AITS - Service Desk - Customer Service - How to Deal With Difficult Customers
When your role involves interacting with customers, it is inevitable that you will have to deal with difficult customers at some point. It is important that you have good customer services skills when dealing with challenging customer situations. The key is to leverage your customer service skills to flip the negative situation into a positive interaction.
Types of Difficult Customers
Angry or Rude
Angry customers are impatient, disrespectful, and prone to outbursts. They may yell, use abusive language, or make personal attacks when things don't go their way.
Here are some ways you can deal with them:
- Stay calm: Don't react defensively or take their anger personally. Take a deep breath and project a calm demeanor.
- Acknowledge their feelings: Say something like, "I understand you're frustrated about the wait. I apologize for the inconvenience."
- Focus on conflict resolution: Shift the conversation toward problem-solving. "How can I help to resolve this issue for you?"
- Set boundaries: If the abuse continues, politely but firmly excuse yourself and explain you'll return when they can speak calmly.
Demanding
These customers have unreasonable expectations and make demands that exceed University policies.
Example: A parent demands to have full access to their students' academic records.
How to deal with them:
- Be polite but firm: explain that University policy does not permit you to give out any information on the student without their knowledge and approval.
- Offer alternatives: You could explain to the parent that the student can set them up as an authorized payer so that they can have access to records, and other information, but the student will need to set them up.
- De-escalate: If they persist, explain that you have to follow University guidelines and offer to escalate the situation to a supervisor.
Unresponsive
Unresponsive customers fail to provide necessary information or respond to requests for clarification. This can significantly delay the service or resolution process.
How to deal with them:
Use a combination of communication methods like email, phone calls, or Microsoft Teams to reach out to them. Provide options for preferred communication if email isn't their preferred method.
Complainer
This type of customer does not hesitate to express how they feel about any issue they have with our services or policies. They frequently reach out to support with customer complaints, submit customer feedback, and leave negative reviews.
How to help them:
Empathize and ask questions to understand the root of their frustrations. Some customer simply like to vent. Remain calm, listen to what they have to say, and implement their feedback if the complaint is valid.