Dealing with difficult people/Aftersales Cases

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Introduction

Flashbay has an excellent Aftersales service. Please find the procedure under Aftersales and Order Troubleshooting.

However if you find yourself in an Aftersales situation please be aware of the following points.

Why can some customers be "difficult"?

- They aren’t responding as you would like

- You aren't responding as they would like

- Their expectations are not met e.g. Artwork is incorrect/poor quality, order deadline has been missed, non-functional USB drives…

What do they feel?

- Rejection

- Failure

- Humiliation

- Lost of power

Only a few customers, likely well below 5% of the individuals that you communicate with, are actually "difficult" to deal with - although they do tend to be the ones you will remember.

What not to do?

- Get defensive or start arguing.

- Treat issues/problems as if they are trivial.

- Never interrupt the customer.

- Justify the problem or make excuses.

- Accuse,blame or patronise customers.

- Make offers to the customer without the written approval of our Aftersales Team.

- Don't take the encounter personally or dwell on the negative experience.

- Don not forget your communication skills or lose your sense of humour.

How to handle difficult customers

1. Stop and think – don’t react on instinct.

2. Don’t take the encounter personally.

3. Do take the caller seriously.

4. Empathise with the caller.

5. Listen.

6. Avoid attributing blame.

7. Don’t over apologise or admit liability.

8. Do act assertively and show that you are in charge of the situation.

Keep Calm

Don't let difficult exchanges get to you - maintain emotional distance and concentrate on listening non-defensively and actively.

Customers may make disparaging and emotional remarks - don't be provoked to respond in an unprofessional way.

Empathise

Put yourself in the customer's shoes and try to see the situation from their side.

Don't interrupt.

Do not repeatedly urge them to calm down, this will have the opposite effect.

Listen carefully.

Remember that if someone is angry or upset, it is because that person feels injured in some way.

Avoid blame

For example, don't say things such as Are you sure you understood the price and delivery date correctly?

This will just ignite the anger once more because you are questioning the callers honesty and credibility.

Don't blame the company or your colleagues and never use phrases such as: I’m not surprised your invoice was wrong. It's been happening a lot.

Accept responsibility for finding the solution to problem, do not acknowledge responsibility for the problem itself. For example. if it appears that a mistake has been made with an order you might say something like "Mr X, I am sorry that there appears to have been an issue with your order. I will investigate the issue and do everything that I can to have this resolved - I appreciate how important this to you and I will provide you with an update by XX."

It is important to say sorry but do so assertively!

Give solutions!

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