friendly?
Customer service is increasingly seen as one of the most valuable uses for a commercial World Wide Web site. Your Web site is available on a 24 hour, seven days a week basis.
Ten Ways to Help You Improve Your Customer Service
1. Stay in contact with customers on a regular basis.
Customer Service Has Moved Toward Customer Care
As I waited for an answer to my VCR inquiry from a stereo company, the recording stated a "customer care" representative would be available shortly. At that moment, I realized it's finally catching on everywhere.
Customer Satisfaction Is Your Business
Regardless of what business you are in - you are really in the business of satisfying customers. The degree of customer satisfaction you deliver determines the level of long-term success you will achieve in business.
Customer Service - How Good Are YOU?
At 8.30 am a wealthy client (on his way to make a presentation to the local council at 9 am) walked into a store that sells photocopiers.