Managing Difficult Customers
How often have you thought back and wished you had been able to handle a tricky customer in a better way?
This course provides the skills to be able to react calmly and positively with difficult customers by looking at the causes of the difficult behaviour and the tools to diffuse it. Delegates will learn how to engage their ‘professional brain’ and adapt their service styles appropriately rather than taking things personally and getting embroiled in an argument.
What will delegates get out of the course?
- Understanding of what causes customers to be difficult
- Understanding of the benefits to you, and your company, of turning around a difficult situation
- Foundation for the principles, attitudes and skills essential for a quality service experience
- Ability to engage the ‘professional brain’ and not take it personally
- Confidence to manage your responses appropriately
- Ability to identify and deal professionally with unacceptable behaviour
How many times have you encountered difficult customer requests? Do you have trouble dealing with outrageous customer demands? What type of feedback do you usually get with customers who are hard to please?
Concerned about how your staff are dealing with tricky customer demands? Are you constantly getting bad feedback especially on customer interactions over the phone? Are staff having a hard time making decisions over which comes first: customer loyalty or company policies?
This course will teach you techniques to deal with even the most difficult customers. It will give you a better understanding of why difficult people act the way they act. It will also teach you how specific actions affect long term customer perception of the organisation, which could either lead to the downfall or success of the company. This course will give you tips on active listening skills, positive language and tone, what not to say to customers, and how to react to aggressive behaviour, among others.
How much does it cost a business when disgruntled customers aren’t properly dealt with?
We have all experienced disgruntled customers, most of us have also been one at one time or another, but have you ever considered how much it actually costs your business if these customers aren’t dealt with in the proper manner? Have you considered enrolling your staff in a managing difficult customers training seminar but turned it down because of the cost? Have you considered the cost of not doing so?
An upset or angry customer who is not properly dealt with can cost you thousands of dollars and many, many future customers. People talk, and no one likes to talk more about their experiences than those who feel that they have been unfairly treated by a business. This new technological era of the internet, social networking and blogging has changed how quickly bad news can travel. One customer can now tell not only their close friends and family about their experience but can spread the word across a much larger social web in mere seconds. One customer with a hundred friends could do serious damage to your business, and could end up costing you a lot of money. Just imagine if good news was being spread the same way, how much money your business could be making!
Difficult customers are difficult for a reason; they are not generally out to cause trouble. Disgruntled customers are disgruntled because they believe they have been treated badly by your business, and this is not a time to argue with them about whether or not they are right. Customer service is all about how the customer feels, and if they feel like they have been deceived or treated unfairly, then you need to stand up and take action to rectify the situation before a few angry words turn into revenue and future business walking straight out your door.
Success in business requires word of mouth referrals which only come from customer satisfaction. Studies have shown that even businesses who seem to excel in customer service can struggle when dealing with difficult or upset customers, this is why investing in managing difficult customers training is a smart move for any business. Your staff might handle pleasant situations well, but if they react to anger with anger, if they get defensive or argumentative when a situation isn’t ideal, it could be costing you.
It is important to remember that very few customers actually set out to have an argument but something has happened to genuinely upset or irritate them, something that you could have controlled. Difficult customers need to be attended to immediately with patience, empathy and respect to safeguard your business. There are many techniques that are useful for dealing with difficult customers; these techniques help you to diffuse difficult situations and leave customers satisfied. Teaching your staff these techniques is sure to boost your customer service rating and increase return customers which means, of course, an increase in return revenue, and this can only be a good thing.
These techniques and other great fail safe ways of protecting your company can be learnt at a managing difficult customers training seminar. Seminars like this are an excellent way of learning these skills in a group environment and encourage collaborative learning and professional development. Your business is your livelihood, and your customers are spending their hard earned money with you instead of your competitor, it’s time to learn how to treat them well and keep them coming back.
