 Women
& Business - Difficult Customers & Conflict Resolution
By Sophia Ajaz of Sophie's Choice Worthy Words Work
If you’re a natural at customer service, hats off to you. If, after reading such
articles you gain such skills, good luck. If taking recourse to various improvement aids
such as articles, lectures and training and you’re still unable to cope with customer
service, find yourself another job. Change yourself to charge yourself (emphasis here is
on money, my dear.)
When a customer buys a product from you, they are not buying your
product or service. The customer is actually buying peace of mind and a problem-free
warranty. So when they approach you, they are asking you why they were cheated when they
trusted you blindly. It is this trust that you need to restore and to assure them that
these things happen once in a while.
An unhappy customer costs you dearly. Imagine if your customer goes
away unsatisfied. And they meet ten other people and say negative things about you. Those
ten people each meet five others and repeat what the customer told them. That adds up to
50 people who are bad-mouthing you. You can’t imagine how that chain expands. Can you
afford that?
But if you send away a satisfied customer, you gain three-fold. One,
the customer is yours for life. Two, they spread a good word about you and you gain more
customers. Three, it is life-long free advertising for you. You’re saving precious
advertising dollars and getting revenue from increasing numbers of loyal customers.
Following are some of the ways that may effectively help to diffuse a
difficult situation and find a possible solution. Of course, your ingenuity, too, should
hold you in good stead in dealing with the situation. Don’t you want to savor the
feeling that you handled the situation well ‘on your own’? Oh girlie, let’s
begin:
It’s not personal. You must realize that the customer is not angry
with you. They are angry at the unwanted situation they have been put into. So, don’t
take it personally. Remember, they don’t usually connect the error with you
personally, so there’s no likelihood of being angry with you as an individual.
Cool baby cool. You may find the customer shouting at the top of his
voice right in the middle of a gathering of other customers and co-workers. It makes you
sweat! It’s in the midst of such a situation that you must learn to keep your cool.
So, keep your emotions and sweat glands in control.
Defuse the anger. You cannot imagine what commotion is going-on inside
an angry mind. But one look at a customer’s face can give you an adequate indication.
So, you must not interfere in this crisis situation and make it worse. Let the customer
have their say. Be patient and wait.
Sympathy helps. The shouting may last for five minutes. This length of
time should be used for understanding your customer’s problem. Your facial
expressions shouldn’t make them holler more and make you cringe more. You must
understand why they are reacting this way.
Listen attentively. Pay complete attention to what your valuable
customer is saying. You need to find a solution to their problem. You have to deal with
both the situation and the problem. So let them finish what they have to say. Ask them
questions to clarify the points.
Don’t make promises that you can’t keep. You are finding a
solution to the customer’s problem. You will never resort to appeasement. Appeasement
may seem like a momentary solution, but in the long-term would not work at all. So, think
of a better way to deal with the problem.
Analyze the problem. You are coming across the problem for the first
time. It’s always better to ask questions to understand it better. Make small notes.
You can also repeat what the customer is saying for clearer understanding.
Ask for a solution. Ask the customer how they would like the problem to
be solved. It’s extremely important to ask for their opinion, as they are the
grieving party. Had there been no problem, they wouldn’t be nagging you, right? So
take their point of view into consideration. It’s good to comply, but if you cannot,
then negotiate.
Emphasize what you can do. Your being in this situation doesn’t
mean you are always the problem solver. Make the customer aware of your position. If you
are the owner, then fine, you can solve the problem any way that works for both of you.
But if you are a partner or an employee and can contact the appropriate people, apprise
them of this fact. Assure them that you will see what you can do.
Act on the problem and follow through. You’ve come this far and
you cannot leave the matter in the lurch. So be in touch with all people concerned and
make them act. Action is the only remedy. Contact the customer, too, to see that the
action has resulted in their problem being solved.
Sophia Ajaz has been a consultant since 1992. She owns
Sophie’s Choice Worthy Words Work, providing customer consultancy & writer
training services. She's also a professional speaker & author. She can be reached at worthywordswork@hotmail.com
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