Teach Employees How to Deal with Unhappy Customers

Nobody wants unhappy customers. Customers certainly don’t want to be unhappy, and your employees most likely don’t want the stress of dealing with an unhappy customer. However, if you arm your employees with the right tools to help your customers, you can turn an angry customer into a happy one. Here are some things to keep in mind when teaching employees how to deal with angry customers.

Avoid reacting from emotion

Unhappy customers can make you feel irritable and defensive, but if you react in emotional way, you risk upsetting the customer even more. Try to look at the facts of why your customer is angry, then use empathy to put yourself in your customer’s shoes. This will allow you to use your emotions the right way–not in anger or defensiveness–to help you solve your customer’s problem.

Listen, then act

It can be tempting to jump ahead of yourself and try to solve the customer’s problem before they’ve even had a chance to explain what it is. Listen to what they have to say and see if they have any suggestions as to how you can solve the problem. By letting your customer have a say in the problem-solving process, you allow them to have a sense of control. When you can give the customer what he wants, you’ll have a customer who’s loyal for life.

Be flexible

No two customers are exactly alike, so their problems won’t be, either. Learn to be as flexible as you can in order to meet the needs of your customers. This level of personalized service will go a long way towards turning an unhappy customer into a happy one and build customer loyalty.

Apologize

Saying you’re sorry shows that you care about how your customer is feeling and you want to take responsibility for their problem. Once you ‘own’ the problem, get to work resolving it for your customer. Be on their team, an ally, not the opposition, and they’ll be willing to work with you.

For more tips on teaching your employees how to provide excellent customer service, visit Answer 365 today.