Saturday, March 22, 2008

How to Deal with Difficult Customers

A good word spoken by a satisfied customer is worth hundreds of dollars of advertising. At the same time, a disgruntled customer can do serious damage to your reputation. Prevention is better than fire-fighting. There is always a reason why a customer acts difficult. Know the reasons and treat each customer accordingly.

A few things that can come in handy when dealing with difficult customers include giving them time and maybe some micro management. Communicate more frequently with them to find out about their expectations, a dialogue helps in reaching a decision on manageable and realistic expectations that you can fulfill. At times you may have to be a little firm and take a call on what comes first – the comfort of your employees or the customer’s requirements. Although the customer is king it is critical to remember that he is not always right.

A customer may be difficult because of some personality trait or some genuine reason, in both the cases educating the customer can help. This can be done through customer-orientation programs and greater personalization when interacting with them.

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