Handling Tough Customers in Retail Sales

Series Summary

Sure you've been in a situation where you've gotten mustard on your hamburger when you specifically ordered mayo only. Or maybe the clerk at the video store charged you a late fee for a movie that you never checked out. Accidents do happen. In many cases, the clerks will be happy to make things right. But some customers can't seem to understand this and get angry at any mistake. An order of onion rings instead of fries becomes a personal affront to their dignity, tantamount to a verbal slander of their family. Indeed, some people go ballistic when they have to wait in the return line because their toaster doesn't work or their Playstation blew a fuse. These types of customers are a fact of retail life, and clerks must know how to handle them.

In this free business management series, our professional customer service trainer will tell you how to deal with abusive customers. She suggests to try to see a situation from the customer's point of view, stay calm and offer solutions. Should these tactics not work, be sure and document the situation in order to allow your manager to evaluate it. These enlightening videos include examples of good as well as bad customer service and offer advice on where to find out more information about similar situations.

Video Transcript

"In this section we're going to discuss some methods you can use in dealing with tough customers. I'm Pamela Unruh on behalf of Expert Village. As we talk about methods you can use to deal with tough customers these are some of the topics that we're going to discuss. The first one is going to be empathizing with your customer. We're also going to talk about concentrating on what can be done for the customer as opposed to what cannot or in some instances, what you will not do for the customer. We're also going to talk about the importance of not becoming angry or matching your customers tone. Finally we're going to discuss being firm with your customer and just taking control of that conversation."