How to Handle Upset Customers

Working in a lot of corporate and retail settings as well as owning businesses of my own, one important skill people often aren't taught is how to deal with an upset customer in a way that resolves a problem. In this article, I'll give you tips that I've learned through experience.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Desire to handle a situation with an upset customer effectively

1. First of all, the most important thing is to put yourself in the customers shoes for a moment. With the more limited information the customer has, is his or her response pretty normal considering the circumstances? Would you be frustrated if it were you?
2. Listen--I mean really listen. Not only does it give the customer an opportunity to vent a little and calm down, but you may pick up on a solution that will remedy the situation.
3. Don't take what the customer is saying personally. This will get you upset as well and not fix the situation. According to your personality, this may be easier said than done. It's important however to work toward keeping yourself calm and not let the customer's emotions carry over to you.
4. Ask what the customer wants that would remedy the situation. This may lead to an easy solution or in some cases a compromise. For example, if someone wants to return something without a receipt, you can offer store credit as opposed to cash. In other cases, your integrity as a business owner may require you to take a financial hit. In the end however, word-of-mouth can either work for you or against you. Treat customers right and with respect (within commonsense boundaries), and it will come back to you in a good way.

Tips & Warnings

• There are a percentage of customers (usually less than 1% in most fields) that you just can't seem to make happy no matter what you do. About the only thing you can do in those situations is refer them to your primary competitor (just kidding).