Handling Difficult People

Handling people is a necessity of professional life. It is more so when the profession involves regular interactions with customers, media people and general public. Those working in the front-desks, customer care centers, call centers and other public interest areas have to deal with many people. The people are not always with positive outlook or altruistic dispositions. 

Many people that have to be dealt are angry, frustrated or disappointed with the product, service, price or behavior. Of those people, many have a tendency to suppress their disappointment and let go. However, there are also those people who tend to pursue the cause of their dissatisfaction to the core and draw the people involved into the fray. When such people get diverted, rejected or improperly tackled at the immediate stage their frustration level drastically increases and they are more disposed to vent their ire at the person that comes across to interact with them. 

According to a 2012 article in Fox News website, there are ten ways to handle a difficult customer. This might be one of many perspectives of the issue but still the ideas such as listening, lowering the voice, not getting angry and upset, building a rapport with the person, not being upset, not taking it personally and being true to one's word about working on the issue or calling back are very useful, obvious and universal when it comes to dealing with difficult people and situations. In such cases, the experience and emotional disposition of the person who does the dealing is very important. 

When tackled with patience, humility, respect and empathy, even the harshest of people can be soothed down and made satisfied. That has to be backed up by the sincere and real effort to handle the problem reported and following up on that. This is where many service providers, especially those with public legacy, slip up and end up antagonizing their customers. In a competitive business environment, this slip up can cost the organization dear in terms of customer base, revenue, credibility and overall organizational image. Once the organizational image gets tainted, the image of the employees and stakeholders also get tarnished. 

So, better to start dealing with difficult people with respect and empathy so that good vibes spread and overall image improve. 

Friday 29 March 2019