5 Effective Tips on Dealing with Difficult Customers in Your Business

According to a research carried out by Salesforce, 94% of consumers say that a positive customer service experience encourages them to continue buying from the same brand.

According to a research carried out by Salesforce, 94% of consumers say that a positive customer service experience encourages them to continue buying from the same brand. This goes to show that providing top-notch customer service is a simple and effective way to grow your business, improve customer retention and boost your revenue. In today’s article, we will highlight 5 effective tips on dealing with difficult customers in your business.

As an entrepreneur, encountering unsatisfied and difficult customers in your business is an inevitable part of your job. Whether the issue stems from a promise breached by your company, defective product(s) or a substandard service, learning how to handle the complaints of difficult and displeased customers is highly essential in enhancing the reputation of your brand and building loyalty in your customer base.

These are 5 simple and effective ways of dealing with difficult customers in your business;

1. Remain Calm and Listen actively: When interacting with a difficult customer, the first thing you need to ensure is that you are maintaining a calm disposition and are practicing active listening. This simply means giving the customer your undivided attention and putting in effort to understand every word of what they are saying in order to make the customer feel heard and validated.
2. Show Empathy: Empathy is an important tool in providing the best customer experience. Through empathy, you are able to show genuine concern for the customer’s experience and make them know that you are taking their complaint seriously. One way to show empathy is by apologizing to the customer for their experience by statements like “I am truly sorry to hear about your experience with our service”, “I apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you” etc. With empathetic statements like this, you will ease the tension in the conversation.
3. Communicate Professionally: No one wants to patronize a brand that has a reputation of speaking unprofessionally and rudely to its customers. Whether you are responding to an inquiry from a new or potential client, providing information on a product or speaking with an angry customer, responding in a friendly, respectful and professional manner is a good way to provide exceptional customer service.
4. Offer a resolution: The goal of an unsatisfied customer is to receive clarity or solution to the pending issue so while listening to the complaint of the customer, think of ways the complaint can be resolved. You can offer a discount, offer a refund or a new product or a free service etc. It’s important to note that your priority should be making sure that the complaint is resolved and the customer is happy.
5. Maintain a positive relationship: Maintaining a good relationship with a difficult customer once an issue has been resolved will help build loyalty and trust in the customer and very often turn them into returning customers.

There you have it! You can employ any or all of these 5 basic tips when dealing with difficult, unsatisfied or angry customers in your business.

Although you are reading this piece because you are interested in learning how you can handle difficult customers in your business, we have a reliable customer management feature that allows businesses to keep records, access customer information and also see the transaction history of each customer easily.

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