What are the many reasons why customers become difficult?

Like it or not, difficult customers are bound to appear in your life every now and again. Whether they are unreasonable or rightfully upset, dealing with difficult customers is never fun. That said, a business reality you can't ignore is that customers are the livelihood of your business, and dealing with them is simply part of the job. How you deal with them, however, is a choice that's up to you. Instead of dreading your next difficult customer experience, aim to embrace what you can learn from it - and how to similar experiences in the future.

1. Difficult Customers Introduce Businesses to Their Own Weaknesses 

Have you ever had a customer that brought something to your attention that while not ideal, allowed you to view something in your business structure that wasn't working well? Often, it takes a customer to identify a weakness in your business model in order for businesses to react to it. Whether it's an employee who isn't serving your company well or a product that isn't delivering upon expectation or an experience that left a sour taste in your customer's mouth, wouldn't you want to know what it is that's going on in your business?

The perception and experiences customers have with your business are distinctly different than your own perceptions and experiences, so hearing from a customer and gaining their firsthand point of view is actually a benefit to your own business leadership. Rather than shun these customers away and try to quickly dismiss them from your responsibilities, embrace what they have to say. Truly listen and let them know you have done just that - helping to ensure them that you care about what they have to say and want to improve upon your future efforts so that what they experienced will not happen again.

2.Difficult Customers Help Us Better Appreciate Those That Aren't Difficult 

It's easy to go about your routine without really take time to appreciate your customers - and I'm not referring to the difficult ones. Instead, consider all those other customers - hopefully the majority of your customers - that consume the most of your time. These customers - the bread and butter of your business, if you will - are a big part of your business success and at the very least, livelihood. Appreciating their presence in your business is easy to overlook, but when difficult customers enter the picture, suddenly they become among your favorite folks to deal with.

Showing stronger appreciation to your loyal customers is a great way to build strength in your business, gain valuable customer retention and deal with the difficult customers that may weave in and out of your business every now and again. Very simply, this can also help put your customer service at large into perspective.

3. Difficult Customers Force Us to Slow Down 

Everyday is a race to get everything done on our to-do-lists. But what happens when our race is suddenly - and not willingly - interrupted? We're forced to slow down. And quite frankly, that's what difficult customers force employees to do, as well.

Difficult customers push us to corners that we may not want to go to, but often have to. We're forced to look at something from another person's perspective, and even if they are rude, unreasonable or simply wrong, we still have to take the time to deal with it. Slowing down from our everyday routine to navigate difficult customer's isn't always ideal, but it does slow us down. And in many ways, this is a blessing in disguise.

When slowing down, consider what you can do to maximize those moments. Listen. Learn. And react with patience and care versus frustration and resentment. We know not every difficult customer is in the "right", but delivering a "wrong" experience won't help the situation, either.

Dealing with difficult customers can be frustrating and challenging. But what you may not realize about these more challenging customers? How essential they are to the success of your business! As wild as it seems, difficult customers can actually be an asset to your business rather than solely a frustration or a liability.

Whether customers come across as impossible to please, demanding or hard to communicate with (or all of the above), they offer you invaluable opportunities to improve your business with each interaction.

In today’s post, we’re going to share four ways to reexamine how you view challenging customers and how you can transform them into a business-building opportunity.

Difficult Customers Prevent You From Losing Future Customers

Sure, it can be emotionally draining to listen to an unhappy customer. But the truth is, not all unhappy customers speak up. Instead, they’ll stop doing business with you and disappear without giving you the chance to correct a perceived mistake.

By dealing with difficult customers, you receive important insights on what may prevent other customers from returning. They give you the opportunity to address the challenges they’re facing head-on. Then, you can implement strategies that can prevent these issues from coming up in the first place with future customers.

IT MAY NOT SEEM LIKE IT AT THE TIME, BUT DIFFICULT CUSTOMERS HAVE A LOT TO TEACH YOUR BUSINESS ABOUT CUSTOMER SERVICE.

They Help You Provide a Better Customer Experience

Many difficult customers are just looking for their concerns to be heard.

Have you ever noticed that by simply allowing a person to express their opinions and frustrations uninterrupted can instantly reduce an escalation? Dealing with difficult customers allows you to improve your listening skills. And at the same time, also improves your ability to resolve problems promptly and efficiently. These skills are key to providing excellent customer service. In fact, this is the foundation of a successful business.

By giving you the opportunity to turn sour situations into positive ones, difficult customers are more likely to become returning customers. Or at the very least, result in one less negative review about your business.

Difficult Customers Can Help You Increase Sales and Brand Loyalty

This is where difficult customer complaints are an invaluable learning tool.

Listening closely to a customer’s concern (regardless of whether you agree or not) allows you to see an alternative point of view on how your business can improve a product or service. Even if a difficult customer doesn’t return, their feedback may be just the tool you need to wow future customers and keep them (and their friends) coming back for more.

(Do you want to learn more about communicating with customers? Take a look at this post next: Communication for Everyone – How to Connect with External and Internal Customers)

They Help You Improve The Structure of Your Business

Although we’ve touched on the benefits of difficult customers when it comes to improving a product or service, they can also help you improve the overall structure and functioning of your business’s operations.

Handling a difficult customer requires patience, compassion, empathy and the motivation to provide a positive experience.

And let’s face it: no business is exempt from dealing with difficult customers.

So, why not choose to develop new protocols, trainings, and structures in your business to ensure you’re well equipped for challenging situations? As an added bonus, when staff members feel they’ve successfully dealt with a difficult customer, it boosts their motivation by seeing a return on their efforts.

As you can see, difficult customers are a good thing for business. Without them, you’re missing out on crucial feedback and information that could make all the difference in your success.

That being said, there are still ways to make these difficult customers less of an interruption and frustration for your business. And we can help! Click here to learn about our customer service trainings.

Did you learn a lot from this post? Here are three more to read next:

• 5 Steps to Resolving Customer Conflict & Managing Upset Customers
• Four Rules of Successful Customer Engagement
• Customer Service: Do the Little Things Make a Difference?

This post was first published in 2016 but it was updated in 2021 just for you.

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