Difficult Customers

In addition to using communication skills such as questioning, paraphrasing and active listening some difficult situations call for specific techniques to maintain control.

Tips for dealing with difficult customers

1. Interjection technique

Useful for: customers that continue talking or customers that are overly talkative and not getting to the point.

You may have to politely interrupt the customers if they talk over the top of you or have been talking for too long. The best way to do this is, "Mr Brown, if I may interrupt for just a moment. I would like to ask you a couple of questions so I can get this sorted out for you as quickly as possible..."

2. Empathising

Useful for: customer complaints or upset, angry, emotional customers.

When customers are upset, angry or have been through a difficult situation, sometimes providing a sincere and genuine empathy statement can go a long way towards healing the relationship.

For example if a customer has expressed anger for a long delay in waiting, an example of an empathy statement would be, "Mr Brown, I can appreciate you are upset that you have been waiting in the queue for some time, I am certainly here to help you now".

3. Refocus

Useful for: customers that wander off track, those that bring up issues from the past or overly talkative customers.

There are times when a customer may go completely off track and start talking about unrelated subject matter. It is important to bring them back on track so you are able to maintain control of the situation.

For example, if the customer is talking about something completely unrelated to their initial enquiry, ask them a tie back question such as, "Mr Brown, I can see that you clearly had difficulty last time you dealt with us. If I can just ask you a few questions related to this current problem you are having so I can get this sorted out for you as quickly as possible."

4. Providing explanations

Useful for: Customers with unrealistic expectations and if you're unable to give the customers what they want.

There may be times when you are unable to meet a request due to constraints of the organization or policies. It is important to be polite, courteous and respectful and advise the customer of why. For example, "Mr Brown, I am sorry we are unable to meet your request today and I would like to explain why..."