A great resource for articles on important topics for small business is Entrepreneur.com.
Recently the director of operations for a Washington, D.C.-based branding firm shared insight into handling angry clients in a feature article for the publication. And whether we like to admit it or not – we all have them and need to know the best way to deal with their ire and its associated implications.

An angry client does more than accuse and berate you by:
• Shooting a hole in your confidence and causing you to question your motives.
• Causing you to lose control over the atmosphere in your facility.
• Changing the way you interact with your next client – whether you do it knowingly or not.

How you handle this sets an example for your staff and a precedent for your business. It can impact how your staff and your clients perceive your customer services culture, your professionalism and your reputation.

Handling the angry client is a difficult situation because every one of us has been there. We’ve been that angry person who is probably saying and doing things that they normally would not. The angry client’s reaction may or may not be rational because anger sometimes causes a loss of control over emotions and clear thinking. The client’s anger may or may not be justified. But regardless of its justification – or not – you need to understand how best to address the angry client’s feelings in a way that produces the best outcome for everyone.

How to do this is the ten million dollar question that Entrepreneur.com’s “Angry Client? Listen and Keep Your Cool.” can help you to answer for your business.

Five ideas – concisely defined – can help you to overcome the atmosphere that the angry client can create and then leave behind for you and your staff to contend with.

The article’s five ideas are:
• Attitude
• Detach
• Listen
• Focus
• Examine

Reading the article and thinking about how these ideas fit into your specific business environment can help you to put a plan in place for handling customer ire. Be sure you don’t keep this to yourself. This is a great topic for a staff training session that can help in anger-related situations and can even improve your overall customer service – whether it involves an angry client or not. Link to “Angry Client? Listen and Keep Your Cool.”

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