Anyone who has ever had a job communicating with customers will know how difficult it is to stay calm and keep everyone happy. Customer complaints, complicated or unreasonable requests, and managers showing up when you screw up—it can be a real crushing experience if you’re not prepared. Read the guide below to learn how to handle every customer with grace and confidence!
Develop Good Service Habits
Have confidence in your abilities. Bosses often say to take pride in your work. But service work isn’t necessarily uplifting. Therefore, you should be proud of your abilities when working. At each shift, be proud of yourself for keeping everything organized. There is no better way to encourage yourself than to convince yourself that you can do better.
- Especially in low-level service jobs, others will not think you have great abilities, but the situation is not that simple. When serving customers, even if you are selling fast food from the window, you need confidence, perseverance, and social skills.
Show your best. The best way to serve your customers is to never make them hate you. An important part of this is leaving a positive impression on them. Dress neatly every day, shower often, brush your teeth, and use deodorant. Walk relaxed, make eye contact with customers, and speak loud, clear, and relaxed. Your customers will feel like they’re receiving professional service and won’t have the urge to find fault with you.
- If you sweat a lot or have another condition that makes you smell or look less than your best, see if there are any emergency hygiene methods and take five minutes between shifts to groom yourself.
Start with a smile. If you leave your worries, fears, worries, and uneasiness at home every day, then you will easily smile at your customers and sincerely welcome every new customer. Don’t be too shy—put on your biggest, brightest smile every time you welcome a new customer at work (even on the phone because a genuine smile will be conveyed through your voice). You’ll be surprised how customers treat you the same way.
- Don’t forget to smile at your customers and your boss. Smiling costs nothing, except to overcome your shyness. If you can keep smiling, it can significantly reduce your work stress. Smiling is contagious.
- Pay more attention next time you are out shopping or eating, you will see some service staff always looking unhappy and resentful. That’s because they can’t focus on work and are too concerned about who is easy to get along with and who is not. Imagine how unwelcome these people can make people feel, and don’t make customers feel that way in your work.
Leave the “self” at home. This is the most important skill of a server, and it is the difference between a happy server and a sad server. In short, at work, you don’t have to prove who you are. You just have to do your job and get paid. The customers you interact with at work don’t know about your dissatisfaction, your favorite food, or what you think of their outfit—again, they just don’t care. They are talking to you because they need service. Be sure to remember this.
- If you feel insecure and anxious about how others see you, leave your worries at home so you can face customers more confidently. Focus on what they need, not what they think of you. They’re not part of your personal life, so it’s okay to ignore what they think of you.
- If you’re constantly being given a hard time by customers and you have a bad opinion of them (even a good one), putting that bad attitude aside will help you relax and make your work more efficient. Remember, customers are the lifeblood of your business and the source of your salary.
Don’t take things personally. Customers don’t pay attention to what they say to you; they just react naturally on impulse, for better or worse. Praise is more welcome than criticism, but on the other hand, the customer’s opinion doesn’t matter at all, just ignore their words. Continue to provide your best service to your customers and ignore their reactions.
- Don’t take the bad feelings caused by a dispute with one customer into serving the next customer. Make sense of the situation and figure it out for what it is – it’s unpleasant, but it shouldn’t affect other things. Once you understand this, it’s easy to ignore it. When you lose control of your temper, it magnifies the experience of a nasty customer. You can control your temper by not making disputes with customers personally.
- Be proud when others praise you. However, don’t be too proud to provide better service. Servers who receive positive compliments from customers are those who never stop making their customers happy.
Take your customers seriously. Many young and inexperienced waiters are often scolded (or even fired) by managers for laughing at customers’ strange and rude requests. You should always imagine that the customer is serious. Customers rarely joke, and when they do, it’s hard to tell what’s going on in their heads. Be willing and enthusiastic when you answer, no matter what they say.
- Keep in mind, especially in specific service jobs, that you may encounter customers who have mental illness, developmental disabilities, or speech disabilities. If you develop a habit of treating every customer seriously, you won’t put yourself in an awkward position by being rude to others.
- Sometimes, customers will make fun of you. But you have to remember that it is not important at all and will not have any impact on your life. Keep in your mind what I just told you and forget about these experiences. Don’t take these things personally.
- Many times, if you encounter a request that seems like a joke, even if the customer is serious, you can politely decline the request. The customer may assume that you are not fully committed to his request. But once he sees that you are truly prepared to do whatever you can to meet his demands, his opinion of you may change.
Be humble. A humble worker will have all the above qualities. No matter what the customer’s attitude is, she will provide long-term service, smile, and try to build a good relationship with everyone, and will not let her bad mood affect her actions. A humble servant also knows when to leave things to experience. Sometimes you cannot meet the customer or his requirements, then you should let the manager handle it. There is no shame in letting him help.
- Don’t feel frustrated or angry when you call your manager over to deal with a customer’s problem. Instead, think of this as you are trying to take steps to keep your customers happy. Customers will feel satisfied because you are working for their benefit. Don’t be bothered by their requests.
- Once the transaction is complete, explain to the manager after the customer leaves what they did and what you should do next time in a similar situation. Sometimes you can learn new and useful information so that you can provide better service next time.
Don’t rush your customers. You should be eager to help them, but they will take their time and take their time. If there are a lot of people behind a slow customer who need your service, see if you can find someone else to serve those waiting customers.
- If no one else can help, keep smiling and being cheerful. Customers will know that it’s not your fault that things stalled; if you lose your cool, make mistakes, and make things worse, then they may not forgive you.
Problem Customers and Customer Complaints
There is more to know than just the rules. Most service businesses have some rules for their employees. However, there are always secondary, more flexible rules that allow you to break employee rules to keep your customers happy. Knowing this will keep you above and beyond the call of duty but out of trouble.
- More often than not, management allows these exceptions, but ask and learn as much as you can about situations that allow you to break the rules for your customers. Sometimes, a good way to soothe an angry customer is to make an exception for them. Learn how to do this safely.
Don’t take it seriously. Sometimes customers say rude and mean things without any courtesy. Nine times out of ten, if you brush it off and don’t lose your temper, the customer will probably feel guilty and be much calmer for the remainder of the conversation.
- It would be better if you didn’t take the customer’s insult as a mean insult. In most cases, the customer will be polite for the rest of the transaction because his insult was brushed off and he doesn’t want you to understand that his original intention was to insult you.
“Conquer” them with kindness. Don’t appear passive and aggressive. Treat an angry customer the same way you would treat your favorite customer. Some customers keep asking you questions just to make you angrier so that they can complain about you more. Don’t let them succeed. Respond to them with service with a smile and a good attitude, at least until the customer crosses the line and starts verbally insulting you. (At this point, more drastic measures can be implemented.)
- It’s fine to complain about customers, but don’t let other customers hear it or complain after they’ve left. If you don’t have a good place to complain to your co-workers about customers, then you’re better off complaining to yourself at home.
Talk to the manager. When faced with a troublesome customer, your store management should develop a policy to deal with it. Let them know that a customer has become a problem for you and other colleagues and ask them how to handle it. At some point, a troublesome customer may be blacklisted from the store; more often than not, a manager will be directly responsible for serving that customer.
Know your limits. “The customer is always right” is a principle of service, but it is not a law that allows customers to trample on you at will. Doing your best to make your customers happy is not about enduring humiliation and abuse in the name of work. While it’s important to have a thick skin, don’t let things get to you. But sometimes a customer will blatantly cross the line, and in that case, you have the right to calmly ask him to stop insulting you and explain how you feel.
- Sadly, your freedom to fight back against customers depends on your company’s policies. Generally speaking, the bottom line is getting personally attacked, insulted, humiliated in front of customers, or hit.
- If the customer still won’t stop attacking you, ask your colleagues for help. You can face customers with the help of a manager or co-worker who is willing to do the work for you.
Stand your ground. Although the following situation is rare, a customer may spend an entire day bothering you for no apparent reason, and you may find yourself without the help of your manager and co-workers. At this time, it is better to seek help from others than from yourself. Don’t let your customers lash out at you, but don’t tolerate abuse either. Make the customer wait while you go to the manager; if they don’t want you to go to the manager, tell them you can no longer serve them and they should do the same. Look into their eyes and their mouths can’t budge.
- In this situation, staying calm and collected is the most important thing. Don’t raise your voice, say rude things, or be sad or cry. Don’t even allow yourself to smile or frown. Any sign of uncontrolled emotion will make the customer angrier and allow them to continue to abuse you.
- Don’t ask them to leave, tell them they “need” to leave. You can explain yourself but don’t waver. If you are scolded by a customer and there is no one around to help you deal with it, it is much better to calm down rather than lose your temper. A decent boss wouldn’t fire you for standing up for yourself in such an extreme situation.
Cultivate a Harmonious Co-worker Relationship
Understand why your colleagues are important to you. The support of colleagues is an asset. When you get along well with your coworkers, they will sympathize with what you go through every day and help reduce your work stress. Coworkers who like you are willing to help you even if you don’t ask them to. Additionally, colleagues can remind you about management changes, upcoming inspections, and things you are or are not doing.
- Experienced waiters will often say that any service job is tolerable, even enjoyable, as long as you and your coworkers like each other. Feeling that you are a valuable part of the team will increase your job satisfaction.
Treat coworkers like you would a customer. Especially smile and say hello to everyone, even if you don’t like them or don’t care about them, even if they don’t smile at you. People are filled with insecurities, but almost everyone likes someone who smiles and shows kindness to them.
- When interacting with colleagues, you should also adhere to the principle of leaving “yourself” at home. Don’t lose your temper with them. Talk to them casually and easily.
- Don’t assume your colleagues will agree with you. Instead, ask them what they think so you can express your opinion in a way that doesn’t offend them.
Be outgoing. Even if you don’t like socializing, pretend you like working. Once you start working, invite your colleagues over for coffee or drinks—continue doing this until others agree. If someone invites you, you should actively participate. (If you’re not invited, don’t know—it doesn’t mean it’s against you.) When you take a break with your coworkers, talk more.
- There is no need to force others to play with you. Sometimes, your coworkers won’t be interested. That’s okay – don’t overthink it. If others refuse, don’t invite them; if others don’t like chatting with you and just want to rest quietly, then say hello to them.
Work hard. Ultimately, the best way to make your coworkers like you more is to act like a good employee. Find something to do during your downtime to take the load off your coworkers. If you can, you should always be ready to help your colleagues no matter what they need. Don’t wait until someone asks for help before offering to help. Ask other experienced colleagues why they are so effective at their jobs, and then take their advice to heart—everyone likes to be respected for their abilities and knowledge.
Don’t gossip. There’s no need to tell others not to gossip (it’ll just annoy people), and don’t gossip yourself either. Especially when you want to talk to other people and they’re not around, you can talk to yourself, assuming they can hear you. When someone complains to you about someone else, you should maintain your neutrality by saying, “I don’t know much about the situation and I don’t mind.” You can also help simplify other people’s problems but don’t make other people’s problems your own.
- If you want to share some interesting and useful information with your colleagues, that’s fine, just don’t be biased or negative. Say what you know and let others react.
Communicate clearly. When it comes to getting along with your colleagues, being a nice guy isn’t enough. You need to be able to approach problems with calmness and clarity. Your coworkers already know you’re someone who smiles and is willing to talk to them; now let them know you’re not overly friendly. If a coworker steals your work, blocks your promotion, or disrupts your workflow, warn them immediately.
- Don’t get emotional and speak clearly and calmly.
- At some point, you may feel uncomfortable talking to your colleagues in this way. Then you can also hand these disputes over to your leaders. Remember, if you feel it is appropriate to do so, making it clear to your colleagues directly will show your colleagues that you are persistent and sincere because you are giving them a chance to deal with it before handing it over to your leader.