10 Ways to Handle Difficult Customers

• 93% of customers are more likely to make repeat purchases with companies that offer excellent customer service.
• Since difficult customers are inevitable, it is important that you and your team know how to effectively resolve customer conflicts.
• To enhance your team’s conflict resolution capabilities, enroll them in online workshops and practice roleplaying.

Although “the customer is always right,” they may not always be easy to deal with. Learning how to deal with difficult customers is an important step for any business owner, especially those who work in the customer service industry. Even businesses with the best products and services are bound to have occasional run-ins with angry customers.

Consumers expect businesses to provide good customer service, now more than ever. According to a recent customer-acquisition study, 93% of customers surveyed were more likely to make repeat purchases with companies that offer excellent customer service.

To build a positive reputation with consumers, it is important to have properly trained staff who can handle difficult people and resolve customer complaints. Kim Angeli, CEO of Grateful Box, said the first strategy in turning unhappy customers from grumpy to grateful is to thank them for sharing their bad experience with you.

“Our natural response is to get defensive and get into a negative mindset with a disgruntled client,” Angeli told Business News Daily. “Once you flip the switch and start with ‘thank you,’ the response is out of the ordinary for them. This works in every business, and once the strategy is taught to the customer service teams, sales divisions, and leadership, the impact is amazing.” 

However, handling an angry customer doesn’t stop there. Here are several other techniques and strategies that your team can learn to enhance their quality of customer service when dealing with complaints.

10 strategies for dealing with difficult customers

Mike Effle, former CEO of Vendio, knows a thing or two about great customer service. He offers 10 tips on how to turn a bad customer service situation into an opportunity to improve your business.

1. First and foremost, listen. Do not try to talk over the customer or argue with them. Let the customer have their say, even if you know what they are going to say next, that they don’t have all the information or that they are mistaken. As you listen, take the opportunity to build rapport with the customer.
   
   
2. Build rapport through empathy. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. Echo the source of their frustration and show that you understand their position and situation. If you can empathize with a customer’s problem, it will help calm them down. If you verbally “nod” during the call, the customer will feel better understood.
   
   
3. Lower your voice. If the customer gets louder, speak slowly, in a low tone. Your calm demeanor can carry over to them and help them to settle down. As you approach the situation with a calm, clear mind, unaffected by the customer’s tone or volume, their anger will generally dissipate.
   
   
4. Respond as if all your customers are watching. Pretend you are not talking only to the customer but to an audience that is watching the interaction. This shift in perspective can provide an emotional buffer if the customer is being verbally abusive and will allow you to think more clearly when responding. Since an unruly customer can be a negative referral, assume they’ll repeat the conversation to other potential customers; this mindset can help you do your best to address their concerns in a calming way.
   
   
5. Know when to give in. If it is apparent that satisfying a rude customer is going to take two hours and a bottle of aspirin and still result in negative referrals, it may be better to take the high road and draw a compromise in their favor. This will give you more time to nurture other, more productive customer relationships. Keep in mind that the interaction is atypical of customers and you’re dealing with an exception.
   
   
6. Stay calm. If the customer is swearing or being verbally abusive, take a deep breath and continue as if you didn’t hear them. Responding in kind will not solve anything, and it will usually escalate the situation. Instead, remind the customer that you are there to help them and are their best immediate chance of resolving the situation. This simple statement often helps defuse the situation.
   
   
7. Don’t take it personally. Always speak to the issue at hand and do not get personal, even if the customer does. Remember that the customer doesn’t know you and is just venting frustration at you as a representative of your company. Gently guide the conversation back to the issue and how you intend to resolve it.
   
   
8. Remember that you’re interacting with a human. Everyone has an occasional bad day. Maybe your rude customer had a fight with their spouse, got a traffic ticket that morning or had a recent run of bad luck. We’ve all been there, to some degree. Try to empathize and make their day better by being a pleasant, calming voice – it’ll make you feel good too.
   
   
9. If you promise a callback, call back! Even if you promised an update that you don’t have yet, call the customer at the scheduled time anyway. The customer will be reassured that you are not trying to dodge them and will appreciate the follow-up.
   
   
10. Summarize the next steps. At the end of the call, let the customer know exactly what to expect, and then be sure to follow through on your promises. Document the call to ensure you’re well prepared for the next interaction.

Training courses and workshops for managing demanding customers

It is important for businesses to give their teams the proper conflict management training and techniques to be successful. You can train your customer service, sales and leadership divisions by enrolling your team in customer service workshops.

There are several great training resources available, both online and offline. To help you find the right resources for building a supportive team, we spoke with experts to compile a brief list of great training workshops.

• Peter Barron Stark Companies provides training and coaching on a variety of business topics. The company offers a course that specifically focuses on how to deal with difficult customers. This course will teach you how to effectively resolve conflict and defuse difficult customer situations.
  
  
• Business Training Works hosts a large library of training courses that can help teams with leadership development, critical thinking skills and more. Teams that want to learn how to interact with upset customers and manage service stress can benefit from a half- or full-day training course focused on customer service and a full-day course focused on customer relationship management.
  
  
• Pryor+ offers seminars, online training, group training, digital downloads and more. Businesses that want to rebuild customer loyalty and turn irate customers into valued allies can access training courses by Pryor+.
  
  
• Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training is an international customer service training company that offers e-learning, DVD training, keynotes, workshops and more. Your team members can access courses to improve their conflict management and customer service techniques.

Activities for handling difficult customer conversations

Honing your customer service and conflict management skills takes time and practice. After enrolling your team in workshops and training courses, you can implement recurring in-house exercises to keep their skills sharp.

When we spoke with experts about dealing with difficult customers, the most frequently recommended customer service training exercise was roleplaying. Although each customer may bring about a unique conflict and interaction, it is important to prepare your employees for as many different situations as possible.

Sarah Bugeja, demand generation director at Wave Financial, recommends acting out case studies in a group setting – one employee roleplays as a customer and the other as a service representative. They can act out how each side might handle the given scenario, and once they resolve the issue, they switch places. This will help them understand each side of the situation.

When your employees are able to view issues from the customer’s viewpoint, they will be better equipped to empathize with an unhappy customer when a real situation arises.

“The simple fact is difficult customers are part of running a business, but instead of seeing this as a negative, I would suggest seeing it as a positive,” said Bugeja. “These customers are coming to you because they are looking for answers, and while they may not always do it in the most diplomatic way, you are given the opportunity to gain the trust of somebody whose trust you didn’t have beforehand.”