Jean-Pierre Lauzier, expert consultant and sales consultant, regularly gives you his advice for personal and commercial development on Isarta Infos.
As a salesperson, your job is to satisfy your customers. You serve each customer in a memorable way by helping them solve their problem, find the solution they are looking for, achieve a dream, etc.
Today, in the era of fake news, the rise of the political right and the influence of social media, people use their power with greater aplomb, sometimes even nonchalance and arrogance in their communications.
How can you avoid strong affirmative and emotional reactions from customers… or from yourself? How do I maintain a healthy and respectful business or personal relationship?
Situations of abuse of power
The vast majority of people do not abuse their power and remain very respectful. But some people have difficult behaviours when the pressure becomes strong.
These behaviours can take different forms: exaggerating the truth, raising the tone of the voice, being rude, showing disrespect, saying inappropriate comments about the person’s physical appearance, ethnicity, or status, etc.
Generally, the more important a customer is to the supplier, the more power they have. If the person is malicious, they may try to abuse the power.
Have you ever experienced a situation of abuse of power by one of your customers that made you uncomfortable? Or the opposite, you found yourself wanting to insult a customer who does not understand your arguments, your point of view, your action?
Do not let it go
When you witness or are directly affected by this type of vulgar or disrespectful behaviour, it is important not to ignore this situation, as it will only get worse over time.
It is necessary to tell the customer, in a calm and collected manner, that this is not ethical, and that this behaviour is unacceptable. If the customer persists, stop serving them and notify your immediate supervisor of this inappropriate behaviour so that they can intervene to avoid an escalation that could disturb you, as you must never let a customer abuse you. The manager’s intervention should calm the customer’s intensity.
If you are feeling triggered into a verbal escalade, stop talking for a few seconds, the time to catch your breath and keep your cool. It is imperative to step back to be receptive to what is happening and not feed the tension.
Return to your communication goal and remember that the customer is trying to get their point of view across. Rephrase what you understand to show them that you really want to help them. They will see your goodwill and calm down more easily.
Your responsibility … and that of your supervisor
It is important to discuss the situation with your supervisor within a few hours or days to establish a strategy to remedy such a situation, if it occurs again with the same customer or another. This climate of global tension that currently exists can last for a few years, or even several.
You have the responsibility to maintain positive and construction relationships with customers and to find ways to respond appropriately to the various relationship contexts you experience.
The manager has a role to play in this type of conflict. He/she will avoid discussing the employee’s reaction in front of the customer, to not create unnecessary confrontation or additional tension; he/she will support the salesperson in front of the customer while ensuring that healthy communication is restored.
It is important that the employee not feel victimized in this process and feel confident to discuss this with their manager.
Knowing how to respond effectively when situations of abuse of authority arise remains essential to keep your clientele and their trust. You must not let the manipulators win and you must not fall into this trap yourself.
The best way to maintain a relationship of mutual respect is to always provide outstanding customer service to all your customers and apply a pre-defined conflict resolution strategy that avoids unpleasant surprises.
