Angry Customers

No business is perfect, and even if yours is, your customers aren’t. Dealing with angry customers can be difficult. Here are some suggestions for how to handle them.

1) Don’t take the criticism personally. They’re not attacking you as a person but you as an employee representing a company that they perceive as cold and heartless.

2) Listen to the client. Let them tell their side. This will help the client calm down and think rationally. Meanwhile, you can buy some problem-solving time as you listen. Ask the client what he or she would do in your situation and how to prevent the problem from occurring in the future. Involving the customer shows you care about his or her needs and that you’re committed to customer service.

3) Treat the customer as you would want to be treated. Don’t pass the customer around. If you don’t know the answer to the problem, tell him or her that you’ll find the answer and call him or her back. Give the customer your name and contact information so that he or she can reach you if he or she has another problem.

4) Deal with the person and then with the problem. People often need to vent, regardless of whether you’re the appropriate target.

5) Remember that stellar customer service can be the means for retaining a client instead of losing one, so how you deal with your unhappy customers is crucial.