Lesson 9: Dealing with Difficult Customers

We’ve probably all had circumstances in our lives where we had to deal with a difficult or angry person. So, how do you assist a customer who is upset? If done right, you can turn a challenge into an opportunity!

Step One: Adjust Your Attitude

Put yourself in their place. Try to set aside any feelings you might have about how unreasonable or unfair they are being and recognize that they are upset and it is your opportunity to try and solve their problem. Adjust your attitude so that you are focused on the customer and the current circumstance.

Step Two: Actively Listen

Your customer wants to be heard and to air his grievances—so actively listen. You can start the dialogue with a neutral statement that lets him know you are ready to listen, like: “So, tell me what happened.”
Don’t jump to conclusions about what happened, but let your customer tell you his story. Don’t interrupt and don’t make assumptions. Just listen.

Step Three: Repeat Their Concerns

Reflect back your understanding of his situation/concerns. Use calm, objective wording. For example, “So, it sounds like you submitted a request that didn’t get completed correctly, and so you are, quite rightly, upset about the error.”
Repeating the problem will show our customer you were listening, which can help lower his anger and stress levels. It also helps you agree on the problem that needs to be solved.

Step Four: Be Empathetic and Apologize

It is fine to show that you understand why he or she is upset (that doesn’t mean you are admitting to a mistake, just that you understand how they feel.)
You can show your empathy by saying something like, “I understand why you are upset. I’m very sorry that we didn’t get the update posted correctly. I’m really sorry this caused a problem for you.”

Step Five: Present a Solution

If you feel like you know what will make the client happy, let him know how you’d like to correct the situation. You could say something like, “Let me take care of getting your information posted correctly right now. I was thinking we should put it…will that work?”
If you are not sure what the customer wants from us, or if they resist your proposed solution, then give him the power to resolve things. Ask him to identify what he would like us to do to resolve this. For example, “I’d love to hear what you think we should do to get this fixed correctly. If it is within my power, I’ll take care of it, and if not, then we can work on another solution together.”

Step Six: Take Action & Follow-up

Once you’ve both agreed on a solution, take immediate action. Explain to the customer what steps you are going to use to fix the problem.
If you are on the phone with the customer, you might want to make sure he has your name and contact details. It will give him a feeling of control because he can get hold of you again if he needs to.
Once the situation has been resolved, follow up with your client over the next few days, and make sure that he’s happy with the resolution. Whenever you can, go above and beyond his expectations. You could even go so far as to write a personal, hand-written note of apology on behalf of School Webmasters if you feel that would be appropriate. (If you’d like to get some School Webmasters notecards, just contact your supervisor, and we’ll get you a few to use for thank you notes or whatever else you need.)

Step Seven: Use the Feedback

The final step is to help us make sure the situation doesn’t happen in the future. If you haven’t already done so, identify how the problem started in the first place.
Let your supervisor know, and discuss ways to put steps in place to improve the process so it can be avoided in the future. If it is a mistake made by one contractor that you don’t supervise, let your supervisor or manager handle it, but provide him or her with the details and any recommendations you might have.