Lesson 5 – Customer care –

dealing with complaints and

difficult customers
Professionalism for group trainers

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Learning objectives
By the end of the lesson you will be able to:
• Describe how to communicate with dissatisfied customers
• Describe the skills required to deal with potentially volatile or unpleasant
situations
• Identify responses and actions that may make problems worse
• Describe how to adapt their communication style, attitude and response to
meet individual customer needs
• Describe how to inform customers when promises cannot kept as a result of
unforeseen circumstances
• Explain how, when and to whom problems can be referred to
Customer complaints

Paired activity
Discuss and write down personal experiences of either:

a) A complaint made by you, and how it was dealt with (positively or

negatively).
b) A complaint made to you while in work, and how it was dealt with
(positively or negatively).

There should be a particular focus on:

• Speed of response.
• Efficiency of response.
• Attitude of the employee/s involved.
• Did the employee/you accept responsibility or apportion blame
elsewhere?
• Communication throughout the process.
 Dealing with complaints

The employee should:

• Listen without interrupting.

• Thank the client for his/her feedback and for bringing the issue to his/her
attention.
• Take ownership of the complaint.
• Be polite.
• Remain calm and never enter into an argument.
• Follow organisational procedures ‒ record the complaint (fill in a complaint
form), acknowledge receipt of it, and reassure the customer that it will be
resolved in a timely fashion.
• Offer a point of contact ‒ advise the client of possible solutions or
alternatives, allow them to decide on an appropriate solution and ensure that
they are appeased before they leave.
• Inform the relevant staff about the problem.
• Communicate with the client and update him/her on progress.
 Dealing with angry customers
Aggressive language
‘Don’t you dare speak to me like
that!’
‘With that attitude, how do you
expect to resolve this?’
‘Shut up or I won’t continue this
conversation!’
Aggressive body language
Scowling.
Closed posture with arms folded.
Invading personal space.
Assertive language
‘I’d prefer it if you didn’t speak to me
in that way.’
‘I can understand your frustration;
let’s see what we
can do about this.’
‘I won’t be able to continue this
conversation if you
keep using bad language.’
Assertive body language
Open facial expression.
Open posture.
Standing at a respectful distance.
Using customer complaints as an opportunity

Complaints should neither be taken

personally, nor be dealt with in a
defensive, ‘blame-culture’ manner.

Instead, they should be used as an

opportunity to show just how much
you (and your organisation) care
about customers in dealing with
their issues positively.

They are also a great learning

opportunity to ensure the same
problems do not reoccur in the
future.
Is the customer always right?

Watch this video clip and decide for yourself.........!!

Learning review
Can you now:
• Describe how to communicate with dissatisfied customers?
• Describe the skills required to deal with potentially volatile or unpleasant
situations?
• Identify responses and actions that may make problems worse?
• Describe how to adapt their communication style, attitude and response to
meet individual customer needs?
• Describe how to inform customers when promises cannot kept as a result of
unforeseen circumstances?
• Explain how, when and to whom problems can be referred to?
#BeginWithBetter