Just like the boss, customers too, are always right! Managing customers, whether happy or upset, is a part of your job. Handling not only satisfied but upset customers too, makes a big difference in your future success graph. Here are some helpful guidelines to help keep everyone happy in times of trouble.
Test your spontaneous effect
Emotions play an important role while dealing with any matter. Be it professional or emotional. Anger and haste are the harshest emotions, which can cause you to make the silliest mistakes of your life, in turn leaving you feel the regret forever. Few examples can be: hanging up your customers call, sending a misappropriate email (by mistake), not understanding your customers point of view over matters and stating yourself superior.
These reactions can totally blow off your customers to the core. Be careful of your actions, because no matter how annoying your customers may be, they are still very reliable and the main source of good business and referrals for your organization over the years.
So, when you receive a voice mail or email that may seem demanding or accusatory, try not to react in negatively. Even though you may be correct on every level, but if your current mind set does not support you in improving the situation, then wait a minute or two and handle it right.
Assist and help each other
Agreed, customers do nag sometimes and blow your head through the ceiling, but at the end of the day, the more leads you earn through you customers, the more will it help you in climbing the ladder of success. So, do what it takes, to keep your customers always satisfied.
There could be a situation where the customer does not need you, but you may need the help of your customer, in such a case it becomes very essential that you deal with the situation courteously. In turn while dealing with another customer, understand how his or her problem can be related to your and try to be as helpful and courteous as possible.
Buzz your customer
Not in the literal manner of shooing them off, but give them a personal call when you know things are going out of hand. Just sending across a mail, is not enough at times to get the desired result from your potential customers. You need to get involved in a live conversation with you customers to know them better and help solve their queries. An email can at times send across a wrong message, intentionally or unintentionally. Therefore, to avoid a conflict with your customers, who might get upset over a silly issue that can be solved with ease, try to engage in a meaningful conversation. This way you can solve problems on both the ends. Understandable that an email is much easier and preferable method to contact your customer, but a phone call is the most influential method to lighten the matter over almost anything and everything.
Always be ready with solutions
Whenever problem occur, make sure you make the best move possible as it puts forth across a lot about you and business. This is one method of how your customers will judge your capability to deal with petty issues. Do not panic in crises, instead take decisions, which are solution oriented, and use the best communication method possible. Every decision you make and the communication process that follow, should be neither defensive nor informative. If you feel not you, but another person can handle the situation in a much better way, do not wait or hesitate. Approach your savior and try to stay away from the situation, rather than complicating it further. Things like these too can put off your customers and ruin the relationship they have with your organization. Customers are always on the lookout for immediate responses. Provide them with a quick solution rather than upsetting them further.
Perform with politeness and self-confidence
Your customer is very much dependent on you for information, so make sure you do not hesitate or show lack of concern towards his/her query. Instead, prove it to them that you are a reliable person whom they can trust, but make certain you do not make false promises while doing so. Give it your best while assisting your customers in times of need. It is only in times of crises when a person turns towards someone whom they can trust and remember in future. Be that particular person for them and in turn be the hero of your organization. Never forget customers are intertwined with your organization, always keep your customers happy, as they are the ultimate source of a good business.
