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A happy customer is a forever fan of your business, unlike unhappy ones who just quit there and then; some do it without letting you know what went wrong.
An excellent customer service layout allows a company to address customers’ demands and empowers the company to give customers a good experience. Companies need to use customer service skills as the engine for their growth; it can also be a set of behaviors a business would rely on to retain existing customers and attract new ones.
Excellent customer service is the easiest and cheapest PR a company can have. Many prefer to buy services or products from companies with outstanding customer care service even if the quality is not better. They like the care and attention provided to them by service providers. This can range from home delivery services to good communication from service providers. Greeting emails can also increase the gratitude of customers to your business. Request feedback from your clients to find out if the service provided was helpful to their needs or not.
How do you get to know (signs) that customers are unhappy with your services?
Customers, in an instant, will switch to your competitors if you continue to provide services unrelated to their demands or are satisfying their needs and, adding insult to injury, poor customer care services. Sometimes some customers won’t notify you or terminate; they will walk away and inform you that you no longer have customers is the low rate of selling and business frustration. It is an essential factor to offer better customer care service and reach out to them to see how they are doing by sending emails and phone calls; here are some of the signs that will help to identify unhappy customers towards your services;
1. Purchase return
When things sold out from the business are returned, that will show you that a customer was dissatisfied with your services or the product didn’t meet the qualifications.
2. Rejection of discounts and other offers given to them
This is another sign that a customer didn't like the services they got the last time; they may not have communicated or returned the product but decided to show you that he wasn’t satisfied with your services.
3. Ignoring your calls and not responding to your email
If your customer is not attending to your calls and not responding to emails with no reasonable fact, you don’t have to ask much that is one fact that will inform you that a customer was not happy with your services.
4. Comparing your services against your rivals
Comments like “you should start work like your neighbors, learn from your neighbors” without giving direct hints know that customers have started doubting how you’re operating, which might cause them to leave your business.
5. Losing hope and trust
This is the final stage of customer dissatisfaction. After that, your clients will start looking for services from your rivals as one way to address their problems because they can’t continually tolerate your poor customer care services, and they are not hoping for any change.
What might cause your customers to become angry or dissatisfied?
Your customers can become unhappy with your customer care services for several reasons. For instance, when a customer receives a different product from what they ordered, this might annoy your client and make them more dissatisfied with your services. Generally, there are some common causes of customer dissatisfaction, and let us look at some of these;
1. Poor quality services
Your customers may have issues with your service or the quality of your products. For example, a customer who placed an order for a first-hand product but received a second-hand one will become more dissatisfied with your service (s). So it might cause them to leave bad reviews on your website store.
2. Pricing
Suppose you continually change the prices of your products or service, and maybe some of your clients were grateful for the product’s prices before. In that case, it may lead your customer to leave you and start buying products from competitors to solve their problems.
3. Poor delivery and specifications
It is usually worse when you receive something different from what you expected to acquire because of the wrong specification or description. Hence, it is the same story when the customer receives an order that is not similar to what they ordered. As a result, they may think that the company is not severe or pay attention or give value to their order, which may cause a client to become dissatisfied with your business.
4. Hidden product information and unexpected costs on the side of the customer
Information like product usage, date of expiry, and manufactured date sometimes is not labeled on the products (hidden); it may cause your customers to suspect your company of offering expired and harmful effects because the product information is invisible. And also, information about deliverance can cause customer dissatisfaction; for example, if the company applied delivery fees on goods transited separately from the cost of a product you didn’t communicate before, this may cause confusion and conflict between sender and receiver service.
How do you speak to an angry customer?
When handling an angry customer, you, as a service provider, must be polite and use light words to change an unhappy customer to a loyal one. And this can be done by getting into other analytics about customer interaction to help you understand customers' problems. The following are the best tips for any company to deal with dissatisfied customers.
1. Say, “I hear you,” not “I understand you.”
If you are talking to an angry customer, do not use “I understand you” because many experts handling customer service issues recommended that I understand you are wrong. After all, it is void. Instead, from the experience of many experts, the best word to use while handling an angry customer is “I hear you” because it contains all terms that imply you are listening to someone.
2. Say thank you for being sincere with me
This is the second tip to calm down an angry customer who is not happy with your service because your customers feel that your mind about them also shows humility to your customers.
3. Say you are right to be angry
This is a great tip to turn your angry customer into a loyal one. Do tell the angry customer that they are 100% correct and let him leave the conversation feeling better for the sake of themself.
4. Say we regret
It would help if you stopped thinking that you’re perfect and irreplaceable. Instead, be polite to your hurt customer and show them that you are also a human being and you fail, you can make mistakes, and something can happen that is right instead of dancing around when your customer can’t see any sign of being helped.
5. Admit the error
This sounds too emotional, but it shows you understand and value your customer’s issues. This gratitude will automatically heal the customer’s anger and become passionate because the interaction has shown them that you understand their problem.
6. Ask the customer, “Would you mind if we record this for further follow-ups.”
This sign will create a good heart in a hurt customer because it assures them that their complaint is valued and considered.
7. Promise to help
Say I am trying my best to help you; this implies to your customers that you are becoming a solution to their problems.
8. Ask if you have been helpful to your angry customer
This may sound unprofessional or force your client to remind themself that you’re also human. Still, it helps you understand the customer’s gratitude after the conversation. Ask, “have I done something personally to help you, or did I annoy you while trying to solve your problem?
How to handle an agitated customer
1. Stay calm and humble
When a customer starts yelling or complaining for reasons like poor customer care services or wrong orders delivered, please don’t argue with them; first, wait to respond because you will gain nothing by reacting similarly. That exchange of words may bring up conflicts, so it is better to keep quiet as you try to calm them down. Even if they become ruder, try to maintain or control your emotions.
2. Use your listening skills.
The first things that will calm an angry customer are being open to them, listening carefully to their complaints, training yourself to be very patient, and responding when a customer has reduced their anger to soothe the situation. To do this, you should experience the following actions;
Use body language like forgive, can I talk to you please, or can I have a little bit of your time, please?
Keep your arms crossed so they can’t suspect you might fight them.
Please keep your eye contact so that a customer believes you are listening to .them
Show closely you are paying attention to their problems.
3. Prove to a customer that you have understood what they said
Let your agitated customer know that you have understood all they said to make sure you know each other and assure customers that you know that their concerns have been approved and will be considered. For instance, you can start by saying that simply what “I heard is……………then repeat some of the previous words so long as it won’t take back customers into anger and highlights how the concern reported above hinders them from achieving their goals. This will turn an agitated customer into a loyal customer because they think you are paying attention to their problems and understand why your customer needs your help.
4. Apologize gracefully
The best thing you need to practice when handling agitated customers is to apologize to them for the incident that happened, the error that occurred, or if they are not happy with your products. You might need a straightforward statement while speaking to your agitated customers, like, “I’m very sorry for something that happened, but let’s see what we can do to make things right.” Then, you can end the conversation by thanking them for their time and bringing the issue to your attention.
5. Be honest with your partners and customers as well
It is essential to stay calm and be sincere when handling agitated customers. Make sure that the words coming from your mouth are deliberate and respectful. Be polite to your comers and don’t respond to your customers in equally angry manners. You may take a long route to diffuse tension and make the customer feel taken seriously.
6. Display the steps you will take to control and solve the problem for the customer.
Explain the steps you will take to overcome the problem here; indicate how you intend to address their concerns and ask them if it will be possible to cooperate with them to solve such a problem or be done through the phone. The technical way to do this is to implement a lane for your customer, highlight some of the steps you will take while solving their concerns, and let your customers know what you are targeting and when they will likely have a resolution.
7. Create a solution
This is the final step to consider when dealing with dissatisfied customers. When the company understands why customers are unsatisfied, be polite and request to express what they feel can be undertaken to solve the existing problem. You never know if some customers like to be involved in making decisions that might provide some satisfaction.
In conclusion, your business stands on the power of sales. Without customers, there are no sales. Therefore, to maintain your sales, you have to retain your customers. To do this, you need to learn how to handle customers depending on the situation in which they are.