Always listen before you act

Everyone likes to be heard and understood and customers love this even more. Patience in listening, even to the silliest of complaints, can go a long way to improve your customer service experience.

If a customer’s complaints are outrageous, out of context or just plain rude, try to stay mute. Take deep breaths and calm down. Smile and make sure not to avoid eye contact.

It is your responsibility to clear things up with the customer and leave a good impression about you, your company and its products and services.

What a customer thinks may be wrong, but what they feel can never be wrong. This is what makes the customer “always right”, because you can’t say someone is wrong for feeling one thing or another. Imagine how it feels to be told how you should be feeling. Annoying right? That’s exactly how it is for customers.

Instead of using negative power statements, you can start by expressing how you feel and use that as a point to correct whatever is making them feel that way. Your customers will know their feelings are being taken into consideration , but need to be changed.

When a complaint is made, or a situation arises, make sure to handle it on the spot. The faster a complaint is resolved, the more confidence your customers will have in your company’s services. Look out for quick and simple solutions.

If an issue cannot be resolved immediately, explain the situation to your client as clearly as possible and assure them that it will be resolved in due time and possibly give a specific time or date to calm them down. If they are still not satisfied, you might want to ask them what they think would be the ideal situation and work with that if you can.

Sometimes, a customer is wrong, no matter where you look at it from. These types of customers are mostly very rude in such situations or just create a nuisance. In such situations, you need to be assertive and get your message across in a very firm but polite fashion.

State the details of the situation clearly and confidently especially if what they are doing or saying are factually wrong or go against the rules of the company. Also, make it a point to back up your colleagues when they find themselves in similar situations. That way, you can count on getting their support back.

Dealing with problems from customers is a very stressful experience, so it is important to take time off to calm yourself afterwards. Remind yourself that not all customers are that way and cheer up, especially if you’re able to resolve the situation as expected.

Remember to follow up on the customer, even if you know it might not be a pleasant experience.

check up on your employees who deal with rude customers to be sure they are okay. Be sure to give them your support because even though customers are important, you have a greater responsibility to your people.