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Casual Articles - 7 Secrets for Moving Customers Out of a Hardball Mentality
When restaurant owners or management refer to purchase of supplies, it is difficult for most people to imagine the vast number of items that may be required. For customers, concerns regarding a restaurant are limited to hygiene, affordability, choice and taste. Restaurants undertake detailed planning of their supplies to meet customer needs and ensure their own profitability. Wholesale restaurant supplies refer to large quantities of supplies sold to retailers for resale to actual consumers. Generally, wholesalers buy from manufacturers and then sell to retailers. There are many companies that specialize in buying wholesale restaurant supplies from manufacturers and resell these supplies to restaurants at retail prices. Retailers and consumers with a need for a large quotient of supplies may also purchase directly from manufacturers at wholesale prices.The supply needs of a restaurant are enormous and the costs involved in purcha
Here’s how it works. Build an affirmative path by asking your customer two simple and obvious closed-ended questions that you know will result in a YES response. Once you do that, the customer will be on an affirmative path (with you) and it is far easier for them to agree with your next question. It’s very much psychological…your customer won’t feel comfortable disagreeing with himself…and will feel compelled to say yes to your third question so that he agrees with himself!
7. Have a graceful exit. When all else fails, you need a way to gracefully get out of a conversation with a difficult or unreasonable customer. Here’s a simple way to gracefully exit: “We see this differently and I’m going to have to put thought into the perspective you have shared with me. I will visit with my supervisor about your concerns and call you back with a response.”
Try these tips and I promise, dealing with difficult customers won’t seem so difficult after all!
Imagine your next phone call is from an angry, irate customer, and yo
A newsletter is a powerful weapon in your marketing arsenal. Do you have a personal newsletter you send to past, present, and future customers at this time? Probably not. Most salespeople do not use newsletters. This is a serious mistake.A simple newsletter is a very powerful tool to keep you in front of your past customers and build trust and credibility with your present and future customers. In one year's time a newsletter can double your business and income by itself. They are that powerful!You do not have to be a great writer to produce an interesting newsletter with valuable and useful information and send it to your customers and prospects. If you have information they can use and appreciate they will look forward to reading it. It can be written on the computer, printed out and copied and sent by stamped mail, or it can be sent by email. You can get your flooring information from trade newsletters and maga
1. Confidently acknowledge and address anger. A big mistake among customer service professionals is to ignore a customer’s expression of anger or tip-toe around it. There is something known as the communication chain. When people communicate, they expect the person they are communicating with to respond or react…this response is a link in the communication chain. A failure to respond to communication leaves the communication chain unlinked…broken.
For example, If I walk into my office and say... “Hello Sherry, how are you?” ....and she says absolutely nothing, she’s broken the communication chain. And that leaves me feeling awkward, perhaps embarrassed.
If a customer expresses anger and we fail to respond to it, the communication chain is broken and the customer feels like they are not getting through. The customer might become even angrier and more difficult, as they are resorting to whatever it takes to feel heard and understood.
You can keep your angry customers from getting angrier by confidently acknowledging their anger and responding to it. You can respond to anger with a statement like, “Clearly you’re upset and I want you to know that getting to the bottom of this is just as important to me as it is to you.” This statement directly and professionally addresses anger – without- making the customer even angrier. Now that the anger has been acknowledged, you have completed the communication chain.
2. Allow the customer to vent, but don’t lose control. An Angry customer can be compared to an erupting volcano. When a volcano is erupting, there is nothing you can do about it. You can’t speed up the eruption, you can’t put a lid on it, and you cannot direct or redirect it…it must erupt.
When a customer is angry, they must experience and express their anger – and often this is done through venting. We should not interrupt an angry venting customer or tell them to “calm down.” This would be as futile as trying to tame a volcano. A volcano erupts and eventually subsides. Your angry customer will vent and eventually calm down.
Always let angry customers vent. In most cases, your customer will only need to vent for fifteen to thirty-five seconds. Venting beyond 35 seconds can become ranting and cause you to lose control. After a few seconds of venting, you’ll want to jump back in and move the conversation forward constructively.
3. Don’t react emotionally. It can be easy to lose our cool when a customer gets hot, but be warned: In most cases, showing frustration, impatience, or acting even mildly upset doesn’t help you move the customer out of a hardball mentality. Usually, losing our own cool does nothing but make the customer even more upset or our attitude will make the customer even firmer in his original position.
If you feel you’re beginning to lose your cool, don’t be afraid to hit the “pause” button. You hit the pause button by putting a customer on hold or telling the customer you will call them back.
4. Heed Steven Covey’s Words…Understand, then be understood. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Steven Covey tells a story of a patient going in for an eye exam. After briefly listening to the patient’s complaint, the doctor takes off his glasses and hands them to the patient and tells the patient to simply “take his glasses where them.”
What are the chances you’d go back to a doctor that prescribes a solution without even diagnosing a problem? You don’t have much confidence in someone who doesn’t diagnose before they prescribe… But how often do we prescribe a solution before completely diagnosing the situation, in dealing with customers?
Seek first to understand. Before you try PRESCRIBE a solution for a customer’s problem, before you quote policy or tell a customer what you cannot do, seek to truly understand the customer’s viewpoint. How has the problem impacted your customer? Has your customer lost money, time, respect, or confidence because of this problem? Does the customer feel embarrassed, wronged, discriminated against, or powerless? Try to really understand what your customer is experiencing and feeling. when you respond, communicate your full understanding of the problem from the customer’s perspective. Only then can you truly diagnose, BEFORE you prescribe a solution.
Listening with the intent to understand gives you empathy for the customer and puts you in the position to solve the real issues. Once you really understand your customer, you naturally begin to communicate with empathy and to communicate more effectively. Your customer, who feels understood, can now begin to understand you.
5. Don’t belabor your point…no matter how right you are. be•la•bor - [bi-ley-ber] – verb: (1) to assail persistently, as with scorn or ridicule (2) work at (something) repeatedly or more than is necessary: He kept belaboring the point long after we had agreed.
If you really want to tick a customer off or incite an already upset customer, belabor your point. Repeat your point (your policy; your position) over and over again. I mean really badger the customer with your elementary explanation so that the customer feels they aren’t too bright.
Customer service professionals all around the world make the mistake of belaboring a point when speaking with customers. Don’t let this happen to you. Simply make your point once diplomatically and then enter into a constructive dialogue with your customer.
6. Get the customer saying ‘yes’, and if possible, keep them from saying ‘no’. When a person says “no,” all of their pride demands that they remain consistent with themselves. And it is very difficult, once they’ve said ‘no’, for them to change their mind and become “agreeable” with you, because their sense of pride is now involved. And we invest so much in our pride.
Here’s how it works. Build an affirmative path by asking your customer two simple and obvious closed-ended questions that you know will result in a YES response. Once you do that, the customer will be on an affirmative path (with you) and it is far easier for them to agree with your next question. It’s very much psychological…your customer won’t feel comfortable disagreeing with himself…and will feel compelled to say yes to your third question so that he agrees with himself!
7. Have a graceful exit. When all else fails, you need a way to gracefully get out of a conversation with a difficult or unreasonable customer. Here’s a simple way to gracefully exit: “We see this differently and I’m going to have to put thought into the perspective you have shared with me. I will visit with my supervisor about your concerns and call you back with a response.”
Try these tips and I promise, dealing with difficult customers won’t seem so difficult after all!
Imagine your next phone call is from an angry, irate customer, and you
Do you find that your organization is constantly changing, that you are not sure what organization you are working for let alone your job description? Has your job changed as a result of downsizing, out sizing and rightsizing and that it leaves you with more to do and less time? Do you find that you struggle to put your life in balance and that work is an overwhelming amount of time in your life? Do you question, “Am I in the right job?” If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, you are not alone. The world of work is changing and becoming more demanding. You need to change with it. But how?In my work as coach, trainer and consultant, I have observed the changes in the world of work and the impact on the individuals stress, satisfaction and productivity.In the 1980s organizations focused on quality. It was about doing the best for customers and providing
2. Allow the customer to vent, but don’t lose control. An Angry customer can be compared to an erupting volcano. When a volcano is erupting, there is nothing you can do about it. You can’t speed up the eruption, you can’t put a lid on it, and you cannot direct or redirect it…it must erupt.
When a customer is angry, they must experience and express their anger – and often this is done through venting. We should not interrupt an angry venting customer or tell them to “calm down.” This would be as futile as trying to tame a volcano. A volcano erupts and eventually subsides. Your angry customer will vent and eventually calm down.
Always let angry customers vent. In most cases, your customer will only need to vent for fifteen to thirty-five seconds. Venting beyond 35 seconds can become ranting and cause you to lose control. After a few seconds of venting, you’ll want to jump back in and move the conversation forward constructively.
3. Don’t react emotionally. It can be easy to lose our cool when a customer gets hot, but be warned: In most cases, showing frustration, impatience, or acting even mildly upset doesn’t help you move the customer out of a hardball mentality. Usually, losing our own cool does nothing but make the customer even more upset or our attitude will make the customer even firmer in his original position.
If you feel you’re beginning to lose your cool, don’t be afraid to hit the “pause” button. You hit the pause button by putting a customer on hold or telling the customer you will call them back.
4. Heed Steven Covey’s Words…Understand, then be understood. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Steven Covey tells a story of a patient going in for an eye exam. After briefly listening to the patient’s complaint, the doctor takes off his glasses and hands them to the patient and tells the patient to simply “take his glasses where them.”
What are the chances you’d go back to a doctor that prescribes a solution without even diagnosing a problem? You don’t have much confidence in someone who doesn’t diagnose before they prescribe… But how often do we prescribe a solution before completely diagnosing the situation, in dealing with customers?
Seek first to understand. Before you try PRESCRIBE a solution for a customer’s problem, before you quote policy or tell a customer what you cannot do, seek to truly understand the customer’s viewpoint. How has the problem impacted your customer? Has your customer lost money, time, respect, or confidence because of this problem? Does the customer feel embarrassed, wronged, discriminated against, or powerless? Try to really understand what your customer is experiencing and feeling. when you respond, communicate your full understanding of the problem from the customer’s perspective. Only then can you truly diagnose, BEFORE you prescribe a solution.
Listening with the intent to understand gives you empathy for the customer and puts you in the position to solve the real issues. Once you really understand your customer, you naturally begin to communicate with empathy and to communicate more effectively. Your customer, who feels understood, can now begin to understand you.
5. Don’t belabor your point…no matter how right you are. be•la•bor - [bi-ley-ber] – verb: (1) to assail persistently, as with scorn or ridicule (2) work at (something) repeatedly or more than is necessary: He kept belaboring the point long after we had agreed.
If you really want to tick a customer off or incite an already upset customer, belabor your point. Repeat your point (your policy; your position) over and over again. I mean really badger the customer with your elementary explanation so that the customer feels they aren’t too bright.
Customer service professionals all around the world make the mistake of belaboring a point when speaking with customers. Don’t let this happen to you. Simply make your point once diplomatically and then enter into a constructive dialogue with your customer.
6. Get the customer saying ‘yes’, and if possible, keep them from saying ‘no’. When a person says “no,” all of their pride demands that they remain consistent with themselves. And it is very difficult, once they’ve said ‘no’, for them to change their mind and become “agreeable” with you, because their sense of pride is now involved. And we invest so much in our pride.
Here’s how it works. Build an affirmative path by asking your customer two simple and obvious closed-ended questions that you know will result in a YES response. Once you do that, the customer will be on an affirmative path (with you) and it is far easier for them to agree with your next question. It’s very much psychological…your customer won’t feel comfortable disagreeing with himself…and will feel compelled to say yes to your third question so that he agrees with himself!
7. Have a graceful exit. When all else fails, you need a way to gracefully get out of a conversation with a difficult or unreasonable customer. Here’s a simple way to gracefully exit: “We see this differently and I’m going to have to put thought into the perspective you have shared with me. I will visit with my supervisor about your concerns and call you back with a response.”
Try these tips and I promise, dealing with difficult customers won’t seem so difficult after all!
Imagine your next phone call is from an angry, irate customer, and yo
This article offers some general background information on some well-known Swedish brand names, although some of them may not be commonly recognised as originally Swedish. Sweden is quite unusual in that, for the size of the country, it has a relatively large number of world-class companies. Until recently, these were largely Swedish owned, and several still are, but some are now owned, wholly or partly, by non-Swedish groups but are still seen as Swedish. However, most of these companies are not familiar to the majority of people because they sell to other industries and not to the general public.People working in those industries will readily recognise such names as Alfa Laval (separators, heat transfer and fluid handling systems), Aga (industrial gases - now part of the Linde Group), Atlas Copco (compressors, mining and construction equipment), ASEA (electrical equipment - now part of ABB), SKF (world number 1 in ball and rol
If you feel you’re beginning to lose your cool, don’t be afraid to hit the “pause” button. You hit the pause button by putting a customer on hold or telling the customer you will call them back.
4. Heed Steven Covey’s Words…Understand, then be understood. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Steven Covey tells a story of a patient going in for an eye exam. After briefly listening to the patient’s complaint, the doctor takes off his glasses and hands them to the patient and tells the patient to simply “take his glasses where them.”
What are the chances you’d go back to a doctor that prescribes a solution without even diagnosing a problem? You don’t have much confidence in someone who doesn’t diagnose before they prescribe… But how often do we prescribe a solution before completely diagnosing the situation, in dealing with customers?
Seek first to understand. Before you try PRESCRIBE a solution for a customer’s problem, before you quote policy or tell a customer what you cannot do, seek to truly understand the customer’s viewpoint. How has the problem impacted your customer? Has your customer lost money, time, respect, or confidence because of this problem? Does the customer feel embarrassed, wronged, discriminated against, or powerless? Try to really understand what your customer is experiencing and feeling. when you respond, communicate your full understanding of the problem from the customer’s perspective. Only then can you truly diagnose, BEFORE you prescribe a solution.
Listening with the intent to understand gives you empathy for the customer and puts you in the position to solve the real issues. Once you really understand your customer, you naturally begin to communicate with empathy and to communicate more effectively. Your customer, who feels understood, can now begin to understand you.
5. Don’t belabor your point…no matter how right you are. be•la•bor - [bi-ley-ber] – verb: (1) to assail persistently, as with scorn or ridicule (2) work at (something) repeatedly or more than is necessary: He kept belaboring the point long after we had agreed.
If you really want to tick a customer off or incite an already upset customer, belabor your point. Repeat your point (your policy; your position) over and over again. I mean really badger the customer with your elementary explanation so that the customer feels they aren’t too bright.
Customer service professionals all around the world make the mistake of belaboring a point when speaking with customers. Don’t let this happen to you. Simply make your point once diplomatically and then enter into a constructive dialogue with your customer.
6. Get the customer saying ‘yes’, and if possible, keep them from saying ‘no’. When a person says “no,” all of their pride demands that they remain consistent with themselves. And it is very difficult, once they’ve said ‘no’, for them to change their mind and become “agreeable” with you, because their sense of pride is now involved. And we invest so much in our pride.
Here’s how it works. Build an affirmative path by asking your customer two simple and obvious closed-ended questions that you know will result in a YES response. Once you do that, the customer will be on an affirmative path (with you) and it is far easier for them to agree with your next question. It’s very much psychological…your customer won’t feel comfortable disagreeing with himself…and will feel compelled to say yes to your third question so that he agrees with himself!
7. Have a graceful exit. When all else fails, you need a way to gracefully get out of a conversation with a difficult or unreasonable customer. Here’s a simple way to gracefully exit: “We see this differently and I’m going to have to put thought into the perspective you have shared with me. I will visit with my supervisor about your concerns and call you back with a response.”
Try these tips and I promise, dealing with difficult customers won’t seem so difficult after all!
Imagine your next phone call is from an angry, irate customer, and yo
Customized service is the most popular thing that is happening in the field of business. In fact, customization is one of the most sought after element by people all over the world. Customization basically means to make or prepare a thing exactly as you want it. Products of different types are available in the market and custom banner is nothing different than any other customized product. Custom banners are banners that are made just as you want it to be made. Banners has been used since early days to convey any kind of message and custom banners are ideal for you to use if you want to tell anything to anyone.Custom banners can be made of any shape, size, color and make. There are certain things that you will have to take care of for making a custom banner. First of all, you have to find out a theme on which you would like to make the custom banner. Based on the theme, all the different elements of your custom banner will be dec
Listening with the intent to understand gives you empathy for the customer and puts you in the position to solve the real issues. Once you really understand your customer, you naturally begin to communicate with empathy and to communicate more effectively. Your customer, who feels understood, can now begin to understand you.
5. Don’t belabor your point…no matter how right you are. be•la•bor - [bi-ley-ber] – verb: (1) to assail persistently, as with scorn or ridicule (2) work at (something) repeatedly or more than is necessary: He kept belaboring the point long after we had agreed.
If you really want to tick a customer off or incite an already upset customer, belabor your point. Repeat your point (your policy; your position) over and over again. I mean really badger the customer with your elementary explanation so that the customer feels they aren’t too bright.
Customer service professionals all around the world make the mistake of belaboring a point when speaking with customers. Don’t let this happen to you. Simply make your point once diplomatically and then enter into a constructive dialogue with your customer.
6. Get the customer saying ‘yes’, and if possible, keep them from saying ‘no’. When a person says “no,” all of their pride demands that they remain consistent with themselves. And it is very difficult, once they’ve said ‘no’, for them to change their mind and become “agreeable” with you, because their sense of pride is now involved. And we invest so much in our pride.
Here’s how it works. Build an affirmative path by asking your customer two simple and obvious closed-ended questions that you know will result in a YES response. Once you do that, the customer will be on an affirmative path (with you) and it is far easier for them to agree with your next question. It’s very much psychological…your customer won’t feel comfortable disagreeing with himself…and will feel compelled to say yes to your third question so that he agrees with himself!
7. Have a graceful exit. When all else fails, you need a way to gracefully get out of a conversation with a difficult or unreasonable customer. Here’s a simple way to gracefully exit: “We see this differently and I’m going to have to put thought into the perspective you have shared with me. I will visit with my supervisor about your concerns and call you back with a response.”
Try these tips and I promise, dealing with difficult customers won’t seem so difficult after all!
Imagine your next phone call is from an angry, irate customer, and yo
Having a career as a car wash consultant can be very rewarding as there are always new car washes going in and one of the 43,000 carwashes in the United States will always need your assistance. How is the pay for a carwash consultant? Well that depends on what kind of a deal you can make with each client and it also has a lot to do with your time availability and if you are willing to travel.There are some carwash consultants who do not travel much and rely on the phone, fax, email and other electronic communications. This is possible, but the real money goes to those who are willing to travel, survey the area and also know how to work the demographic software, get plans submitted and understand all the types of possible equipment and what that equipment can and cannot do.In fact there are many equipment manufacturers who will also pay a commission or referral fee for assisting in bringing buyers and helping close the deal
Here’s how it works. Build an affirmative path by asking your customer two simple and obvious closed-ended questions that you know will result in a YES response. Once you do that, the customer will be on an affirmative path (with you) and it is far easier for them to agree with your next question. It’s very much psychological…your customer won’t feel comfortable disagreeing with himself…and will feel compelled to say yes to your third question so that he agrees with himself!
7. Have a graceful exit. When all else fails, you need a way to gracefully get out of a conversation with a difficult or unreasonable customer. Here’s a simple way to gracefully exit: “We see this differently and I’m going to have to put thought into the perspective you have shared with me. I will visit with my supervisor about your concerns and call you back with a response.”
Try these tips and I promise, dealing with difficult customers won’t seem so difficult after all!
Imagine your next phone call is from an angry, irate customer, and you've only got a few seconds to gain control. Are you 100% confident you can handle it?
If not, Myra Golden has the perfect program for you...a free online training designed specifically for hard working customer service
professionals.
Simply click this link now to see what it's all about: http://www.tamedifficultcustomers.com
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