One of the greatest challenges that retail businesses face is to handle cranky customers. The same people can be super nice customers, at one point in time, and super cranky in others. Most of them are just nice people who are having a bad day and you happen to be the one on whom they decide to take their frustrations out.
Unhappy customers are a fact of life in the retail world. But what counts is that whether you react or respond when such a situation crops up. If you react then most likely you are going to leave behind an unhappy customer which is a threat to your company reputation as this is the day of social media and you never know what they may write about you there.
On the other hand, if you choose to respond in a professional and concerned manner you can even turn the most rigid customer into a loyal ones for life. Here are ways how you can deal with an angry customer under normal circumstances.
# Allow the Customer to Get the Problem Out – Let’s assume that a customer brings a problem to you that you are able to fix in just a couple of minutes. But even then you should resist the urge to speak and let the customer say his or her heart out. If a customer is unsatisfied about something, there is tendency that he will keep rehearsing the same thing over and over again and by the time he reaches the shop his anger is at peak. If you interrupt midway, he can get angry and start the whole story again. That is why you need to act in certain manner. You should first introduce yourself and offer your hand. Try to use the customer’s name in this case. Secondly, Listen attentively and do not interrupt. This way you set up the way the rest of the conversation will go. Lastly, apologise, even if you are not at fault, and tell them that you are really sorry for them and that you can understand why they are so upset.
# Try to Deduce What You Should Do Next by Asking a Lot of Questions – When you ask questions, it means that you care. Ask questions that cannot be answered with a simple “Yes” or “No”. For example questions like “When did you first notice this problem?” make the customers talk. This, in turn, makes them slow down. You should make eye contact, smile and nod as they answer you.
# Ask the Customers What They Would like You to do – Most customers are very reasonable and they just want to fix the issue for them. That is why, you should ask what they would like you to do for them. After that, tell them what exactly you are going to do on their behalf. Try to take responsibility and fix the problem then and there if it is possible. If it requires further action to be taken, then tell the customer what needs to be done and when he or she can come back. Make sure that you follow through this phase.
The above are some of the ways in which you can handle a dissatisfied customer. Most of the reputed retails like Market 99 follow these steps themselves and strongly recommend them for winning over the hearts of customers and making them come back to you time and again.