Easier Management of Difficult Customers

Difficult customers are easier to manage if you use simple typologies to understand them. Consider these five types of customers:

• Aggressive
• Uncommunicative
• Entitled
• Know-it-all
• Complainer

Manage aggressive customers by remaining calm and politely offering solutions. This extinguishes their volatility. Uncommunicative customers expect you to read their minds. Know your product or service, and ask questions to determine their needs. Entitled customers want you to see them as special. Respond to them as an attentive agent and you’ll earn their admiration. Know-it-all customers enjoy thinking they are smarter than you. Don’t fight them. Instead, ask permission to show them what they may not know. They stay in control this way, and they’ll praise you as a professional. Complaining customers have a simpler model. Win them over by apologizing first, then fixing the problem, and lastly explaining what happened.

Your role in handling these five typologies is the key to successful outcomes with each of them. Responding effectively takes practice, but it will allow you to work under stress, feel more in control, and enjoy your job more.

For UR Employees

Press pause in the middle of a busy workday to better manage your day. Well-U joins with the Employee Assistance Program to take you through a guided relaxation session from 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. Tuesday, January 19, at Rochester Tech Park. Enroll online. Come ready to take deep breaths and relieve tension!

Global Administrator | 1/18/2016