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4 Tips For Dealing With Difficult Customers
Are some customers just difficult people? Is there such a thing as a difficult person, anyway? Not really. The accurate viewpoint is it's a difficult situation or a difficult interaction - not a difficult person per se.
By: Lynn Hunsaker
Are some customers just difficult people? Is there such a thing as a difficult person, anyway? Not really. The accurate viewpoint is it's a difficult situation or a difficult interaction - not a difficult person per se.
By: Lynn Hunsaker
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Why do difficult situations or interactions occur? Quite simply, people get impatient because of a situation not meeting their expectations. The root causes of resistance to just about any issue are:
a) concern that their needs will not be understood or met
b) concern about loss of control or self-esteem
Knowing this can help you de-personalize uncomfortable situations and let go of your natural fight or flight reactions. Let go of your initial emotion to handle the situation from a neutral position.
A customer service rep who attended one of my recent classes said she's feeling much happier in her job by conscientiously following the 4 steps to managing resistance:
1) identify the issues causing the resistance
2) understand the underlying factors of the issues
3) provide solutions
4) follow-up
Here's how she applied the 4 steps:
1) A sample was requested by a channel partner in another country, emphasizing urgency to ship immediately, so the service rep booked the order free of charge and scheduled shipping, but the channel partner wouldn't approve shipment.
- the service rep, frustrated from these situations over the past year, immediately placed herself in a neutral position; this way she found it easier to open herself up for a conversation to start identifying the real issues.
- the channel partner wanted a draft commercial invoice, but the service rep's company has system-generated documents printed at time of shipping, so the approval process was a chicken-and-egg dilemma.
2) The service rep strove to understand the underlying issues behind the channel partner's request for a draft commercial invoice: to satisfy the channel partner country's customs requirements to present a legitimate document from the shipper.
3) To provide a solution, the service rep offered an alternative by sending the system-generated order acknowledgment in her company letterhead.
- but the situation went back to step one, because the channel partner was upset that the order acknowledgment listed the sample free of charge.
- the service rep went to step two by asking why a dollar amount was needed in the order acknowledgment: the customs bureau of the channel partner's country requires a price declared to determine customs duties.
Page 2
Lynn Hunsaker mentors executives in Customer Experience Optimization, to deliver brand promises, prevent customer hassles, minimize churn, & heighten sustained profit. Specialties include customer value guidance, touch-points, loyalty behaviors, internal branding, customer experience innovation, experience panorama, survey ROI, customer relationship skills, marketing operations, predictive dashboards, team recognition. She is author of 3 e-handbooks: Metrics You Can Manage For Success, Customer Experience Improvement Momentum, and Innovating Superior Customer Experience.
a) concern that their needs will not be understood or met
b) concern about loss of control or self-esteem
Knowing this can help you de-personalize uncomfortable situations and let go of your natural fight or flight reactions. Let go of your initial emotion to handle the situation from a neutral position.
A customer service rep who attended one of my recent classes said she's feeling much happier in her job by conscientiously following the 4 steps to managing resistance:
1) identify the issues causing the resistance
2) understand the underlying factors of the issues
3) provide solutions
4) follow-up
Here's how she applied the 4 steps:
1) A sample was requested by a channel partner in another country, emphasizing urgency to ship immediately, so the service rep booked the order free of charge and scheduled shipping, but the channel partner wouldn't approve shipment.
- the service rep, frustrated from these situations over the past year, immediately placed herself in a neutral position; this way she found it easier to open herself up for a conversation to start identifying the real issues.
- the channel partner wanted a draft commercial invoice, but the service rep's company has system-generated documents printed at time of shipping, so the approval process was a chicken-and-egg dilemma.
2) The service rep strove to understand the underlying issues behind the channel partner's request for a draft commercial invoice: to satisfy the channel partner country's customs requirements to present a legitimate document from the shipper.
3) To provide a solution, the service rep offered an alternative by sending the system-generated order acknowledgment in her company letterhead.
- but the situation went back to step one, because the channel partner was upset that the order acknowledgment listed the sample free of charge.
- the service rep went to step two by asking why a dollar amount was needed in the order acknowledgment: the customs bureau of the channel partner's country requires a price declared to determine customs duties.
Page 2
Lynn Hunsaker mentors executives in Customer Experience Optimization, to deliver brand promises, prevent customer hassles, minimize churn, & heighten sustained profit. Specialties include customer value guidance, touch-points, loyalty behaviors, internal branding, customer experience innovation, experience panorama, survey ROI, customer relationship skills, marketing operations, predictive dashboards, team recognition. She is author of 3 e-handbooks: Metrics You Can Manage For Success, Customer Experience Improvement Momentum, and Innovating Superior Customer Experience.
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