The Four Types Of Difficult Customers

Customers. Can’t live with ‘em, business can’t live without ‘em.

For the most part, your customers are people you feel overwhelming fondness for. You know you owe them your livelihood, and you appreciate every single one of them for investing their hard-earned cash into what your business produces. You need them; they like you; everyone’s happy.

Except for the times when they’re not.

Despite the popular saying, the customer is absolutely not always right – any business owner has a tendency to learn that very quickly indeed. You’ll also learn that there are different ways in which customers have a tendency to be not right.

It’s possible to break down the difficult customers into five distinct types. That’s not to say one is easier to deal with than any of the others; they all bring their own unique issues. However, it can be helpful to be able to identify the kind of difficult customer they are, because the fix to their problem will be that much easier to decipher.

Type One: The “I Know My Rights” Customer
Most Likely To Say: “I know my rights and I demand you do everything I say is required by law!”

Least Likely To Say: “Oh is that true? I’ll back down then.”

Attitude: Aggressive, assertive, and – dare we say it? – somewhat entitled.

What To Watch Out For: No matter what has brought this kind of customer to your door, they believe they are right. They might even quote the “customer is always right” saying to your face, pumped up with indignation. It rarely matters if their problem is legitimately caused by your company or if its of their own making – they’ll still be pumped up and demanding a fix immediately.

How To Handle It: Capitulation. Sometimes, all you can do is give in and hope that will quieten someone down. Don’t expect a “thank you”, though – they’ll just see your agreement as proof they were right all along.

Type Two: The Backstabber
Most Likely To Say: “That was amazing!” (to your face) / “worst experience EVER!!!111!!” (online)

Least Likely To Say: The truth of their feelings on your company and how you operate with any nuance. It’s either amazing or woeful.

Attitude: To your face, sweetness and light to the point of obsequiousness. Online, they are furious with everything and will delight in trashing your reputation.

What To Watch Out For: To an extent, there’s not much you can watch out for with this customer – you won’t know they have had a problem until it’s too late. Rather than complaining in the moment and giving you the opportunity to rectify the issue, they save their fury for online review sites and social media. All you can do is try and mitigate the damage with a good strategy for reviews management and a calm response to any of their tirades.

How To Handle It: As above: be polite. Many a company has garnered a bad reputation for responding online to customers in the same tone they were addressed in. Always remember that potential customers might see what you write, so don’t be insulting or bad-mouth the difficult customer who left the initial review. Of course, subtly hinting that they are wrong or unreasonable won’t do any harm – but do be subtle about it!

Type Three: The Comparison Wizard
Most Likely To Say: “Yes this will do, but it’s not quite as good as…”

Least Likely To Say: “This is the best I have been offered; I’m so happy!”

Attitude: Always polite, but with an edge of condescension. This is a customer who wants you to know they are satisfied, but not too satisfied – they like reminding you that you have competition for their repeat custom.

What To Watch Out For: There’s a chance this kind of customer is genuinely trying to help you, by pointing out business areas where you fall down in comparison with your competitors. It’s fairly unlikely, though. Chances are they are just wheedling for an improvement to their own experience, trying to make you want to go the extra mile to stand out as one of the best.

How To Handle It: Depending on their value to you as a business, you can handle this in one of two ways. You can thank them for their feedback and do no more, or you can play the game and throw a few freebies their way. The latter might bite a bit, but if their custom is valuable to you, then it might be worth going the extra mile and just swallowing how much you dislike it.

Type Four: The Fast and The Furious
Most Likely To Say: Any number of expletives, arranged in no particular order.

Least Likely To Say: Anything that allows for calm discussion that will be beneficial to allowing you to solve their issue.

Attitude: They’re furious about something but they don’t want to talk. They don’t even necessarily want a resolution; they just want to vent their spleen in anger.

What To Watch Out For: There is a certain walk – a stride, if you will – that customers like this have. With practice, you’ll be able to see them coming; hands balled up, eyes swiveling around, always demanding to only speak to the owner. They will begin their shouts with little chance for you to comprehend, often mixing up their personal life into their experience of your company. For example: “as if my day wasn’t already bad enough what with the roof falling in, then I come here…”

How To Handle It: The cardinal rule with furious customers is just to stay quiet. If you try and cut in – especially if you do so with the intention of correcting an assumption they have made, that you know to be false – then you’re only going to provoke them all the more. Instead, train yourself and your staff to just nod along as they vent the initial pulse of anger. Try and do this even if they are being personally insulting; even if they are saying things that are outright incorrect; even if they are doing it in front of other customers and causing a scene. Literally any intervention in the first stages of their diatribe is not going to go well.

Eventually, they will rant themselves out – they will either storm out or demand what you are going to do about it. At this point, request they keep their voice down and follow you to a quiet, private area so you can discuss a resolution.