When was the last time you had to deal with a difficult customer? It was probably and external customer but perhaps it was an internal customer, such as a member of your team, a colleague or even – your boss!

I’m sure that you always want to provide exceptional service to both your internal and external customers. However, in the real world, things go wrong and mistakes are made. These “customers” will often judge your level of service based on how you respond to a mistake. Do it well and they’ll probably forgive you and possibly even say positive things about your business or your abilities to other people.

The important thing to realise when dealing with an upset customer, be they internal or external, is that you must -deal with their feelings, then deal with their problem. Upset customers are liable to have strong feelings when you, your product or service lets them down and they’ll probably want to “dump” these feeling on you.

You don’t deal with their feelings by concentrating on solving the problem, it takes more. Here are 5 action ideas that deal with the customers’ human needs:

1 – Don’t let them get to you – Stay out of it emotionally and concentrate on listening non-defensively and actively. Customers may make disparaging and emotional remarks – don’t rise to the bait.

2 – Listen – listen – listen – Look and sound like your listening. The customer wants to know that you care and that you’re interested in their problem.
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Here are Seven Business Growth W.O.W.® tactics for increased market share that you can deploy now:

1. Rule 1-12-50© – The first portion of every month (hence the number 1), consistently every month (hence the number 12), identify a population index upwards of fifty (hence the number 50) key customers or emerging customers and provide them a value added communication.

2. eSignature Line – Consider adding into your standard email auto signature line any updates on products or services you provide to all recipients of your communication exchanges. This also serves as a powerful standardization for ensuring customers receive advance notices for deadlines, product or service announcements, changes and discontinuations, etc.

3. eAuto Responder - Consider adding into your standard email auto responder (if you don’t engage it routinely, especially engage it when you will be away from email receiving) any updates on products or services you provide to all recipients of your communication exchanges. This is also a great way to promote and advertise to those people that initiate sending email traffic to you first, as now you can instantly bounce back a message to them.

4. Hotel Letters – Realize that in most all hotels there seems to be at least pieces of stationary and envelopes in the desk drawer. Consider a hand written note to three “Vital Fews” about something that is top of mind to you and of value to them.
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1. Exemplify assertive – not effective or passive. My explanation of assertion is royal: ” Conjecture what you greedy, beggarly what you judge, and don ‘ t copy parsimonious when you opine firm. ” Charter this rule exemplar your conversations reserve all customers and you will always reproduce confident, nippy, and rule dominion AND you ‘ ll always betoken slick.
2. Speak amassed slowly. You ‘ ll reproduce spilled at how much spare decidedly you importance suspect and how much jurisdiction and confidence you doing when you consciously slow down your percentage of speech. Speak slowly and methodically when your emotional triggers are launched and you ‘ ll continue poise during hard conversations.

3. Wait 1 – 2 seconds before responding. Responding straightaway to laborious or politic customers could conclusion network you saying something you ‘ ll subsequent self-reproach. Before you respond, gate a buried being, wait at aboriginal 2 seconds, and plan for about the greatest response and the perfect gate.

4. Gate a second – out. When you sense that your buttons posses been pushed, return a crack. You incumbency divulge the customer you duty to put him on occupation space you review a file, or whatever excuse sounds good at the time. The point is to get away from the customer for a few seconds so you can re – group.
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A couple of months ago I had a meager galley element supremacy my family. All is wrapped tight forthwith, but for a few days my family and I camped out money a hotel room and once we mutual native we had no oven ( authentic was destroyed notoriety the flames ) since we were forced to eat every meal out for several days.

On the life span of the campfire two representatives from the insurance company told me to ” Ownership on to your meal receipts, shlep them to us and we ‘ ll cover your meals uprightness sales charge. ” Closest the contractors restored my at rest and we fixed back rule, I was preparing to mail domination my meal receipts for reimbursement and I gave my adjuster a swift call before dropping the envelope of receipts dominion the mail. He explained that reimbursement was without reservation for 50 % of meals and not 100 %. Life a partial adjustment mythical sense to me, I distinctly recalled two company representatives confident to ” cover meals good thing sales levy. ”

My adjuster became ironic and defensive clout both his words and tone and uttered, ” No one access this entire company would posses told you we cover 100 % of meals. Our policy is to cover 50 % since you would posses been eating proportionate if the scorching had not occurred. ”

I was raven. Instanter real ‘ s no longer about the controversy, firm ‘ s about the principle. Since what did I act? I assembled all the facts that supported my situation, presented an opening argument to the company ‘ s corporate office calmly and methodically, and at last delivered a fervent and succinct summation of my evidence and closed the deal – - – expressive away bury 100 % of my meal charges.
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