5 Tips For Dealing With Difficult Customers

It’s a fact of life: if you work in customer service, you’re going to work with difficult customers from time to time. But if you arm yourself with strategies for dealing with these customers, you can provide a better quality of service, reverse the attitudes of some customers, and get more satisfaction out of your day.

Here are five tips to help you do just that.

1. Use Active Listening

   It’s easy to tune out a ranting customer. In fact, dong so is a natural defense mechanism that can be difficult to control. But when you stop listening to your customer, you’re going to miss out on important details and make the whole situation worse.

   Instead, use the active listening skills you’ve worked so hard to acquire. Active listening means giving the customer your full attention, acknowledging what you hear, repeating things that need clarification, and affirming that you understand the problem.

2. Stay Calm, Cool, and Collected

   When a customer is angry or being difficult, it’s hard to keep your own temper in check. Instead of reacting with anger, try to make your first reaction be empathy, rather than rage. If you’re both angry, finding a rational solution will be much harder, if not impossible. Maintaining control of your temper will help you maintain control of the entire situation and solve the problem at hand.

3. Focus on the Solution

   Although it can be hard to do at times, it’s important to stay focused on the solution rather than the problem. Staying focused on the solution can feel impossible, especially if the customer refuses to move past the problem to let you get to a solution. Take a deep breath and use your best communication skills to direct the customer toward the solution that makes the most sense for all parties.

4. Know When to Give In

   When a customer approaches you in anger and with a negative attitude, your initial reaction may be to get defensive and attack back. Or the opposite may be true: you may let the customer go on and on simply because you don’t know what else to do. In moments like these, remember that it’s okay to offer your customers an apology. In fact, a well-constructed apology can work wonders – a simple “I’m sorry you’re dealing with this” may be all it takes to calm the customer down and start the process of finding a solution.

5. Don’t Take Things Personally

   Difficult customers have a unique ability to ruffle your feathers. Even long-time customer service professionals have especially trying encounters with customers every now and then. If you’re already having a bad day or have had a string of stressful interactions, you’re probably more likely take the customers’ harsh words and criticisms personally. Although this is a natural human reaction, it will only heighten tensions. Remember these two things: first, the customer is upset because of something that has nothing to do with who you are as a person. Second, it’s your job to fix it. You have the power to guide even the most difficult customers toward a solution. Try to keep in mind that the customer might also be having a bad day and that he or she is just taking it out on you. With practice, you’ll be able to let the anger roll right off you as you find a solution that calms even the angriest customers and, ultimately, wins them over.