Dealing with aggravated and disgruntled customers is an an unavoidable part of working in retail. If there’s one thing to remember that can help you cope, it’s this. These people are human, just like you.

1. Workforce Management Simplified

2. 5 Tips for Retailers When Dealing With
Angry Customers

3. Get Them In Private
● The best thing that you can do for both you and them is to avoid making a
scene. If they begin their tirade out on the sales floor, try to take them to an
area where you can communicate in a more private way.
● Firstly, it’s not a good situation for your store, and secondly, many of these
types of angry customers tend to feed off having an audience.
● If you take them away from the situation and create a more private setting,
there is a good chance that they’ll calm down a bit so that you can get to the
bottom of what’s irking them.

4. Let Them Get It All Out
● The most important rule to successfully diffusing the situation is to let the
customer say what he or she has to say first.
● Even if you understand what the problem is halfway through the rant and you
know what the solution is, resist the need to interject.
● So there’s also a good chance that they have rehearsed their complaint and
have a fairly scripted bit of outrage to lay on you. If you interrupt them, there’s
a good chance that the’ll simply reset and start from the top.

5. Listen
● While you are letting the customer vent, you shouldn’t just be staring into space
and trying to find a happy place in your mind until you see that his or her lips
have stopped moving.
● Be sure to try to hone in to everything they are saying in an effort to understand
the problem as fully as possible. That way you will be fully prepare to give the
best possible reply when the time comes for you to offer a solution.

6. Kill Them With Kindness
● It’s important not to get confrontational, no matter how much your basic
instincts try to force you into such a response.
● It’s also a good idea to express sympathy for their situation and to
recognize the fact that they are frustrated.
● Many times, the customer wants to coax you into entering a conflict, and
once they realize that you’re cool as a cucumber and that it’s not going to
happen, there’s a good chance that they are going to cool off too.