How to politely refuse high maintenance customer ?

[dipmicro]

From time to time I have people making requests that are very time consuming. I would like to be a nice guy to everyone but there should be limit what can I allow. I will be opening a retail outlet in few months and will make sure to hire a skilled staff, that worked in retail before, because I can train them on technical questions, but not on "assertiveness" 🙂

Anyway, an example: there is this guy who asks 2 questions about the datecode of some of my part, that require me to walk to warehouse, look at the reel and respond. No problem. Then he makes a purchase ($3.58) and requests that I provide a datecode with the parts - either send them on a original reel (he bought 200pcs out of 5000 from that reel) or provide a picture of the reel.

I feel like telling him that we do not provide such service, but on the other hand taking the picture takes just several minutes. However, from experience I realize if I allow requests like this, next time he will waste even more time.

My question to the board is hot to politely refuse a customer request, how to politely "deflect" high maintenance customers without generating a "negative vibe" (some time ago I had guy talking to me on the phone for 30 minutes asking all kinds of technical details to place $20 order).

According to research (?), a badly treated customer will tell 11 other people, well treated customer will tell 0.05 other people in average. One needs to make 220 "good" sales to justify one going awry.

[surplusdealdude]

IF you don't have a lot of them, they may be worth putting up with.

I have a couple - one, in particular, asks questions for about 2 weeks. Usually, he buys enough to make all the snapped pencils worthwhile.

Other times, I just block the guys.

I think you have to look at the long run on this.

But - $3.58? It would probably be worth losing 11 of his friends if they're all as annoying as he is.

[bare_bright]

You Should of told him you only Run the sales etc. and the Manager or w.e. is on Vacation till Spring & your unable to advise him of these details at the moment.

I bet he still would of Placed his 3$ order

[montrealmaps]

I sell different items in my store. Some cost several thousands of dollars, some just 5. Many customers ask me questions about maps I sell. Some questions need a deep historical knowledge and require long and elaborate answers. I have a rule: all customers are the same importance to me. I think this should be a rule for every serious business. Recently I had a customer who asked me to provide a COA (certificate of authenticity) for a 7 dollars map, issued in 1924. Of course, he got it! 😉

[dipmicro]

Well, I will satisfy additional requests as time permits. I am more interested in the ways to politely refuse without becoming an a**.

White lie about manager on vacation is a no no here.

Problem is that customer feels it only takes 5 minutes, but I do not always have them, already working 16hr a day as it is. They will not understand and it's just waste of time explaining.

I am looking for 1-2 sentence answer, something that will make them walk away happy. A pickle, eh ?

[dipmicro]

I sell different items in my store. Some cost several thousands of dollars, some just 5. Many customers ask me questions about maps I sell. Some questions need a deep historical knowledge and require long and elaborate answers. I have a rule: all customers are the same importance to me. I think this should be a rule for every serious business. Recently I had a customer who asked me to provide a COA (certificate of authenticity) for a 7 dollars map, issued in 1924. Of course, he got it! 😉

I agree, if you have time to get it, you get it. Now you have customer who comes 3 minutes before closing and starts asking million questions about $7 map. I am almost sure you would tell him to come next day because you are closing.

If you have store full of people, it's easy to deflect a customer saying sorry I need to attend other people. They see you are running around busy as hell.

Here on eBay is hard to define the line, people do not see you and if you tell them you are too busy, they get offended. There is no closing time, so you cannot tell customer to come tomorrow.

[surplusdealdude]

Here on eBay is hard to define the line, people do not see you and if you tell them you are too busy, they get offended.

OTOH, they don't know WHEN you got the email, so you can put off the more time-consuming questions till you have more time.

Or perhaps say, "I'm sorry, I don't have the answer to that question."

[surplusdealdude]

I get some people that want detailled information on cutting speeds, tool angles and so on for the different plastics.

I just tell them I am not a machinist, I don't have those answers and then I refer them to a well-known forum where they can ask.

Seems to work.

[pjcdn2005]

If you have store full of people, it's easy to deflect a customer saying sorry I need to attend other people. They see you are running around busy as hell.

Here on eBay is hard to define the line, people do not see you and if you tell them you are too busy, they get offended. There is no closing time, so you cannot tell customer to come tomorrow.

imo it is way easier to deal with customers on ebay because it is not face to face and its easy to delay doing something because the online customer is not there to stare at you as they wait for their answer. Also you have more time to think how how you will answer that online customer. Btw, that customer who sees you running around and being busy is likely more concerned about getting his answer from you then caring how busy you are.

I totally agree with montrealmaps that each customer is as important as the next one. I agree that sometimes a customer can be a pain & that time can be limited but customers are what retail and the service industry is all about. Perhaps you could delegate some things so that you have time to answer those questions or delegate someone else to look after the customer service part of it.

So I guess I'm saying that i don't have an answer for you because I don't think that there is an answer.

[dipmicro]

imo it is way easier to deal with customers on ebay because it is not face to face and its easy to delay doing something because the online customer is not there to stare at you as they wait for their answer. Also you have more time to think how how you will answer that online customer. Btw, that customer who sees you running around and being busy is likely more concerned about getting his answer from you then caring how busy you are.

Every model has advantages and disadvantages.

Treating all customers equally is impractical. No customer should receive sub-standard service, they all receive excellent service. But you should not ask a bank-teller to fetch you a coffee, although if you are depositing $1M in a branch manager office , they will offer it to you before you ask.

[godboma]

I ran into this situation twice last month. Bare with me that I consider customer services a high priority.

Last month was a very good month for us and we were very busy just managing all the sells, the manufacter order, new listing and new web site. One customer wanted a scan of the front and the back of a trading card. I usually provide that on my listings when I am selling old collectable cards (price range 10$ to 100$). But they asked it for a 1$ recent card. I simply told that person that the card came from a sealed pack, the card is Mint and I do not provide a scan for low value cards. I lost that customer.

Another one asked if I would deliver his items down town Montreal. He said I would be saving the Paypal fee since he would pay cash. That is a 45 minutes drive for me. The sell was 150$. I sent him this answer:

.... Downtown Montreal is a 45 minutes drive for me. I am a Power Seller on eBay and I spent a lot of time managing the sells and my online store. I hope you understand that local pickup or deliveries are time consuming and I can not do them as my business model is not setup for that.

I did not lose that sell 🙂

[surplusdealdude]

I find that most customers are reasonable if you approach them in a reasonable manner. Often they may not realize the effects of what they're asking.

The customers that expect you to work for nothing will be outraged if you explain why you're not going to do what they want and you're better off without them.

I had a buyer ask if I would cut a piece of plastic in half so they could save on the product price and the shipping. They also stated that my shipping costs were outrageous.

The shipping costs were those on the USPS website and the product was worth $6.

I just blocked them - you can't keep someone like that happy.

[dipmicro]

Goboma, thank you. This is somewhat what I was looking for, although I find customers do not care when you try to explain your business model to them. In your case above, what do you think about this:

Downtown Montreal is a 45 minutes drive, it will be cheaper to ship than my staff delivering this order. You are welcome to pick it up at no charge at ...

It's better than Sorry, but we do not do deliveries and does not have unnecessary details he is not really interested in hearing, no ? Would that customer get upset?

[dipmicro]

I find that most customers are reasonable if you approach them in a reasonable manner. Often they may not realize the effects of what they're asking.

The customers that expect you to work for nothing will be outraged if you explain why you're not going to do what they want and you're better off without them.

I had a buyer ask if I would cut a piece of plastic in half so they could save on the product price and the shipping. They also stated that my shipping costs were outrageous.

The shipping costs were those on the USPS website and the product was worth $6.

I just blocked them - you can't keep someone like that happy.

Many say that CAN goes farther than CANNOT. Do you normally offer cutting? What is your cost of cutting - time, tools amortisation, etc. Would this offer trigger a customer outrage:

Of course I can cut this. Would you like me to go ahead and add the cost of $X.XX to your invoice?

Since cutting is an engineering task, it's easy to put price on it. Taking the unnecessary pictures is something anyone can do and it might be harder to put a price tag on 😉 My experience is that if you carefully mention additional cost, buyers does not need that service anymore.

[surplusdealdude]

I do not offer cutting except in unusual circumstances.

If asked, i just say no.

[dipmicro]

I do not offer cutting except in unusual circumstances.

If asked, i just say no.

Bang on the topic. "No" is as simple refusal as it can get.

I am currently imagining walking to Wendy's and requesting "Can you put my order of chili in these 3 cups, so I can share it with my friends" - "No. Next !".

[godboma]

Goboma, thank you. This is somewhat what I was looking for, although I find customers do not care when you try to explain your business model to them. In your case above, what do you think about this:

Downtown Montreal is a 45 minutes drive, it will be cheaper to ship than my staff delivering this order. You are welcome to pick it up at no charge at ...

It's better than Sorry, but we do not do deliveries and does not have unnecessary details he is not really interested in hearing, no ? Would that customer get upset?

I did not want to offer the pick up because last time it was a pain. I kind of stop allowing pickups. I am not setup to receive people as I am doing all from my home.

I agree with you that the explanation may be optional. But the most important thing is that I got the sell even if I did not accept his terms (I am assuming that the buyer understood my point). And on the other hand, I think I lost the first one because the buyer did not understand my point.

[surplusdealdude]

I find that there are two words that work absolute magic with a lot of customers;

"It's policy".

For some reason, people accept that as a non-judgemental answer and don't question it.

[fatdane]

If you place the PIA customer on your BBL he can't buy and will probably go away, although he may sputter and send a nasty email about why you don't want to do business with him/her/it.

For those that want to pick up items at the house I simply tell the truth - My wife does not want any stamp people knocking on her door - she has enough trouble putting up with a stamp dealer husband.

[ameroindustries]

BLOCK LIST YOU SHOULD SEE MINE 😛