Customer Always Right?
According to AsiaOne News:
IS the customer always right, even when he or she is dripping with sweat?
The New Paper decided to find out if sales assistants would mind perspiring customers trying on their merchandise.
Surely, the sight of two sweaty and smelly girls would turn them off, we thought.
On Tuesday, we went undercover and visited 10 outlets in town.
The end result is a conclusion that customer is always right as none of the 10 outlets stops the 2 reporters from trying out the clothes.
However, I feel there are some flaws to the reports and here’s what I found out
- They are cute young ladies
- They don’t actually use real sweats to test out the clothes
- They don’t smell badly
- They are bringing camera on a shopping trip?
I do agreed that in the harsh reality of the world right now that rude and unreasonable customers is hard to maintain a good relationship with and they might not even bring in the most profit by serving them 
There is always two side of the story, one side is the customer who had a bad day just want some kind of service but end up quarreling for small issues that may not even exist in the first place.
However, there are cases where the PR guys or the frontline person unwillingly performed unprofessionally with certain sales tactics or simply not very well verse with the product they selling can cause serious friction among the customers.
Possible Problems
- Seriously rude customers usually display displeasure with the slightest mistakes or error by sales force
- Sales or front line PR staff have a tough time handling such customers
Wacky Solutions which I usually writes
- Sales Stuff to SMILE WILDLY or MADLY to the customers and LISTEN to what they really wants, sometimes it’s not the product LOL
- Always ask the customer “What do you think is reasonable for our company to do to resolve this issue” or simply “How can I do it better for you?”
- Even if you are not sure or 100% sure that the “freebies” cannot be given, make a gesture that you will confirm with superior and come back apologizing and said that you had tried and ask what would the customer wants in return for to resolve the complaint. (Sometimes they just to inform the company of a defects of the product and not to expect any thing in return)
- Understand the rules and learn how to bend the rules when possible, say NO in the biggest smiles ever so that the customer don’t feel it’s a rejection.
- Sales Stuff or customer service should never ever show their displeasure at customers unless you are ready to risk your job status but train yourself to handle difficult customers with a touch of grace and prepare exit strategy carefully. (That’s where your relationship with your manager comes in)
- Always be brave to innovate solutions to recommend to bosses to resolve any recurring issues that customers always complaints about or “feedback” about.
- Know your products well and what is the extend the product can be “tried” or “touch” by customer before the line get crossed and have to stop them from doing what they are doing. Usually, when a customer touches a product with a NEED in their faces and even if they are sweaty or dirty…they may be the BEST CUSTOMERS as most customers will buy a product because they feel responsible for “defacing” or “destroying” the display product.
Well, there may be cases where customers are totally out of line and crosses the line of bodily contact with the customer service officer or sales stuff that should be handle with care and amicably with a shout of support from other colleagues to stand together as a group of staff to “kindly request the customer to leave” before you call the police.
Obviously being a sales staff will be very stressful if they are not well trained by the “specialist” or experienced colleagues hence once a week the staff meeting should include a difficult customer sharing session so that the experienced colleagues can give some tips on how to handle such situations.
