Are your customers really difficult? Or are they just different from you?

1. Customer Service and
the Difficult Customer
Different
Nicole Wilkins, MS, LPC
Training & Development Director

2. Objectives
 To examine our thinking when it comes to
difficult customers
 To address ways in which we can improve
services and as a result minimize
experiences with difficult customers

3. Why is this important?

4. How do you define the
difficult customer ?

5. Difficult
• adjective 1. not easily or readily done; requiring much
labor, skill, or planning to be performed successfully;
hard: a difficult job.
• 2. hard to understand or solve: a difficult problem.
• 3. hard to deal with or get on with: a difficult pupil.
• 4. hard to please or satisfy: a difficult employer.
• 5. hard to persuade or induce; stubborn: a difficult old
man

6. Is it the person
who is demanding
and angry when
they walk in the
door?
What are we thinking?

7. Or is it the person
who wants exactly
what they want – and
they want it
YESTERDAY ?
What are we thinking?

8. Is it the
person who
you just feel
like
strangling…..
What are we thinking?

9. Is it the person who cusses &
fusses in an effort to intimidate you?
What are we thinking?

10. You can’t Change
other People
You can only change
the way you
respond to them
What is true in our personal life –
is also true at work

11. Let’s start by changing their label….
Customer Service and
the Difficult Customer
Different

12. Different
adjective
1. not alike in character or quality; differing;
dissimilar: The two are different.
2. not identical; separate or distinct: three
different answers.
3. various; several: Different people told me
the same story.
4. not ordinary; unusual.

13. Why does this
matter ?

14. When we label a customer as
difficult… what happens?
• Quicker to interpret their actions as
negative
• More likely to have strong emotional
reactions to them
• Treat them more abruptly
• Expect less from them
Command & Control

15. Self Fulfilling Prophecy
• We form certain expectations of
people or events
• We communicate those
expectations with various cues
• People tend to respond to these
cues by adjusting their behavior
to match them
• Resulting in the original
expectation becoming true

16. ”If you label a customer as
difficult, you are more likely
to create more difficult
situations with that person,
since you will be expecting
bad things to happen.”

17. How do I contribute to negative
experiences?
►I disliked the customer and let it show
►I didn’t express in interest or give my full attention to the customer
►I was impatient and rushed the customer
►I passed the customer to someone else
►Argued with the customer, focusing on how they contributed to the problem
►I made the customer wait too long
►I just wanted the interaction to end and the customer to go away, and it
showed

18. Consciously or not we tip people off as to
what our expectations are. We exhibit
thousands of cues, some as subtle as the
tilting of heads, the raising of eyebrows or a
sigh, but most are much more obvious.
Customers pick up on our cues.

19. What is the solution?
Change your Approach!

20. Difficult Customers
Require a Different
Approach

21. Stay Focused
Give your attention to the service not the
behavior
Respond to the situation instead of reacting
Ignore Challenging Questions
Set and enforce reasonable limits

22. Choose Peace
• Avoid heated discussions
• Never take words or actions personally
• Don’t feed into it and don’t fight out about it.

23. The Clear Communication
Approach
C
L
E
A
R

24. Key Strategies
• Listen
• Think, Assess and Respond
• Empathize
• Apologize
• Resolve
• Release

25. Clear Model of Communication
• C – Compose
Remain calm and control your feelings. Remember
the customers are not difficult, It is the situation that
has made them so upset. Don’t make it personal – it
is not about you – it is about their problem/situation.
What happens when you start to react in an emotional
way?

26. Clear Model of Communication
• L – Listen
• Never argue or be defensive with customers
when they are in an emotional state of mind.
• Allow them to vent their frustration, Listen
carefully and try to piece together the whole
story. Demonstrate attentiveness.

27. Clear Model of Communication
• E – Empathize with the customer
• Show concern and put yourself in their
shoes…..
– “I can understand why….”
– “I can see how frustrating that must have
been…”
– Don’t blame or embarrass the customer

28. Clear Model of Communication
• A – Apologize
“I apologize for …”
Express that you are genuinely sorry for
their bad experience.
This can help diffuse even the most challenging
situations..

29. Clear Model of Communication
• R – Resolve
• After you have all the facts – let them
know how you can help
• Don’t promise what you can’t deliver

30. Short Video – Bad SERVICE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE2NatsC
5g4&list=FLgsCgXD41xbuJrnVx31upiw&ind
ex=2&feature=plpp_video

31. What’s the moral
of this Story?
People can get pushed over the edge…
Safety Issues can Surface!

32. Our Responsibility
In government, we are not
only mandated to give equal
opportunity in our service
delivery, but also obliged
morally to treat all people
with respect. We must strive
to be open, respectful and
responsive to all our
customers...and co-workers.

33. So what do I do when
the customer is
particularly challenging
Always treat the customer
appropriately and with respect
and work to provide the
service quickly and efficiently

34. Customer Service and
the Difficult Customer
Different
Nicole Wilkins, MS, LPC
Training & Development Director