Dealing with Difficult Customers 5
Dealing with Difficult Customers 5
1. Set expectations
Gerard King and Gus Geursen, in their research ("A System Dynamics Investigation Of The Linkage Between Customer Satisfaction And Firm Profitability"), illustrated how important it is to manage the expectations of your customers. They found that managing and meeting customers' expectations is more important to customer satisfaction than the actual quantity and quality we deliver. This means, for example, that you shouldn't say to a customer, "I'll get this done right away," because your customer and you may have different expectations of what 'right away' means. Instead, set your customer's expectations by being specific; ie: "I'll have this done for you by the end of the day." Then make sure you deliver!
2. Listen
A couple of issues ago, Winning at Work focused on "The Art of Listening." Nowhere is this more important than when trying to prevent conflict. A huge hot button for customers is when they perceive they aren't being listened to.
3. Communicate how important they are
One of the most common triggers for conflict is when a customer begins to believe that you just don't care about them. It's important that you verbalize how important they are with statements such as, "I want to get this right for you," "You're an important customer for us," "let's figure out how to make this work," etc.
There are, of course, many other conflict prevention strategies available to us, but these are three of the most powerful.
Dealing with Difficult Customers 5 - To learn more about this author, visit Shaun Belding's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
There has been a lot of research over the years on the things that make customers cranky. One very relevant piece of work was conducted by M.J. Bitner et al in the early 1990's. This study, entitled "The Service Encounter: Diagnosing Favorable and Unfavorable Incidents", confirmed that the most common culprit in conflict with customers is actually us. While customers present the issues and challenges, it is most often the way we respond to these issues and challenges that causes customers to become 'difficult.' This is good news and bad news. The bad news is that, as much as we would like to point our fingers at our customers, the fingers often end up pointing back at us. The good news is that it means a lot, if not most, customer conflict is avoidable. Here are three things you can do to prevent situations from escalating into conflict:
1. Set expectations
Gerard King and Gus Geursen, in their research ("A System Dynamics Investigation Of The Linkage Between Customer Satisfaction And Firm Profitability"), illustrated how important it is to manage the expectations of your customers. They found that managing and meeting customers' expectations is more important to customer satisfaction than the actual quantity and quality we deliver. This means, for example, that you shouldn't say to a customer, "I'll get this done right away," because your customer and you may have different expectations of what 'right away' means. Instead, set your customer's expectations by being specific; ie: "I'll have this done for you by the end of the day." Then make sure you deliver!
2. Listen
A couple of issues ago, Winning at Work focused on "The Art of Listening." Nowhere is this more important than when trying to prevent conflict. A huge hot button for customers is when they perceive they aren't being listened to.
3. Communicate how important they are
One of the most common triggers for conflict is when a customer begins to believe that you just don't care about them. It's important that you verbalize how important they are with statements such as, "I want to get this right for you," "You're an important customer for us," "let's figure out how to make this work," etc.
There are, of course, many other conflict prevention strategies available to us, but these are three of the most powerful.
Dealing with Difficult Customers 5 - To learn more about this author, visit Shaun Belding's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
| |||
 |
No article feedback found. | ||
|
Leave Your Feedback | ||
|
|||
 Ten Key Facts About Dealing With Difficult People You Must Know
| |||
| The tendency is to come at this is from two opposing sides. Two adversaries locked in a battle for survival. It is scary when Dealing with Difficult People! Yet there are steps forward you can take... |
|||
|
Ten Ways To Be Better At Dealing With Difficult People
| |||
| Dealing with difficult people is critical if you are to manage the rest of your team and business to the max. Yet sometimes, just one person can demand your attention, in one way or another, in a way more disproport... |
|||
|
CAN TWO SALESPEOPLE REALLY BE THAT DIFFERENT?
| |||
| A quick look at whether one salesperson is really that different from another. |
|||
|
Dealing with Sales Objections: Competitors
| |||
| Competitor related objections often prove to be some of the more difficult objections that salespeople have to deal with. This is borne out by the fact that a lot of sales trainers continue to preach wishy-washy sal... |
|||
|
How to successfully deal with difficult people....part 2
| |||
| ...by Knowing your Emotions, creating Space and using each encounter as an opportunity for growth |
|||
| |||
|
Joe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: http://www.business901.com Web/Blog: http://www.FundingYourNonprofit.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/business901 – Linked In http://www.twitter.com/business901 – Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
|||
Bernard ReberBack in late 1992, MS Access hit the streets. About that time the company I managed needed new software to handle their growing client base and I decided to try this new product. I had little difficulty writing and adapting a database to suit us and discovered a hidden talent for programming. A business was born. With business studies and 25 years of management experience in three different countries under my belt, I could offer a unique combination of skills and my customers agreed. From these humble beginnings my software 'invoiceit' emerged in 1999 and has since been taken to 49 states (hello Wyoming, won't you join us?), all across Canada and more than 70 other countries. From the very beginning the program included cashbook accounting, the simplest form of keeping financial business records. The Dictionary.com defines 'cashbook' as "A 'book' in which to record money received and paid out". For 'book' substitute 'simple software' and that's what I'm about. Now I have published Simple Accounting, an inexpensive spreadsheet solution which even you can master. For just $14.95 it costs less than a takeout meal! More at http://www.scrambled-card.com/simple_accounting_main.htm - Visit Bernard Reber's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
 Shaun Belding (Visit Shaun's Website) Shaun Belding is CEO of The Belding Group of Companies Inc, which includes divisions, RetailTrack Mystery Shopping & Consulting(www.retailtra ck.com) and Belding Skills Training & Development (www.beldin gskills.com). The companies are global leaders in training, developing and measuring customer service skills. Shaun is recognized as one of the world's leading experts on strategies for dealing with difficult customers and difficult situations. His four "Winning with the ... from Hell" books, including the international best-selling "Winning with the Customer from Hell - a survival guide", are published around the world in eight languages.
|  |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
 |
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
| ||
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 |
 Learn From Success Business vs Personal Host Beneficiary Intentional Leadership Integrity Customer Focus |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Blogs For Startups
Top Blogs To Watch In 2008 | |
 |
Top 50 SEO Posts - 2008
Top SEO Posts of the Year | |
| ||
 |
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
||||||||||||
