12.4 Handling difficult situations
In nearly all organisations, it is almost inevitable that there will be some customers who become dissatisfied with some aspects of the organisation, its product or service (whether these are paid for or provided free of charge). Justified complaints should be acknowledged and dealt with promptly. Unjustified complaints require active listening and courteous negotiation.
Activity 12c
- Read through 'Customer Defection and Retention Research' on pages 195-199 of the textbook.
- Have you ever made a customer complaint or know of someone who has made a complaint? How well was it handled by the organisation?
- Complete Exercise 2 of the Discussion and Group Work activity on page 212 of the textbook.
- Read through Reading 12.1. List the key advantages of providing customer service training.
Other difficult situations involve difficult or awkward customers. Dwyer (1993) suggests three categories of awkward customers:
- angry, frustrated and impatient
- rude, aggressive and never satisfied
- boring
Dwyer (1993) suggests the following strategies when dealing with these customers:
- be professional
- try not to get personally involved
- address your emotions
- always stay cool and ignore rudeness
- calm customers if they are upset
- sort out problems in private to avoid public embarrassment
- apologise for any problem or error
- solve the problem
- remain assertive.
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