How to Focus on Solutions in Customer Service

"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. When you are dealing with any customer regardless of whether it's a tough customer or just your general pleasant customer, always concentrate on what can be done. Now if a customer is upset with you, they are more likely to make some pretty unreasonable demands. Have you ever worked with a customer that at the very first thing they say is I just want to completely just want to discontinue with service. I don't want this piece of equipment in my house or I don't want this cell phone anymore I just want to be completely done with you. There are such things as customer contracts and there are certain policies that you as a representative of your business and remember though you are there to provide good customer service. You are also there to protect the interest of your business as well you can't give them into every business in demand. If a customer came into my office for example 3 years after purchasing a water treatment system and just didn't wan to be under contract with them anymore. Well I can't just dissolve that contract I'll be putting my job in jeopardy. It's not something that a business allows us to do. So don't put yourself in any jeopardy but again don't just talk to the customer about what you will not or can not do. Talk about what you can do instead, offer alternatives I for example dealing with that customer that I just mentioned I might say instead, I understand that you are unhappy with it. Maybe it's just not working right I can't take it out of your house for you but let's get somebody else take a look at it and see if we can discover what the problem is you are having with the system. It's a technique that I used before and by offering that it does bring the customer back to another level of dealing with you. Rather than bringing the extreme of being completely want to be done with it, now you can get them to negotiate and talk about what can be done instead of what you can't do."