Here’s the scenario: You smile as you unlock the front door
of your store ready to greet the hordes of happy customers who will visit you today.
Then reality hits you smack in the face when a cheesed off customer demands
satisfaction.
Welcome
to Retailing circa 2025. Everyone’s in a bad mood.
We
are a product of the world that we live in. We’re all time-starved and
stressed-out. Mom’s working, Dad’s working, the kids are in day care, the
bigger one’s are in school. At the end of the work day, it’s a mad rush to get
Suzie to Girl Scouts and Timmy to basketball. Never mind that you’re tired, you
still have to make dinner and do laundry, not to mention help the kid’s with
their homework before you can finally relax. No wonder we’re cranky.
The
thing is those cranky customers can be anyone – we’ve all been not-so-nice customers
at one time or another. Most are just nice people who are having a really bad
day; you just happen to be the one they decide to take their frustrations out
on. If you’re in the retail business, then unhappy customers are a daily fact
of life. When faced with one you can choose to react or to respond. If you merely
react, the customer will most likely stay unhappy, but if you choose to respond
in a concerned and professional manner you can turn that lion of a customer
into a loyal lamb. And you may just avoid a bad online review.
Understand
that an angry customer may be reacting to what they imagine will happen when they present you with a problem. This is
part of the emotional baggage every customer brings with them to your store. We’ve
all faced snarling store associates who treat customers’ like the enemy – if a
customer has had a bad experience in one of your competitor’s stores, it’s easy
to see why they might think they will have a similar experience in yours.
That
being said, if the customer is a complete jerk, do yourself a big favor and get
him/her off of the sales floor and into an area where you can speak privately. If
you stay on the sales floor, where other customers can watch, you’d better be
prepared to deliver service perfection, because how you respond will be the
topic of the day on Facebook and Instagram and TikTok.
If
the customer is abusive or is using foul language say, “I am going to help you,
but I cannot help you if you continue to speak to me like that.” If the customer calms down, continue with the
steps below to solve their problem, but if the customer continues to berate
you, it is perfectly okay to say, “I really do want to help you, but I need you
to calm down. If you do so I can help you now, otherwise we will have to do
this another time.” You can also try politely
turning the customer over to another associate. Under “normal” circumstances
the following five steps should do the trick:
1. Allow
the customer to get the problem off of their chest.
Let’s say a customer brings you a problem you can fix in
two seconds flat. Resist the urge to save the day, instead let the customer
blow off steam.
When customers are unhappy about something, they tend to
rehearse what they are going to say over and over and over on the way to your store. By the time they get there, their
anger is at its peak. If you try to fix the problem without first letting the
customer vent, they are likely to wait for a break in the conversation and
begin to tell his story all over again. So…
@ Offer your hand and introduce
yourself. Using the customer’s name tends to have a calming effect.
@ Listen carefully and attentively to
the customer’s entire story and don’t
interrupt! Stay calm – you set the tone for the rest of the conversation.
@ Apologize, even if you are not the
cause of the problem. This shows the customer you are on their side. If you
say, “Gee, this is a great product, we’ve never had this happen before.” the
customer hears, “You moron. Didn’t you read the directions?”
Instead
say, “I am so sorry that you are upset. Let me see what I can do to solve this problem.” Or “I
am really sorry this happened to you. I can understand why you are frustrated.”
2. Ask
lots of questions to help determine what you should do next.
When you ask questions, people think you care about them,
and they will respond more positively. Ask the customer Open-Ended Questions that cannot be answered by a simple “yes” or
“no”. You might say, “When did you first
notice this problem?”
@ Open-ended questions require the customer to talk – and
that’s a good thing – because the talking helps the customer to slow down and
refocus.
@ Smile, make eye contact, and nod as
the customer tells their story.
3. Ask
the customer what they would like you to do for them.
We once witnessed a heated exchange between a store manager and
a customer who was trying to return a defective shop vac. The stone-faced
manager was too busy defending the product to focus on the customer. The
manager wasn’t giving an inch, and the customer looked like she was ready to
throw the vacuum through the window. Finally, in a sarcastic tone of voice, the
manager asked the customer what she’d like him to do. She sighed and replied
that she wanted to exchange the defective vacuum for one that worked. The
manager was taken aback. What did he expect she was going to ask for? His first
born child?
@ Most customers are not unreasonable;
they just want you to fix the problem. Ask, “What would you like me to do for
you today?”, then tell the customer exactly what you are going to do on their
behalf.
@ Take responsibility: If it’s a problem you can fix on the spot,
then fix it. If the problem will require further action on your part, then
explain which steps you will take, and tell the customer when you will get back
to them. And make sure that you follow through!
4. Go
a step further and “Do one more thing” for the customer.
That
“one more thing” is an olive branch that you offer in good faith. It doesn’t
matter what you offer, it’s the gesture that counts. A
$5.00 gift card, a free class or even an inexpensive gift will work wonders.
5. Follow
up to make sure the customer is satisfied.
According
to The Technical Assistance Research Programs Institute (TARP), up to 70% of
unhappy customers will do business with you again, and up to 95% will return if
you fix the problem quickly. It’s to your benefit to follow-up. A simple call, text,
or better yet, a handwritten note will do the trick.
Don’t
take it personally! Sometimes that’s easier said than done, but remember you
are not the cause of the customer’s frustration – don’t expect to win them all.
Do your best not to let an angry customer ruin your entire day or affect the
next customer.
Make
sure that everyone in your organization understands how to work with an unhappy
customer. Host a staff meeting using this article as the agenda. Ask your
associates to think of a situation they had with an unhappy customer, then ask what
they did to solve the problem. Encourage suggestions on what the associate could
have done differently. Think up some off-the-wall scenarios of your own and see
how your associates solve them. Ask one associate to be the customer, and another
to be the associate. Role play is a great way to get the point across.
Customers don’t expect you to be
perfect, but they do expect you to fix things when they go wrong. Solving their
problems is proof that your store is a trusted partner. It’s that trust that
will keep them coming back for more.
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