The Best-Kept Secret to Turning A Difficult Customer into a Happy One

If you have a job, you have a customer; a customer who may be internal or external, virtual or physically face-to-face. They could be co-workers that you see every day or simply voices on the phone.

But no matter who your customers are, at some point, you've probably considered a few of them 'difficult'. You know the ones, those who expect you:

...to know their needs (even when they don't know themselves)
...to quickly deliver those needs, and
...to answer every demand and challenge they toss your way in order to get their needs met (and with a smile on your face to boot)

Since the success of your job lies in keeping all of your customers happy and satisfied, it's important to know one of the best-kept secrets on how to turn a difficult customer into a happy and satisfied one.

So what's the secret?

STOP CALLING THEM DIFFICULT

That's the secret?

Yes, that's it. It's that simple.
You see, it's not about what you should do; it's about what you should not do...You should not label them 'difficult'.

Here's why...

Labeling a customer 'difficult' sabotages your relationship with them and is unfair to both you and your customer because...

• You put yourself in defense mode which negatively affects your attitude toward them; an attitude that's bound to be felt by the customer and ultimately resented by them.
• It causes you to inadvertently restrict yourself from providing the full scope of service that you could be giving.
• It creates a negative impression for you, your workplace, your customer, and for anyone who hears you call them difficult.

Then why do we do it?

• Sometimes we don't realize it's what we're doing.
• Sometimes we're just repeating what we've heard others say about the customer. We may have heard  about how hard it is to please them, causing subconscious prejudgment.
• You might even feel challenged because it's you who doesn't know what to do to please them.

When you think about it, you may be the one who's actually creating the so-called difficult customers in your work life. So when you begin to think of a customer as challenging, what can you do?

You can...

• Choose a better attitude and create a better customer...a happy customer.
• View the challenge as incentive to up your game of service, and 
• Don't try to figure out what they want or need; listen for indications of what will please them. Directly or indirectly, they will let you know.

So regardless of what your customer has done in the past or what you've heard they may do in the future, the next time you feel the D-word coming on, do the right thing...the fair thing;

1) Recognize your customers for who they are and what they need...people who need your help. 
2) Then do what's necessary to help them. 

Loyalty will be created and trust will be built. And instead of thinking of them as difficult, you'll learn to appreciate them for the value they bring.