“When a bully is successful in his campaign of destruction on his victim, he will cause you to believe that you are responsible for everything that is happening to you.” – pinterest.com
The quote above is equally relevant for those terrifying customers that have the ability to drive the relationship with the company to shambles. While every customer may be important and should be treated with respect, the fact is that the ‘mantra’ that the customer is always right is now dated and come under severe criticism. Of course, there is good reason and evidence to support that customers can be and are wrong on many occasions. The worst case of them being wrong is when a company is being bullied by customers. Unfairness, screaming, negatively emotionally charged, and in the harshest scenario, abusive – and all for minor issues. Even if a company messed up a lot, customer bullying is not correct and should not be tolerated.
Being bullied by customers could be triggered off by a number of reasons – crunch of funds for a customer, shorter deadlines and tougher terms of business, increase in competition leading to stress, cost-cutting through staff reduction by the company, fewer resources at the company’s disposal, and many other such reasons. A rise in distrust and opportunities for conflict could result in customer bullying – which could range from less serious to potentially damaging. Very often being bullied by customers is a result of the fact that they use the infrequent interactions with your company to vent their frustrations from other reasons. Customers with a penchant for bullying believe that this is the best way to get what they want from their association with the company. Very often, it works too. Given the rise in competitors, shrinking resources and business, and the difficulty in gaining new customers companies often comply, which results in them being constantly bullied by customers.
As customers get used to getting what they want – irrespective of how they ask or their profitability for the company – they become more unreasonable, use intimidation, constantly contact the companies, and create a ruckus in an attempt to subjugate the company by creating trouble for its representatives. The bullying barrage could be the result of something that your company did and yet many times it seems to be triggered for no apparent reason. Regardless of the reason, being bullied by customers should be a strict no-no and companies must know how to deal with it immediately and effectively. Despite how tough and unreasonable customer intimidation is, many businesses, especially small ones, seem unable to deal with it in the right way – in fact, they behave in exactly the opposite manner for fear of losing a customer. However, taking this kind of behaviour from customers and apologizing to them, only makes them stronger and increases their desire to harass and intimidate.
Being bullied by customers already means that the customer has no respect for your company. By meekly accepting their unreasonable behaviour, a company is ensuring that it would continue for the entire duration of the relationship. Being bullied by customers is quite a difficult situation for any company and it is imperative for the company to look toward stopping this behaviour in a manner that would most certainly lead to its end. For any kind of behaviour, there is always a trigger / some sort of motivation or drive, and it would help a company to understand this trigger or motivating reason for customers to behave in an unruly manner. The customer could want your company to be more flexible on pricing, and provide more allowances to them. They want to feel like they are winning and are in control of the relationship and by making a few minor adjustments a company could give this to the customer such that they do not resort to bullying.
Being bullied by customers could also begin because your company may have done something in the past to irritate them, and even if they may have kept silent at that point, harassment is their way of getting back. Additionally, the customer may want to terminate the relationship, but not be the one to initiate it. The bullying and disrespectful behaviour begins to push the company they are associated with ‘over the edge’ and take action to put an end to the association. Understanding the possible reasons of irrational customer behaviour will allow a company to deal with it better and may be even put an end to it. This of course would require a balanced discussion with the ‘errant’ customer by first looking at aspects that still work well and gaining an understanding of why they do. Post identifying common ground, each ‘party’ must look at causes for the strife and focus on solutions, ensuring that they are beneficial to both. If solutions are possible, they should be put in place and there must be clearly defined punitive action on any party that deviates from them.
Being bullied by customers is not acceptable and yet cannot just be wished away. If the problem seems too intense, it would be best for a company to lie low for a while and not respond to unreasonable comments. This should drain out some of the negative energy from the customer, which would allow the company to come back into the conversation and try to reason with the customer. In case this does not work, a company could solicit the help of an authoritative figure or someone who is respected by both parties who can intervene with a voice of reason and help to sort out the issues. It would be good for a company to give some kind of discounts or allowances to the customer just to make them feel like they have won. The company must display its intention to keep the customer and treat them with respect in exchange for respect, in addition to their business.
Despite a company’s best efforts, if the bully seems unrelenting, it would be best to terminate the relationship. It is better to have one less customer than keep one that is toxic and could potentially ruin it for your company and other customers. Being bullied by customers is not part of any partnership and hence a company must stand its ground and remain fearless. Showing dependence or weakness would only ‘feed’ the desire of the bully to intimidate the company even more. Provide clear instructions on how to deal with customer bullies, to your service teams, or whoever within the company interacts with customers. Yelling back at a screaming customer does not help – instead they must remain firm, grounded, and speak with confidence and authority. Ensure that in face-to-face interactions, the body language and eye contact remains firm and professional – this will show the customer that their behaviour is not appreciated and does not have the ability to scare the company.
True, a company exists because of its customers but customers too need businesses. Bullying customers must be told politely yet firmly that their behaviour is unacceptable, and if they want a solution, they would have to cooperate and be polite. Under no circumstance must their impolite behaviour and comments be responded to in the same manner – no point making it the company’s fault. If the customer sees reason, continue the conversation with respect and offer solutions for the seemingly ‘insurmountable problem’. If the customer does not seem willing to stop the bullying behaviour, it would be best to let them know that you would be terminating the conversation since it is disrespectful and they are free to connect when they would be willing to speak with respect. No job, no customer, and no amount of business are worth being bullied by customers.
The fact is that the business environment consists of all types of people and impolite bullying customers are part of this world too. Companies must proactively know how to deal with such customers and refuse to be subject to harassment or being bullied by customers under any circumstance.
