Richard Krawczyk offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print. Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum. ----------- PUBLICATION GUIDELINES - You have permission to publish this article for free providing the "About the Author" box is included in its entirety. - Do not post/reprint this article in any site or publication that contains hate, violence, porn, warez, or supports illegal activity. - Do not use this article in violation of the US CAN-SPAM Act. If sent by email, this article must be delivered to opt-in subscribers only. - If you publish this article in a format that supports linking, please ensure that all URLs and email addresses are active links. - Please send a copy of the publication, or an email indicating the URL to [email protected] - Article Marketer (www.ArticleMarketer.com) has distributed this article on behalf of the author. Article Marketer does not own this article, please respect the author's copyright and publication guidelines. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this article. ----------- Article Title: Handling Difficult Customers is an Opportunity Author: Richard Krawczyk Category: Customer Service, Communication, Business Word Count: 409 Keywords: dr richard m krawczyk, direct response marketing expert, customers, customer service, complaint Author's Email Address: [email protected] Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com ------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------
Plan your strategy to handle difficult customers with this sentence in your mind. There is no such thing as a difficult customer. If you start in this way, handling difficult customers will not be any more difficult for you. On most occasions, a customer becomes difficult only because of our mistakes. Either something wrong has gone with our product or service, or the product or service is not up to the mark to meet his expectations. Late delivery of the product or the delivery of wrong product may also make a customer difficult to handle. Win an Argument: Loose a Customer The first and foremost thing to remember while handling difficult customers is that you can never win an argument. Argument leaves both the sides drained and the subsequent atmosphere is rarely conducive to selling or good communication. Even if you win an argument, you lose possibly one of your best customers. An argument challenges the customer's emotional judgment. It becomes very difficult to change his opinion once you challenge this judgment. A difficult customer who has come with a complaint is, in fact, an opportunity to demonstrate the high standards of professionalism of your company. The best way is to listen to him. Do not try to calm him down. Instead, try to keep yourself cool. Ensure that your body language or telephone reaction is not conveying anger or shock. Do not interrupt, and let him vent out his feelings first. Once he finishes, start by asking questions that demonstrate your real interest in solving his problem. Complaints are unavoidable in any kind of business. How you handle the complaining, will dictate the course of your future relationship with the customer. You will be surprised how much goodwill and positive publicity can be created by giving excellent customer service. The customer will tell their close friends about the enjoyable experience with your company and word will spread fast. By providing excellent customer service, the customer is more apt to order future products and services in the future. However, a bad experience with your company will easily dissuade from doing business with your company any time in the future. Although you may lose an initial sale, you must always look at the big picture of the lifetime value of a customer. Finally, you must thank the customer for bringing the complaint to you, because a customer always has the choice of switching over elsewhere. Providing excellent customer can be a wonderful foundation for your marketing and branding efforts. Dr. Richard M. Krawczyk is an author, public speaker and a leading direct response marketing expert who works with businesses by improving their online and offline performance. Dr. Richard can be reached at http://www.MarketingZap.com ------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
