Your Wholesale Business & Angry Customers
By Sarah Pearson Published: 11/03/2009
Any business that has customers will inevitably end up having to deal with angry customers. Even the most successful companies have an angry customer come along at some point, and no matter how great your customer service is, there's always going to be someone that isn't happy, whether they have a reasonable excuse for it or not. Learning to deal effectively with angry customers will not only save you a lot of grief, but, if handled correctly, you can turn that customer's frown upside down and have them come back again!
The first thing to keep in mind when dealing with an angry customer is that they might not always be thinking rationally. They are angry due to some perceived wrong done to them – whether or not it's reasonable – and are therefore perhaps not as controlled as they usually would be in their communication skills. They might be yelling, they might be sarcastic, they might be using foul language, and this, in turn, might provoke you into being angry back if you are not careful. It's a natural human response to get defensive when we feel like we are being attacked, but the worst thing you can do when dealing with an angry customer is get angry back.
In order to calm the customer down, you must remain calm. Avoid using phrases like “calm down,” though, or you are apt to see the customer become even more angry. Instead, listen to the problem until the customer has said everything they want to get out. Avoid interrupting, and just let them get it out of their systems, if necessary. Once they've calmed down a bit, you can work on finding a solution.
The key here is not to play the blame game. Don't worry about who is right or who is wrong (unless the customer is being completely outrageous, of course), just worry about finding a suitable solution that everyone can be happy with. This may involve offering a discount, some free shipping, or an exchange, but you may also find that sometimes, the customer does not want anything more than acknowledgement from your camp that a mistake has been made.
Each customer is different and the same problem may need to be handled differently depending on that customer, so take each new situation as it comes and keep the basics in mind: stay calm, don't provoke the customer unnecessarily by telling them to calm down, and find a solution as quickly as possible. You won't always be successful, of course, but even when you are not, you will know you handled the situation as well as you were able to and that you can't win them all.
