How to Deal with Difficult Customers

By Keith Loria

It seems that customers have become excessively difficult lately, and rink operators and their staff have had to deal with uncontrollable and angry customers.

“There’s no question that COVID has put people on edge; they are quick to anger like they’ve never been,” says Jared Halls, general manager of Classic Fun Center in Orem, Utah. “We’ve always had unruly customers, but they get there a lot quicker these days.”

Darla Dunn, an operator at Cordova Skating Center in Cordova, TN, notes her year has been full of customers who are screaming, cussing, and not wanting to obey the rules—especially dress codes—and for many of these instances, she finds it best just to have the customers go away.

“Refunds have become a very common answer,” she says. “If they don’t like something, here’s your money back.”

Encounters like this have been increasing, and most experts blame the pandemic and folks being held up in their homes for so long.

Joseph Michelli, an internationally known speaker who deals with the customer experience in his seminars and who happens to have been “big into roller skating during my day,” is not surprised by the experiences he hears about in roller rinks and other facilities.

“There’s been a real trend of selfishness in America,” he says. “People have become more self-absorbed and the me-generation is definitely a part of it. We’re socially polarized so we have a society where you can pretty much say anything and half the people would agree with you and half the people would take offense. All those factors play into this.”

The fact that this past year has been full of controversy concerning mask mandates and social distancing has only added to frustrations and attitudes among customers and has really amped up the problem.

“We’ve seen many people who are frustrated and depressed and there’s just a whole bunch of emotional issues that have taken root because of the pandemic,” Michelli says.

DEFINING A DIFFICULT CUSTOMER

A problematic customer can fall into many ranges, but for the most part, they are angry, judgy, opinionated, snarky or demanding.

“All of us have become difficult customers on some level—we want what we want, when we want it, as memorably and cheaply as possible, and as fast as possible,” Michelli says. “We’ve all been conditioned thanks to increasing technology and providers like Amazon, to have higher expectations of what customer service should look like.”

Add to that the fact that some people feel entitled, and that there needs transcend everyone else’s, and you have the perfect storm for difficult customers.

Halls notes there are numerous things that cause someone to be difficult, and it usually comes down to them not getting what they wanted or trying to get something they shouldn’t be getting. For example, they may have a coupon that isn’t valid for the day they try, their video game may be having problems, or they might complain about a birthday party because there are more people than they thought on their guest list. people in the workplace are stressed out, and when people don’t have an outlet, they act out in other ways, and the slightest little thing triggers them. That’s what many rink operators are seeing happen with their customers.

“They may lash out, they may be confrontational, they might raise their voice and say things aren’t run properly if things are going slower than normal,” he says. “And most of them think they are right so rink workers need to work to diffuse things.”

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Halls has an interesting way of handling things—he just gives in to what the customers want.

“I teach my managers to say ‘yes’ and let them have what they want,” he says. “If someone doesn’t want to pay for two guests at the party because they say they don’t know who they are, we’ll take them off. If someone has a coupon that doesn’t work on Saturdays, and it’s Saturday, we’ll honor it that day. If a video game took a token, we’ll get them set up with a new game.”

While his managers feel he is getting played more often than not, Halls doesn’t care because it makes the customer happy, diffuses the situation and keeps people in the facility and

“The naysayers will say I’m getting ripped off and people will take advantage of you, but I’ve been doing this 30 years and I have found it’s like one in a thousand of someone who is really trying to rip you off,” Halls says. “People are happy in the building, so that’s all that matters. It’s so much easier.”

And sometimes, rather than give money back, he’s a big fan of giving gift certificates, which makes the customer happy and gets people returning to the rink.

When he’s discussing conflict resolution strategies, Michelli tells people that despite the old adage, the customer is not always right.

“Because they are your customers, and we would like to turn a sour or negative customer into a positive customer who will come back in again and do business with us and refer people, we’re going to try and take the high road to get this person as functional as possible,” he says, adding that there are limits to this. “It’s important to tell your team that at no time should a customer mistreat an employee, and if that happens, it should escalate to a supervisor to try and de-escalate a person. If that still doesn’t work, you’re going to have to get some other source in there to encourage the person not to stay on the rink premises.”

There are limits, but it’s essential to put some sort of effort to try to neutralize them and turn them into positive influencers for the rink.

“Let’s make sure we know what they are upset about,” Michelli says. “Sometimes we think we know and try to fix before truly understanding. Maybe there’s something that warrants this type of reaction. Think about what might have it taken for yourself to get that upset and if you were, how would you want someone to treat you.”

Michelli’s best piece of advice is to listen to a person and acknowledge that you are hearing them, even if they are not making much sense or are really loud, and remind yourself this is not a personal attack. This person probably treats many people this way, and your job is to try and get them to a constructive place.

“Lower your voice as they raise theirs, and try to use a calm approach, which can be extremely hard as someone is yelling at you,” he says. “We biologically jack up because it’s a threat, and we feel like someone is going to harm us and our flight or fight response gets activated. It takes a lot of work, training and deep breaths to counteract the nervous system and get you in the proper mind space to help to help.”

Once the difficult customer finishes their rant, ask, “what do you need me to do?”

“It’s critical that they articulate their needs rather than you trying to guess,” Michelli says. “You need to balance empathy and assertiveness. If you do this badly, and you are overly empathetic, you let people run all over you. If you are dominant and go straight at them, it also won’t work.”

Bailey said you should always try to take a disgruntled customer off to the side, so their attitude doesn’t have a domino effect on other customers.

“Stay calm and try to bring people down to where you are,” he says. “The main goal is to agree upon what a solution will look like.”

ONLINE TROLLS

Many people rely on social media reviews these days, which is why a difficult customer who has free reign to say what they want can be a terrible thing for business.

If someone leaves the rink a bad review or says something negative, Michelli notes to take the conversation out of social media.

“Reach out by direct message and get a conversation outside of the public boards,” he says. “The goal is to come up with a resolution.”

If something is settled and you calm the customer down, then you can ask if they would consider rescinding their review or comment. “You don’t want to push them, but if things are really resolved, the goal is to get them to revise what they have said,” Michelli says.