How to Deal With Abusive Customers
Abusive customers are not fun for any business owner or manager to deal with.
However, there are some simple steps which can be followed, to keep customers who are mostly reasonable, while bidding farewell to those who are not.
Here are three steps you can take to deal with customers who are abusive: Deal with behaviors, and do so in writing First, you should realize that the customer may have some legitimate concerns.
After the opening salutation, you should address these concerns if you need to.
Explain any customer service tools you may need to (comment cards, etc.
), so that their frustration will hopefully not reach a boiling point in the future.
Next, though, you should explain what behavior was observed on the part of the customer, that the behavior is an unacceptable condition of doing business, and that you propose a solution (see below).
Of course, this also means you (or your employees) need to record any incident when it happens in a log.
If you have recorded the incident, date, and time, then you have documentation should you need to progress to making a legal case.
By putting this information in writing, you have spared the customer the embarrassment of publicly confronting them, but also given them notice that how they are acting is not fine with you.
If the customer is also aware of the exact circumstances (which are in writing), then there is no room for any misunderstanding about when the incident might have taken place, what happened, etc.
Give the customer choices As this part of your letter, you should present the customer with some choices, starting with encouraging them to engage in behaviors which honor and respect you, your staff, and place of business, and ending with the choice of their doing business elsewhere.
Explain that if they choose to continue to frequent your business, reasonable behavior (as outlined in the earlier choices) will be expected in the future.
If they cannot abide by this, you should ask them to leave immediately if they exhibit the same behaviors again.
If they refuse, then you can call the police, and let them deal with the customer.
In severe cases (where a customer is breaking the law at your business), you should of course call the police immediately.
Explain the consequences if the customer continues their behavior You should conclude your letter to the customer, by emphasizing that you generally enjoy conducting business with them, and that if the incident was simply due to their having a bad day, it will not be held against them if the situation is not repeated.
However, you also owe it to other stakeholders to keep your business environment a welcoming one, and their cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated.
If they can not abide by this, they will be asked to leave and not return to your business, under penalty of being charged with trespassing.
Certainly, when customers are abusive, it does not result in an enjoyable conversation afterwards.
However, a serious discussion with your customer needs to take place about boundaries.
For that reason, you will probably find it easier to express your concerns about their objectionable behavior in writing, give them some options for how you would like to proceed, and present clear consequences if they persist in their behaviors.
One unspoken assumption is that you and your employees run a professional organization, and do not engage in unreasonable behaviors of your own.
If you do behave professionally (and all businesses should), then you have every right to expect the same common courtesies to be extended by all your customers.
If you lose them despite that, then they are no great loss to your business.
Copyright 2010, by Marc Mays
However, there are some simple steps which can be followed, to keep customers who are mostly reasonable, while bidding farewell to those who are not.
Here are three steps you can take to deal with customers who are abusive: Deal with behaviors, and do so in writing First, you should realize that the customer may have some legitimate concerns.
After the opening salutation, you should address these concerns if you need to.
Explain any customer service tools you may need to (comment cards, etc.
), so that their frustration will hopefully not reach a boiling point in the future.
Next, though, you should explain what behavior was observed on the part of the customer, that the behavior is an unacceptable condition of doing business, and that you propose a solution (see below).
Of course, this also means you (or your employees) need to record any incident when it happens in a log.
If you have recorded the incident, date, and time, then you have documentation should you need to progress to making a legal case.
By putting this information in writing, you have spared the customer the embarrassment of publicly confronting them, but also given them notice that how they are acting is not fine with you.
If the customer is also aware of the exact circumstances (which are in writing), then there is no room for any misunderstanding about when the incident might have taken place, what happened, etc.
Give the customer choices As this part of your letter, you should present the customer with some choices, starting with encouraging them to engage in behaviors which honor and respect you, your staff, and place of business, and ending with the choice of their doing business elsewhere.
Explain that if they choose to continue to frequent your business, reasonable behavior (as outlined in the earlier choices) will be expected in the future.
If they cannot abide by this, you should ask them to leave immediately if they exhibit the same behaviors again.
If they refuse, then you can call the police, and let them deal with the customer.
In severe cases (where a customer is breaking the law at your business), you should of course call the police immediately.
Explain the consequences if the customer continues their behavior You should conclude your letter to the customer, by emphasizing that you generally enjoy conducting business with them, and that if the incident was simply due to their having a bad day, it will not be held against them if the situation is not repeated.
However, you also owe it to other stakeholders to keep your business environment a welcoming one, and their cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated.
If they can not abide by this, they will be asked to leave and not return to your business, under penalty of being charged with trespassing.
Certainly, when customers are abusive, it does not result in an enjoyable conversation afterwards.
However, a serious discussion with your customer needs to take place about boundaries.
For that reason, you will probably find it easier to express your concerns about their objectionable behavior in writing, give them some options for how you would like to proceed, and present clear consequences if they persist in their behaviors.
One unspoken assumption is that you and your employees run a professional organization, and do not engage in unreasonable behaviors of your own.
If you do behave professionally (and all businesses should), then you have every right to expect the same common courtesies to be extended by all your customers.
If you lose them despite that, then they are no great loss to your business.
Copyright 2010, by Marc Mays