As I always say, customers are interesting, unique and thus must be treated with a lot of care and attention. Customers are totally different from one another and must be handled differently to ensure a good customer relationship with all customers.
Customers are the most valued asset of every retailer and knowing the character your customer possesses is the easiest way to help create a good bond with them to sustain your business. Without them, there is no business. In this article, we identify some customer characters and how to handle them when encountered.
The Angry Customer
Every retailer has experienced the angry customer. They usually enter your shop with a frowny face and interact with an angry tone. These types of customers would have transferred their anger from their previous engagements to you the retailer and it is your job to ensure that you serve them without getting offended. The trick is to meet them with a smiley face and answer them with low tones when interacting with them.
The All-Knowing Customer
Have you had a situation where a customer seems to know about all the products in your shop, vehemently suggests some ideas to you or treats you like an ignorant retailer? Yes, that is the all-knowing customer. Do not get angry but rather be a good listener to them. Do not try to argue with them if they are wrong, after all they will leave in a few moments.
The Reduction Seeker Customer
Some customers are always asking for a reduction in the price of products they may be buying from you which is very normal. Unfortunately, it might not always be in your capacity to reduce prices for your customers especially when your profits are so small. If that is the case, gently decline and explain why you can’t in a peaceful manner.
The Happy Customer
This doesn’t happen quite often but on your lucky days, you meet customers who are extremely happy for reasons unknown. On some occasions customers will share their happy moments with you like birthdays, new births, promotions, graduations etc. Make sure not to ruin your customer’s happiness with your frown or bad service. If possible, congratulate them on their success.
The Forgetful Customer
This is one of the most common customer characteristics most retailers face. Customers get to the shop and forget entirely what they are going to buy. This is a character of young customers and also customers who are on errands for people. If the customer is an old one, try by suggesting products they’ve repeatedly bought from you to enable them remember what they want to buy.
Retailers need to be intentional with customers because of the interesting characters they possess. Funny thing is a customer may possess two or more characters at a time so you must be ready to face all these characters at hand or you may eventually lose your customer.
