Definitive Guide to Handle Unhappy Clients

In the world of business, there is bound to be some kind of friction or disagreement seen between you and your client, at one point or another. When you are in business to ‘serve’ your client, you should be ready to face any aggressive or upset client. Admittedly, the client might be, or might not be, angry for justifiable reasons.

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How to Deal With Unhappy Clients

However, the main point is how you react to the client’s anger, which decides your future relationship with the client as well as your ability to manage better such escalated situations with unhappy clients.

As a customer management consultant in India, having expansive experience, I have come across such situations many times. These are a few tips, which I learned down the years that actually help take control of the situation and reach an ideal solution, which is satisfactory to both parties.

In case during the course of business you ever come across an unhappy client, always remember:

1) To maintain your calm

The first step when a client responds aggressively, or even displays unhappiness with your service. The important thing is to remain completely calm. Responding in a likewise aggressive tone or manner will only escalate the situation. Maintain a control over yourself so that you can have better control over the situation. This is necessary to ignore the tirade (if any) and to reach the gist of the issue.

2) That it’s NOT personal

Always remember this, that the client is unhappy with the product or the service provided by your company, and it has nothing to do with you, as a person. Avoid letting (aggressive) emotions take over at such times and maintain a neutral temper.

3) To listen to the client

You need to understand that an unhappy client will likely want to vent their dissatisfaction to you initially. They want someone responsible for listening to the cause of their upset mood. You can notice how wonderfully the situation can get diffused if you simply listen attentively and respond suitably to the client during such moments.

Acknowledging that you are hearing and understanding their issue will take away almost all aggressiveness out. After they have finished talking, try and summarize the problem from your conversation, to ensure the client that you have understood the problem. Maintain an open posture and body language during this, keeping eye contact and your arms at your side politely will reflect your intention to hear out the client.

4) To recognize and resolve the issue

The next best step after you have listened to the client’s (tirade) side of the story and summarized the problem. Start by respectfully apologizing for this situation. You will see the client calm down significantly at this. Also, you need to come up with all viable solutions for the client’s issue. You can suggest the changes, which come to your mind and then promise to develop the idea more if the client is satisfied with it.

5) Go the extra mile in the end

Even if you have calmed the client down to understand their exact problem, you need to understand that the client might not be completely satisfied with just the resolution for the specific issue. Identify what you can do that can improve the situation even more than it is. Put extra effort in your revised work to ensure that it is even above the client’s expectations.

These golden pointers have helped me handle a large number of unhappy clients, from small businesses to large corporations. These are actually very simple steps once you can remember to keep your cool in any aggressive situation, which you might face, in your professional life.

This article was shared by – Ally Digital Media. 🙂