The customer is not always right

It is comfortable to work in a niche where you can choose who to cooperate with. This is possible when there is a long process of coordination and elaboration before the sale of a product or service, for example, in the construction, repair or implementation of a complex product. Then you can say, "My client is always right because he is so wonderful, constructive, reliable" (emphasis added).
But if the doors of your store are always open and the customer buys the goods on their own initiative, you are in the "caste" of entrepreneurs who do not choose their customers. And this is where the hackneyed phrase "The customer is always right" doesn't work.

Where did the concept of "the customer is always right" come from?

In 1909, Harry Gordon Selfridge, the founder of the store chain, chose the phrase "the customer is always right" as a slogan for his department stores.
The successful sounding phrase coined and used by Selfridge 100 years ago has become a part of our vocabulary. As a rule, this phrase is used by entrepreneurs to explain the concept of "customer focus" to employees in a simple and quick way. It is also abused by consumers to get what they want... and then some.

The prosaic statement "the customer is always right" is dangerous to apply indiscriminately. Otherwise, you run the risk of giving your business away and, at the same time, making your life hell.

In which cases the client is right by default

There are axioms when you must immediately admit your guilt and quickly correct the situation:

Stand up for your business

Everyone is different, and the approach to them should also be individual. Most people behave appropriately and calmly. But there is a category of people who flare up at the slightest trigger.
And a seemingly calm person turns into an aggressive, spoiled, criticizing, hysterical manipulator.

Tip 1: Don't be like an irrational person

It's tempting to respond to unconstructive criticism or tantrums by "putting the person in their place." Refrain from doing so. A person in a tantrum is deaf, in an attack posture, and confident in their rightness. Attempts to reason with them usually end in nothing, but only encourage the aggressor to continue the hysteria.

Tip 2. Protect your employees

One of the most common mistakes is to throw a salesperson or manager "under the tank" and leave them face to face with a conflicted client.
Don't set up employees. Customer aggression needs to be dispersed. How to do it? We'll discuss this below.

Tip 3: Take a break, let the client speak, and look for a motive at this time

Does the client assert himself? Is he showing omniscience? Or is he just looking for someone to take it out on? If you understand what offended him, you can choose the right tactics to get out of this situation.

Preventive measures: how to prevent conflict

• Find a lawyer who can help you, who will respond to your first call, and who is familiar with the nuances of your business.     
• Have a lawyer draft an offer agreement on the terms of sale and delivery of goods. Publish the agreement where people buy your goods: on your website, in an online store, on prom.ua, on Facebook.     
• Add simple and clear rules in the store at the entrance, at the cash register, near the fitting rooms. For example, "only wear a mask", "wear shoes with a spatula", etc.    
• Salespeople should have clear rules - regulations on how to act in a situation where a customer behaves irrationally. To write such rules, it's enough to convene a meeting with salespeople, recall typical conflict situations, discuss how to resolve them, and write down criticism and arguments in a Google document.    
• Order training on handling objections for employees.      
• Teach salespeople not to take criticism personally. Give them confidence that if a conflict arises, you will carefully investigate the situation. Often, employees endure humiliation from a customer and hide the conflict from their manager in fear of being fined or fired for a dissatisfied customer.     
• Install video surveillance in the store and above the cash register so that the conflict can be resolved with video evidence.      
• If you sell by phone, connect IP telephony with call recording. Customers often go for direct deception, and a fragment of their conversation pacifies aggression.     
• Mark problem customers in the CRM system so that an experienced manager can work with them.     

What to do if conflict is inevitable

Admit and correct if you are wrong. With constructive people, the conflict is usually resolved at this stage. If an apology is not enough, give the disloyal customer a nice bonus: a discount, a gift certificate.
Anti-example: I was sold a laptop with a damaged hard disk. After my complaint, the seller admitted his mistake, but decided to fix it at my expense: he said to 1) come 2) the next day 3) across town to the store. Although this could have been solved by courier delivery.
Give the client a chance to be a leader in the conflict, show your imaginary weakness. If it's just about self-assertion, then the conflict can be exhausted at this stage: the person will shout and get what they want.

Try the principle of amortization: agree with the client right away. This tactic is worth using if you value the relationship and the conflict needs to be resolved quickly. But you'll have to practice in advance. Read more about this method in Mikhail Litvak's book Psychological Aikido.

Spray the energy of the conflict. The seller should not get into a dispute with the customer and stop serving other customers. In an offline store, it should be possible to call the administrator. The customer will be less likely to repeat the essence of the complaint for the second time.
If you run an online store, offer a written complaint form. The customer will describe the situation and can reconsider their attitude to the conflict. Consider each complaint in writing carefully, use criticism as a tool to improve business processes in the store. Think about what can be changed for the better after a customer complaint?

Ask questions. Ask the dissatisfied customer in detail what happened and how it happened, which led to the conflict, step by step. Break the situation down into molecules. A conflicting client likes to generalize. Ask as specific questions as possible. This way it is easier to find the source of the hysteria and reduce the attacker's temper. But often there is nothing concrete except emotions.

How an entrepreneur can protect himself from dissatisfied customers

The job of an entrepreneur is to solve problems every day. But there comes a time when a business owner simply gets tired of having to make decisions all the time, engage in petty squabbles, and deal with criticism.

What an entrepreneur should do to avoid burnout

Tip 1: The scorched earth method

Teaching a salesperson not to take insults personally is easier than learning to do it yourself. Because business is essentially the brainchild of an entrepreneur. And they take all the insults personally.
To avoid burning out from criticism, use the scorched earth method.
Its essence is to analyze why you are being criticized and honestly admit to yourself the weaknesses of your business.
Are you slow to serve? Yes, you don't have the opportunity to increase your staff or implement automation yet. But you know about it, promise yourself to fix it, and accept this criticism as objective.
Do people criticize your assortment? Yes, it's for a certain category of customers and not everyone should like it. You have chosen this tactic of selecting things, this style. It was your conscious decision.

Tip 2. Keep your distance

An entrepreneur should have a place where no one will pull him or her.
Create a multi-level handling of critical situations: administrator - manager and, last but not least, the head of the company.
Distancing yourself: don't give customers your personal phone number. At the moment of indignation or complaint, it is so easy for a VIP client to call you. The call is confusing and doesn't give you time to sort out the situation. You are being thrown into the middle of a complaint without a trial.
If you've given out your phone number a long time ago, just change it.
Before replacing the number, send out a mailing list and let your customers know where to contact you "for all questions."
Changing the number periodically is also useful. In one fell swoop, you:

• filters out unnecessary contacts      
• unsubscribed from SMS newsletters     
• increase security in online banking.    

Listen:

04:15 - Difficult clients: hit, run or talk?
11:35 - When a customer is right and when he is wrong: returning goods.
16:07 - If the packaging is damaged. Return of defective and seasonal goods.
23:05 - Ignorance does not absolve from responsibility.
28:53 - Returns and delivery.
31:40 - When a customer deliberately takes a product to wear once for an evening.
38:20 - Mastery of rhetoric: is it possible to convince a client with logic?
49:03 - If the conflict occurred at the checkout.
52:40 - "No change" and price tag mismatch.
1:02:34 - Fraud: buyer and seller.
1:06:44 - Rude sellers and inadequate customers: what to do?
1:32:17 - Fell, slipped, cast: truth or manipulation.
1:38:45 - Complaints about queues at the checkout.
1:59:05 - A book of complaints and suggestions.
2:04:24 - Retailers get ready: the most common customer complaints.
2:17:46 - Practical tips: how to counter irrational customer behavior?