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Is the Customer always right?
How do you manage to stay calm when dealing with challenging clients? I personally try to be assertive while remaining kind despite tough circumstances.
Easier said than done, though.
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Sara jalildokhti
dealing whith challenging clients can be hard so mainly focus on the outcome of the conversation and then it would be much easier!
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If their complaints are unfounded, I would just get rid of them. They may not be the right customer for you. And that’s ok.
@claudiu_cogalniceanu This is true - I was wondering the same thing: do we attract the wrong kind of customers and why.
No, customers are not always right, but their concerns should be acknowledged and addressed professionally. Always stay calm with difficult customers, try to understand their concerns, and find solutions.
Customer needs your product as much as you need them.
So it remains a « business » relationship that works both ways.
If the complaint is legitimate, try to find solutions and alternatives and be empathetic (if they are challenging it’s then probably because they do need your product) and understand the deep source of the complaint.
If they are just rude or condescending for the sake of it, stay calm and get rid of them.
@mho22 love this! this may or may not be the very reason why we've started this whole customer service automation game, not gonna lie!
No, I only accept that customers can describe what their problems are, but they can not find a solution without your help
"The customer is always right" has been misunderstood over time.
It doesn't mean bending over backward for every customer. You can't please everyone.
Instead, it's about recognizing trends and patterns in customer data.
For instance, if most users drop off during a multi-step sign-up process, simplify it.
The data is telling you that the process is too complicated.
The key is to adapt based on repeated patterns in your customer data, not solely on individual feedback, which can be subjective.
You're not going to change your business model or policies because a single customer didn't like it.
If multiple customers are highlighting the same problem, now you have a pattern and need to address it.
For me, keeping cool in these situations means being assertive yet kind, no matter how tough it gets. It's definitely easier said than done :))
Back in my days as a CSM at a SaaS company, I bumped into my fair share of not-so-happy campers :D Some even got a bit colorful with their language. For me, the trick is not to take it personally. Instead, I'd politely let 'em know that if they kept at it, I'd have to pull the plug.
In some cases, things got so wild that we had to cut off chat and phone access for those clients. And guess what? They stuck around! Goes to show, setting boundaries can actually improve things.
The client is the person for whom we work; if a large percentage of users do not like the product, then we need to change until they like it.
@ixord I agree if there is indeed a pattern. In that case, you can spin that challenging behaviour around by being more receptive to all the feedback you can get and act upon it (quickly).
No, but you should always listen to them - there's a lot of insight in customer conversations. Their problems are more revealing than the solutions they may offer - so listen with that bias.
I have worked with a lot of German-speaking clients, so culturally, there might be differences ;) that being said: In my experience, "The customer is always right" is more a guiding principle than an absolute. It emphasizes valuing customer perceptions.
Yet, there are times when customers might have misconceptions. In these moments, I've found that active listening and empathy are crucial. And when they both fail, I have more than once succeeded by more bluntly stating the obvious. But as I said, this might work better for some clients (and target groups) than for others.
When I'm at the verge of snapping I just remember that it's a human sitting there, behind the screen so to say. And I just can't get all medieval on thhem. I dunno, maybe it's just the way I perceive human interactions. A customer may be rude & entitled, but it doesn't mean I can go and stomp them with words. Patience is a virtue.
Absolutely not 😂 whenever i used to face a “challenging client”, i remember the movie click 🤣
Launching soon!
I think it depends on the nature of the business - if you work in hospitality - very rarely is the customer wrong - I find that with the veil of the computer / in some SaaS spaces - theres more of a symbiotic relationship so being more frank with your customers (enterprise or otherwise) about limitations is really important.
and yea always deliver it in a kind assertive way - optimally you've built enough rapport building up to this point where its not a shock to them to get information they don't want to hear.