Workforce Management Simplified

5 Tips for Retailers When Dealing With

Angry Customers

Get Them In Private

● The best thing that you can do for both you and them is to avoid making a

scene. If they begin their tirade out on the sales floor, try to take them to an

area where you can communicate in a more private way.

● Firstly, it’s not a good situation for your store, and secondly, many of these

types of angry customers tend to feed off having an audience.

● If you take them away from the situation and create a more private setting,

there is a good chance that they’ll calm down a bit so that you can get to the

bottom of what’s irking them.

Let Them Get It All Out

● The most important rule to successfully diffusing the situation is to let the

customer say what he or she has to say first.

● Even if you understand what the problem is halfway through the rant and you

know what the solution is, resist the need to interject.

● So there’s also a good chance that they have rehearsed their complaint and

have a fairly scripted bit of outrage to lay on you. If you interrupt them, there’s

a good chance that the’ll simply reset and start from the top.

Listen

● While you are letting the customer vent, you shouldn’t just be staring into space

and trying to find a happy place in your mind until you see that his or her lips

have stopped moving.

● Be sure to try to hone in to everything they are saying in an effort to understand

the problem as fully as possible. That way you will be fully prepare to give the

best possible reply when the time comes for you to offer a solution.

Kill Them With Kindness

● It’s important not to get confrontational, no matter how much your basic

instincts try to force you into such a response.

● It’s also a good idea to express sympathy for their situation and to

recognize the fact that they are frustrated.

● Many times, the customer wants to coax you into entering a conflict, and

once they realize that you’re cool as a cucumber and that it’s not going to

happen, there’s a good chance that they are going to cool off too.