Certainly you have experiences where you were dealing with a disgruntled customer and you knew that you were right in the situation that was concerning your customer but no matter how you tried to convince them to see your point you just could not convince the customer to see your perspective on things. Well how do you convince an upset customer that you are right?
You Don’t!
The most important thing to keep in mind when dealing with an upset customer is that your opinion does not matter, no matter how right you may think you are the customer is always the one with the correct opinion, simply because it is theirs. Providing your knowledge does not mean you know more than the customer.
While you are the expert and they are the customer, when it comes to their opinion and their expectations they are the EXPERT. Being knowledgeable means you should understand what the customer needs and wants and although their requests may seem a little out of the norm, you should politely agree and attempt to do what they ask if it is at all possible. While there are times that the customer’s requests will be impossible you still need to convey that you will do your best to meet that need.
Tactics to Ensure Satisfaction Better Service
Politely explain your viewpoint
You can express your view point to the customer without showing an attitude. Comments like “I misunderstood the situation, or our standard policy is… “Will go a long way toward explaining your side without being confrontational. You should only do this at the beginning of the discussion before it becomes a confrontation. Once you have expressed your point reiterating it will only further upset the customer.
Keep smiling
Even if you feel like you could scream just happily comply with their wishes and keep smiling. If you are friendly and smiling it shows your willingness to reach an agreement and amend the situation.
Provide results
Handling the situation with a professional level of understanding and being humble will go far to calm the customer and in many situations they will end up being one of your best customers because they know that they can come to you if they have a problem and they will get results.
Follow-up post card
A great way to make a lasting impression with a disgruntled customer is to send them a post card that thanks them for their business and expresses your gratitude toward being able to resolve the situation. It is also a good idea to offer them a discount toward future business.
Things to Keep In Mind
A bad word travels fast
A disgruntled customer will paint a picture to their friends and family that they are correct and you are wrong and this can be detrimental to the health of your business. If other potential customers get word that you are argumentative and uncooperative they will most likely not give you the chance to prove yourself.
Your attitude
Your attitude to a troubling customer can mean the difference between keeping and loosing that customer. While it may seem at the time of the conflict that that customer is just not worth it, you need to keep in mind that unless you are the only one in the world that does what you do, that you have competition and that your competition may be very happy to oblige this customer. You are not in the business of turning the upset customer over to the competition.
Secure a Life Long Customer
This may seem like over-kill but you will be surprised how far this may go to securing a life long customer. They will be very surprised that you went the extra distance to keep them happy and in most cases will tell their friends and associates how you went out of your way to make them happy. It is a good idea to never discount the value of going the extra mile for a disgruntled customer.
While this advice may not always resolve the situation if you keep a positive attitude, do not allow your ego to get in the way, keep smiling and go out of your way to help the concerned customer in most cases you will resolve the situation and possibly have a loyal customer.
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Pingback by CALL CENTER BLURBS - Call Center Blurbs Carnival: 3rd Edition on December 13, 2009 at 10:49 am
I’d love to know who’s the author behind some of these articles. This is a great article and something that too many people forget. The customer may not always be right, but, just like you said, being argumentative just creates bad feelings and then leads to a poor reputation. This is something that everyone working in customer service should read.
Posted by Michelle Hillaert on March 11, 2010 at 7:14 am