Difficult Customers

You know who they are because every single business owner, entrepreneur, freelancer, employee or shop floor assistant has had to deal with at least one of them. They are: difficult customers. If you want an exception to prove the rule, difficult customers are that exception to the Pareto Rule – they are the 20% of clients who take up 80% of your time with unreasonable demands, unfair comments, monopolizing your staff’s time, and spreading disharmony among your colleagues and customers. They’re not fun. But let’s have some fun by playing spot the customer. You won’t need binoculars or a field guide to their nesting habits. You’ll probably find your own experiences come immediately to mind. Recognize any of these? “I don’t really know…” she says. “I know I said I wanted the pink one, but I’m not sure if I really need one at all. What do you think?” You can be pretty sure that the wrong thing to do is to offer an opinion. The right thing to do is to get this lady’s decision into written form the second she makes it. Get her to sign it, stamp it or mark her X on it to show that any change after this is firmly her decision and the cost of such a decision lies with her. “What’s a weekend?” The words immortalized by the Duchess of Downton in Downton Abbey. This is the type of person who doesn’t understand that you need time off, you have a family to care for, a social life, other customers – or that you even sleep. They want everything and they want it now – no, yesterday!