Ignore a valid complaint and you could be the next viral sensation for all the wrong reasons. But give in to every demand and you may be consumed with the often petty complaints of your worst customers and wind up pandering to them with freebies, discounts, and special attention. That will cost you time and money, and perhaps worse, do little or nothing to solve the root problem. Dealing with Difficult Customers will show you: How to stop using gimmicks and trick promotions to encourage repeat business and the alternatives that will keep your customers salivating for more. How “Hungry Hippos” and “Problem Children” are sapping your employees time and energy and what to do about them. The behaviors that turn great customers into dissatisfied critics and how to change them.
Praise for How to Deal with Difficult Customers "The application of the ten key strategies in this book will help every sales professional learn how to deal with the truly difficult and how to avoid creating unnecessary difficulties. It's written with the same wit, humor, and inspiration that have made Anderson's prior books so effective." --Margaret Callihan, President, Chairman, and CEO, SunTrust Bank, Florida "Anderson knocks another one out of the park with How to Deal with Difficult Customers! The problem is real; Anderson's solutions make sense and, as always, he makes you laugh in the process." --Mike Roscoe, Editor in Chief, Dealer Magazine "I could not put this book down. It's a salesperson's bible, offering clear and concise how-to advice. If you're in the selling profession and want to sell more, you should read this book . . . twice." --Warren Lada, Senior Vice President, Saga Communications "An individual executing the ideas within this book will change their own life and their organization. No one has the gift like Anderson to articulate the importance character plays in maximizing potential." --Mike Tomberlin, CEO, The Tomberlin Group "Throw out all your other sales manuals. Anderson's new book will change the way you look at customers, the way your salespeople look at themselves, and, quite frankly, the way you look at the sales process." --Dan Janal, President, PRleads.com "What are you waiting for? We all have difficult customers. If you're tired of leaving money on the table because you can't handle them, read this book. If your good customers are turning into difficult customers, read this book. If you want to deliver results year-in and year-out, read, re-read, and apply the lessons of this book." --Randy Pennington, author, Results Rule!
Note: There is a newer version of this book available. Please look up ISBN 978-0983660736. A real-world, plain-language how-to guide for delivering amazing customer service to end-users. Now in its second edition, The Compassionate Geek was written by tech people for tech people. There are no frills, just best practices and ideas that actually work! Filled with practical tips, best practices, and real-world techniques, The Compassionate Geek is a quick read with equally fast results. Here's what you'll find: Best practices for communicating with email, including examples The four intrinsic qualities of great service providers Best practices for communicating using chat and texting Ten tips for being a good listener Two practical ways to keep your emotions in check A flow chart for handling user calls What to do when the user is wrong How to work with the different generations in the workplace All of the information is presented in a straightforward style that you can understand and use right away. There's nothing "foo-foo," just down-to-earth tips and best practices learned from years of working with IT pros and end-users.
From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York’s work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations—featuring all-new advice! There’s a reason Alison Green has been called “the Dear Abby of the work world.” Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don’t know what to say. Thankfully, Green does—and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You’ll learn what to say when • coworkers push their work on you—then take credit for it • you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit “reply all” • you’re being micromanaged—or not being managed at all • you catch a colleague in a lie • your boss seems unhappy with your work • your cubemate’s loud speakerphone is making you homicidal • you got drunk at the holiday party Praise for Ask a Manager “A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green’s] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.”—Booklist (starred review) “The author’s friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers’ lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review) “I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor.”—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide “Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way.”—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together
Do you need to deliver an effective service to challenging and unreasonable internal or external clients? Do you worry that you'll lose business or take a reputational hit if you don't do so well enough? This book introduces a valuable set of tools through which to build, maintain and manage your client-facing relationships.
How to Manage Work Relationships in a Constructive Way that Leads to Success. Learning how to maintain strong, harmonious work relationships is essential. Unfortunately, at some point in your career, you'll have to work with people whose personalities or habits make every interaction with them a trial. Communications expert Renee Evenson has written the definitive phrasebook on how to confront the situations that can arise when dealing with difficult personalities and bring about a positive outcome. Powerful Phrases for Dealing with Difficult People is packed with practical and easy-to-use tactics such as: 325 powerful phrases to communicate effectively, as well as powerful actions to take in support of those phrases. 30 common personality traits, behaviors, and workplace scenarios along with the phrases that work best with each. Nonverbal communication actions to back up your words. Sample dialogues that demonstrate how phrasing improves interactions. A five-step process for moving from conflict to resolution. "Why This Works" sections that provide detailed explanations. Often, an employee who can interact well with others and feels comfortable handling conflict will be promoted over an employee who possesses greater job or technical knowledge. From egotistical bosses to meeting monopolizers, you'll learn how to develop the skills to handle any type of conflict with anyone.
Explains how to: Identify 10 bothersome behaviors and deal successfully with each of them Understand why people become difficult Use sophisticated techniques to neutralize whining, negativity, attacks, tantrums and more Cultivate the nine "take-charge" skills that prevent people from becoming difficult
Dealing with Difficult People looks at individual behaviour, what drives it and how to cope with it. It explains how to recognize and understand difficult people and their actions as a means to resolve problematic situations and awkward issues. A practical, accessible book, it is essential reading for managers looking to improve performance, sales people looking to win more business and for anyone who has to deal with difficult colleagues or the public.
Libraries are public places—open to anyone and everyone. This book contains invaluable, practical tips for library staff who sometimes must deal with difficult or even dangerous individuals and situations. Every library experiences difficult patrons. Thorough preparation is the best defense: it's always much better to be proactive than reactive. The authors of Crash Course in Dealing with Difficult Library Customers realized that these kinds of situations are more universal than unique, despite the great variations in library environments and customer bases, and pooled their more than 100 years of experience to offer practical advice that will help library staff prepare for the many kinds of "worst case scenarios"—before they arise. The book identifies the basic types of problem-causing individuals, thoroughly overviews effective strategies for offsetting their actions, and explains how to successfully manage the stressful, emotionally charged situations that can arise. Drawing on their extensive real-world experience, the authors provide instructions for "last resort" options when dealing with illegal activities, acknowledge the rights of employees in difficult situations, and present strategies that will minimize staff members' stress levels when dealing with patrons. While this book will be extremely valuable to public library staff, it addresses common situations that can happen in public service at any type of library. Administrators who need to develop policies to protect their staff and their users will also find this unique work essential reading.
On the front lines of customer service, every day presents new and unexpected challenges—and even the most dedicated employees can be caught unprepared. They need confidence. They need training. They need help. Those who work on the front lines of customer service never know what new and unexpected challenges await them each day. But they do know one thing--they will be needed. But how can you prepare for the unexpected? How can customer service reps get the training and confidence required to tackle the unknown? In Be Your Customer’s Hero, internationally recognized customer service expert Adam Toporek provides the answers to preparing for the surprises awaiting the CSR. Through short, simple, actionable advice, in quick, easy-to-read chapters, this invaluable guide shows customer-facing CSRs how to: Achieve the mindset required for Hero-ClassTM service Understand the customer’s expectations--and exceed them Develop powerful communication skills Avoid the seven triggers guaranteed to set customers off Handle difficult and even irrational customers with ease Armed with the tools and techniques in Be Your Customer’s Hero, you will have all they need to transform themselves into the heroes their customers need.
