Anyone in customer service knows there comes a time when, despite the most noble of intentions, a customer will become frustrated or even take out their ill mood on us.  One minute, you’re happily assisting a customer who ordered the wrong size dress and the very next customer is someone who you swear woke up with the goal of finding you  and making life incredible difficult.  Next thing you know, this customer has demanded to speak with your supervisor.  You weren’t rude, but this customer really tried your patience.  Now what?

We asked A. Harrison Barnes, who is a renowned career coach and founder of Hound.com, for his insight.  “Unless you were really rude to this customer, most managers have the experience to recognize that even the best customer representatives can’t please everyone all the time”.  Unless there’s a history of customer complaints, odds are, you’re not going to be looking for a new job as the result of one unhappy customer.  The fact is, human nature plays a bigger role in customer service than many are even aware of.  CSR’s are the ones who catch the brunt of an unhappy customer who just realized he ordered the wrong part or that the wrong part was shipped by your company.  Whatever his reasons and regardless of how it happened, it has to be fixed and the one who takes the call is the one, as far as the customer can tell, to make it happen.

There are times when there’s no other way to describe a scenario that ends in an unhappy customer experience other than the rep dropped the ball.  A. Harrison Barnes has a few tips for those times and if you’ve never experienced it, count yourself among the minority.  Most do at some point.

• The very first thing you should do is extend an honest apology, says the Hound.com founder.  “Remember a sincere apology will take you a lot further than anything else in these situations”.
• Don’t make excuses!  Just as you don’t want to hear fifteen reasons why your own order was shipped a week later than it was promised, your customers don’t want to hear it either.  It might be true and it might have been out of your control, the goal is to take responsibility, not make excuses.
• Have a solution at the ready, says the Hound.com founder.  Shipment arrive damaged?  Be prepared to give your customer a revised arrival date and work with her to be sure it’s convenient.  Keep in mind, she’s already been inconvenienced one time so her patience may be wearing thin.

Finally, if your slip up is serious enough to cost you your job, it’s not the end of the world.  Take a step back, take a deep breath and then pick up the pieces.  Start that process by visiting Hound.com for an aggregate of current jobs around the country.  Get help with your resume, check the latest statistics and discover where the hiring trends are happening.

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