Top 10 Reasons Why Your Customers are Being Difficult

Why are customers so difficult? My friend Peter in a comment to a recent post, said - I understand that corporations must respond to changing consumer behavior, but I'm fascinated by the the concept of the needy consumer.

As customers, do we need a corporation to satisfy our emotional needs to earn our loyalty? In response, I thought of the top 10 reasons why your customers are being difficult:

(1.) You're the only game in town or one of a few, limited options

You may feel you have a captive audience, but realize that it takes a special effort not to be arrogant in those circumstance, and your customers don't like the treatment. For example, if you're looking for a high speed Internet provider, there may be only one to choose from in your market. Mobile network with broad global coverage? Same thing, one or two.

(2.) People want to be part of something bigger/better

On the other hand, if you are the only game in town, how about considering the community and the people who look up to your company? Are you as a company excited to be part of that community? Are your people encouraged to contribute?

(3.) Customers feel you're charging too much

Especially when everyone is facing tightening economic conditions, there isn't perceived or tangible value coming out of your rates. That's why it's a good idea to communicate about context in your marketing. Your good deal will be put to the test by your customers with their peers.

(4.) You're not listening to what they have to say

There are rules to follow and incentives to be had, and they both point in some other direction than where the customer wants to go in the conversation. If you were in court, they might say you were leading the witness. Allow customers to say what they want to say. Maybe ask clarifying questions.

(5.) You're being negative

The conversation may have started on the right foot, but you continue to talk about what can't be done, the rules and policies - in other words, you have a bad attitude. And now that is transferring onto the call. How many of you have experienced this?

(6.) You're not soliciting feedback

This could even be worse than not listening. We all know that what we like may not be what others want, even at home. Why would this be different with customers? Are you changing a product, their product, or the packaging without asking, first? Think about what Pepsi did recently with Tropicana packaging. Go by the old axiom - if it aint' broken, don't fix it.

(7.) You're asking, but not following up

One more step on the infuriating scale is when you ask, acknowledge what your customer is telling you, and then do nothing about it. If a customer takes the time to give you input, the expectation is that there will be some kind of follow up. Wouldn't you expect the same?

(8.) You make it difficult to reach the right person

Many touch points may be good in marketing parlance, but when it comes to customer service, they plain suck. Have you experienced one or two transfers when calling a company? I can count up to five and then back to the original number.

(9.) You change the rules on them

Managing expectations is one thing, but today the rules and the fine print are changing so often, that it's become difficult to figure out what is included and what isn't, with anything. There's an impact on trust here.

(10.) Some customers are always going to be difficult

It's not personal, let's face it, there may not be a way of pleasing them. Does that mean you should stop trying?

Today at Fast Company expert blog we walk about how to deal with difficult customers. Are you a difficult customer? I think some of you are. I know I can be for some of the reasons outlined here.

Comments

[khurram]

Excellent points.. We need to be very patient, very courteous and very receptive to customer needs and wants.

[Matthew Bibby]

Great post, thanks.

The same applies to big business as it does the lone operator.

I have noticed lately that a lot of indie software developers are offering brilliant service (e.g. http://bit.ly/mebnj ) and I think that we are starting to get it . . .

Just need to get the message through to the big businesses now :)

Cheers,

Matt.

[John Spence]

Valeria -- yet another fantastic post! To me there are two key things to remember about all customers -- even the difficult ones: the first is that they pay ALL the bills. I remind my team several times a year that their house, their car, the food on their table, tuition for their kid's school... all of these things are paid for by our customers -- the great ones and sometimes difficult ones.

The second thing that comes to mind when I think of customers is the fact that delivering consistently superior customer service is one of the only sustainable competitive advantages left to many businesses. That means if you want your business to be successful, you have to become a fanatic for taking care of your customers... even if they're being a little difficult today. Actually I wrote a blog on this and has some nice points in, here is a link: http://johnspence.com/blog/?p=28

Lastly, it is important to realize that not every customer -- should be your customer. It's one of the hardest things for some business people to do, but every now and then you have to fire a customer. When they become too demanding, too difficult, make unrealistic requests, and cause you and your team to spend far more time, energy and effort on them -- then the revenue they generate as a customer -- it is time to bid them farewell and point them in the direction of your most aggressive competitor!

Thanks for the awesome post -- I really love reading your blog -- take good care Valeria -- John Spence

[Bruce Christensen]

Valeria,
Great list with a lot of good stuff to build upon. Each of your points demonstrate the importance of THE CUSTOMER as the fuel that powers our economic engine. Having a positive feeling for our customers should lead us to engage them in conversations that will benefit them.
Seth Godin also commented on finding ways to say yes to customers today in his blog; http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/03/looking-for-yes.html

Thank you again for starting the conversation on these important customer centered topics.

[Toddy Mladenov]

Hi Valeria,

Interesting thoughts. I always try to think of the "customer" more like a "client" - it shouldn't be one time relationship with the person you sell goods or services to - you should build longer term relationship. If I like your services I may recommend you although I bought only once.
I always refer to car dealers when it comes to bad customer experience - they do exactly what you write above - don't listen, don't follow up, don't accept feedback.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@khurram - thank you for stopping by.

@Matt - it's counter intuitive, but smaller businesses often make more time to care for customers, even as they have less time to do it all. That's because they are much closer to the actual transaction than larger companies where some never talk with a customer.

@John - I'm smiling because that was my first "why" at the Fast Company post. You're spot on with your advice. Relationships are so important in any business. Whenever I see a business fail, I see lack of communication and connection months or years before the failure. And yes, we should be discerning as to whom we want to do business with. I call it the 90/10 rule. Spend 90% of your time doing the 10% of the things that matter. This is valid for productivity as it is for many other things in life. Thank you for your kind words.

[Carolyn Ann]

I'm not a terribly difficult customer. Until something goes awry, and then I'm just obstreperous... :-)

One thing you didn't list: the customer could just be lonely! Or having a bad day, and the customer service rep who says something wrong, inarticulate or even (and I'm not being prejudiced) with a bad accent, making themselves the target of much anger.

As a phone technician, one of the things you quickly learned was that some people just are ornery; and still others were just lonely. I'm still not sure which I dreaded the most!

But, despite what I said at the start of my comment, I'm a perfect customer. :-) Just don't ask anyone who has to deal with me when things awry...

Carolyn Ann

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Bruce - that Seth keep copying me :D Thank you for sharing the link. Attitude, or showing up, as Woody Allen once said, is 90% of much of life. What we create depends on what we project or intend.

@Toddy - however, interestingly, many businesses are set up to have transactions, keep moving people through the funnel or pipeline. This might be fodder for another post as things are changing rapidly especially in types of businesses that are evolving.

@Carolyn Ann - as I wrote in the post, I can be a difficult customer if my exact questions are evaded with vague answers. My first job in my teenage years was selling ice cream in one of those fancy Italian shops. Let me tell you, you learned who the difficult customers were going to be by how they walked into the store. Perhaps we can learn to read body language on the phone better. We can already see a lot online.

[Silvana]

Insightful post - particularly because you wore well the shoes of a difficult customer. I have yet to read your article on how to deal with difficult customers, even so I've noticed a trend in my behavior as a customer - and in line with your analogy about family - it is that love is blind. In other words, I tend to be an easier customer with companies I'm emotionally engaged with. The obvious example - and probably one shared by many readers - is my Apple computer. I consider myself a pretty well informed consumer. Yet when it came to buying a desktop that I use mostly for writing - books and blog, very little graphics - I chose an Apple; in spite of it offering less features for a higher price. The one benefit I could not walk away from was it's personality. What can I say - in a sense (without being sick in the mind) I was attracted to Apple - I did not feel this towards any other brand. It's Apple's personality that drives me to forgive its shortcomings - In a very similar way as I close an eye to my husband's imperfections - because I love him. (scary, I know) Moral of the story: once the minimum requirements are met by a company, personality is key for keeping customers engaged - and forgiving. And to love your company and products 'just as you are'. Without personality, products and services risk getting lost in a vast 'me too' ocean.

[New Standard]

I find that customers can sometimes be difficult when they aren't quite sure what they want. It's difficult for a customer with no technological background to be thrust into the world of web development with so many choices and decisions. The best thing to do is communicate, simply.

[Ricardo Bueno]

I know I'm a difficult customer sometimes. I like companies who have a good response time. In fact, I love companies who are very responsive. This plays into #7..."you're asking but not following up" or you're following up only you're taking too long to do so which basically brings you to why even bother.

[Wayne Liew]

I think this post offers a good look into why customers just don't like the way we treat them. Of course, it may be due to several issues from the above list.

Sometimes, it is not that a business owner wants to provide bad customer service or they just don't get it but the truth is, they really don't have a clue what their customers want and what are the things that they are unhappy about.

Thanks for writing this article as it is crucial, especially during now where most business owners are facing difficulty in retaining their customer.

[peter]

Hi Valeria,

I read the above and wonder if customer's are killing capitalism.

What I see is a shift in the means of production from responding to physical wants and needs ( I want or need a particular product or service) to something far more ephemeral - the emotional expectations of the consumer ( I want to be heard, I want to talk, I want to be wanted, I want certainty).

But what happens when I chase the ephemeral - what am I producing of lasting value when I set out to satisfy my customer's emotional wants? Would that time, money, energy be better spent in building, inventing etc great products and services.

I think this shift to customer emotional wants is not benign and may (paradoxically) contribute to the weakening of capitalism by running down its capacity to produce. Of course, that may not be bad thing just different - capitalism ends up looking more like a cathedral than a bazaar.

But as always, I'm probably wrong.

By the way, its seems on the net the number 1 reason your customers are being difficult is because you're not Apple.