As you might have read in my commentary on the Quote of the Week, I was taught that the customer was always right.  And when I became a manager, I passed that same message along,  “The customer is always right!”

Over a number of years, I heard hundreds of stories from customers and customer service reps. There were times when customers lied and denied.  Sometimes they yelled and screamed.  Sometimes, it had nothing to do with anything about us.  And sometimes they were so rude that our customer service rep ended up in tears.  

And so my message changed to:  “The customer is NOT always right, but the customer is ALWAYS the customer.”  

This approach was far better for productivity, morale and overall business performance.  It allowed us to take care of our business while still being respectful to the customer.    And if a time came that we couldn’t do both of those things, we learned the value and importance of letting a customer go. 

What does that mean in terms of “how to’s”?   How do we train someone to be ready for this?  Hopefully it doesn’t happen enough at your place for you to be flush with examples.  You could do “what if” exercises.   For most people, movie clips are even more effective.    Like the one below.  Take a look at this scene.; then the questions below.  Be clear about how you would want your team members to handle a situation like this.

Then grab some popcorn and then gather everyone around and then toss out the questions to them.  See if their response is what you want it to be.  Coach accordingly. 

Questions for thought/discussion:

1.  How did the hotel manager handle the situation?

2.  What about the woman from the housekeeping staff?

3.  What about the man in the pet store?

4.  If you were in that situation, how would you feel inside?

5.  What would you want to do?

6.  Based on our values and the way we do things here at _____, what would be the best way to handle the situation?

7.  Which of the reminders in 10 Reminders about ANGRY Customers would be helpful to you in doing #6 instead of #5?

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