If your employees are often stressed out and overwhelmed by the task of dealing directly with your customers, it’s clear that something needs to change. Maybe they’re too busy or they don’t have the skills to deal with customers face to face. No matter what the problem is, something needs to be done to fix it. So read on to find out how to make dealing with customers less stressful.
Educate Your Team
If your staff doesn’t know how to deal with customers or handle tough situations, it could be because they haven’t been trained well enough. And it’s clear that it’s your job to make sure that your staff is trained right. So, if you feel like you could train in a different and better way, it might be time to rethink how you do it. This could involve things like learning about managing a fleet.
Don’t Hide Behind Your Employees
It’s important that your business never hides behind its customer service and other people who deal with customers. When something goes wrong and customers aren’t happy, you can’t just hide and let your customer service staff deal with their anger and frustration. You need to deal with the problem from the top down.
Pay Attention To What Is Going On
When a customer starts to get angry on the phone or in the store, you can teach your staff to get them back to the problem at hand. It’s not up to your staff to deal with problems that have nothing to do with them. So, if a customer is acting up, ignore the noise and think about what the business can do to help.
Make Checking Out An Easy Process
One important way to make things less stressful for your employees is to make the checkout process as easy as possible. It’s good for everyone when everything appears to work as it should and customers can check out quickly and get on with their day. But when things move slowly and aren’t organized, everyone gets stressed. Set up your merchant account and use the latest payment technology to make sure everything goes smoothly.
Don’t Accept Any Harassment Of Employees
It’s also important to back up your employees and let everyone know that they should never have to deal with rude or annoying customers. Some stores even have signs that say customers who harass employees in any way will not be tolerated. That’s the kind of help your workers should get from you.
Listen To Your Customers
Sometimes, all a customer needs to know is that you heard them. By listening to them when they’re confused or have a problem, you show that you care and won’t just brush them off.
Apologize When Needed
If something goes wrong, you should say sorry. It’s amazing how much saying “I’m sorry” can make you feel better. Don’t try to find fault or put the blame on them, but do say you’re sorry they had a problem. Take care of the problem right away and tell the customer what you did.
Give Them Attention
Make your customers feel like they are important and valued. No matter how silly you think a question is, the customer cares about it. They won’t buy anything if they feel like they’re being laughed at or talked down to. Customers can be very sensitive, and if you don’t care about them, they’ll know it.
Stay Calm
Even when things are hard, it’s important to stay calm. Your calm manner will help your customer stay calm as well. They’ll think you’re in charge and that you can help them solve their problem.
Figure Out An Plan For Their Needs
Most of what customers want is not based on logic but on how they feel. The more you know about your customers, the better you can guess what they will want. Talk to each other often so you can find out about problems or upcoming needs.
Suggest Solutions
Have a list of things you and your employees can do to calm down. Whether it’s just a refund or return, coupons, or a service for free. By agreeing ahead of time on the situations in which you will offer these solutions and how much you are willing to spend, you will be able to offer the solution with more calmness and confidence.
Understand That A ‘Yes’ Can Be Powerful ‘
Look for ways to help your customers at all times. Tell them that you can do what they want, as long as it is reasonable. Figure out how to do it later. Try to make it easy for people to work with you. Do what you say you’ll do every time.
Know What Is Ok
Yes is a strong word, but if you can’t do what someone asks, know your limits. You can’t make everyone happy. If you don’t think you can do what they want, help them find another way to get what they want. Whether that solution is your business or another, they will appreciate that you went the extra mile to help them and will tell their network about your business.
Be Available
Customer service isn’t just about talking to people in person or on the phone anymore. If you work in an industry or market where customers are always online, you need to change how you do business to take that into account. It doesn’t have to be a helpdesk-specific Twitter handle. Just make sure you respond to customers quickly and with helpful information on your main business Facebook page or on Twitter.
Get Regular Feedback
Feedback is a great way to improve your business and your skills at the same time. Give customers ways to tell you what they think, like an email or phone call to follow up, a suggestion box, or something more fun and creative.
One of the best things you can do for your employees is to make sure they don’t feel stressed out when they talk to customers. When they’re stressed out and under pressure from customers, it can hurt their mental health, which is something you don’t want to happen. So make sure to use the advice above.
