What makes a customer or client difficult? Some would like to advise you on how to do your job. Others may want you to do their work in haste. Some don’t value you. And others are very rude.
Difficult clients are always present in an organisation, but a few suggestions will help create income from them despite the stress of handling them. Most small business owners have difficult clients — those consumers who make you uncomfortable when you see their calls.
Here are some ways to handle difficult clients without much stress!
Listen more and talk less
A smart approach to communicate with unpleasant consumers is to pay attention by listening to their issues and addressing their questions politely. This will limit your customer from talking any further and will prevent the issue from escalating without control. Effective communication is of great importance when dealing with difficult clients.
Be Specific
Often troublesome clients, including those with reasonable issues, tend to disturb your peace repeatedly. When you find out that the client generalises such as “you are never on time”, the best strategy is to be more precise.
Try asking them detailed descriptions of their problems and then suggesting concrete, tangible remedies for the issue. Ask them specific questions and give specific answers, that is one of several ways to handle difficult clients.
Communicate Face To Face
You can use Skype or other visual communication systems, particularly for customers with big issues. Seeing face to face is a better way of communicating with difficult clients. It may seem like emails and calls can solve most of your problems. However, speaking face to face with clients either in person or over Skype or Zoom is much preferable and more productive.
Doing so will allow you to gauge their tone, responses and body language much more easily. This is going to make communicating much more effective and easier.
Do it Yourself
Always choose to attend to difficult clients yourself. If that’s not possible, the safest option is to locate another team member to attend to the client. You may ask the client how they want their case to be treated and let them know that you have provided them with an outstanding customer care representative that will address their issues in no time.
Fire them
When every other option has failed, and the client keeps giving you tough times, the best thing to do at the moment is to move on. They can even be a threat to your emotional and mental health if their problems and complaints are ongoing and consistent.
It is never an easy decision to let a client go; however, if they are causing you more problems than they are worth, then it may be time to cut ties with that client altogether. The benefits, in the long run, may far outweigh the hassle it will cause in the short term.
Take Precautions
To avoid being in debt due to the client’s issues, you should consider having professional indemnity insurance as this will protect your business from the harm that it might cause.
If there is the fallout from a client, then you may well end up on the receiving end of a claim and having the right insurance cover will protect your; business; financial positions.
You are not likely to fail a client if you are careful, take precautions and try to follow the guidelines given above. You must also be willing to face and overcome tough client problems. Remember, always speak your client’s language.
