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Dear Deb

Customers today are so difficult to please. Some are
so combative and often times when they don’t get the
answer they want from me, they go up the chain to my
manager, and then they never want to talk with me
again. I really want to resolve their issues and have
them be happy with the resolution. Any suggestions?
— Conflict Weary in Comfort

Dear Conflict Weary in Comfort:

Please don’t feel alone! In today’s world, the
answer to everything is on the internet. It’s created
a buyer that wants immediate gratification and
trained them to believe that if you don’t get what
you want from the person, just escalate to someone
who can give you what you want.
Unfortunately, research indicates that 2%
of the population can never be made happy.
However, there are ways of making the other 98% customer will accept. The best solution is one we
of the population reasonably happy when conflict create alongside our customer.
occurs. What I also know is that we have some E stands for the Empathy we need to have in every
responsibility to take when things go awry.
situation. Conflicts are often reflections of other
There is a process we have developed with the things happening in a customer’s life. That doesn’t
acronym LASER that can help you with these types mean it is acceptable for the customer to take it out
of situations. L relates to our Listening skills. Often, on us. However, viewing the circumstances from
we are too quick to answer a demand based on the customer’s standpoint enables us to keep our
assumptions about what the customer is asking emotions in check, allowing you to work together
for, which can create further issues. for an agreeable solution.
A stands for taking a step back and truly Finally we get to R, the Response. Wow, we have
Assessing the situation. We are quick to jump to to go through 4 other steps before we actually
conclusions and end up creating solutions that respond to the customer! Your response should
do not address the root cause of the conflict. We be systematic, with steps for creating an action
need time to truly determine the real facts and plan and steps for self-escalation if we realize the
customers’ concerns. This enables us to create a customer isn’t buying our solutions.
response that is more appropriate. So, Conflict Weary, take comfort in the idea that
S relates to how we create a Solution for our if you utilize this 5-step process in the conflicts you
customer. Because we have so many other things face, you will have a result that lets all parties leave
to get done, we just deliver the news of how we with an agreeable resolution. I promise it will totally
are going to handle the situation and then just change how you see and deal with conflict in the
move on. We expect that our solution is the one the future!

26 JULY 2019 | GREATER SAN ANTONIO BUILDERS ASSOCIATION