In any business, dealing with demanding clients is tricky. You don’t want to go on the edge because you see a potential lead in them. How will you deal with them then? In real estate, dealing with such clients means losing an opportunity to convert a lead. Coping with these clients is a significant part of customer relationship management.
You must learn about the strategies if you don’t know how to manage them. When customer relations turn sour, it affects your goodwill and can hamper your customer acquisition efforts.
So, while this is not easy, you can remain calm in the face of conflict. Better still, learn the techniques to build a rapport with such clients. Let’s see some strategies for effective communication.
Never Take It Personally
Don’t take it personally. Read that again. Even if the client is hurling abuse or finding fault in your services, it may have to do with his issues. Naturally, it will affect you if your client is rude, but you must focus on finding a solution. Rather than viewing the behavior as a business reflection, try finding the root cause of the behavior.
What could be the factors and circumstances that might be driving clients’ behavior? Shift your focus on finding the cause because that will help you deal with the situation better.
Reflect and Decide
Difficult clients can give you stress with their unreasonable demands, hounding emails, and calls. They might complain about wait time when you are busy. The last thing you want to do is react in the moment’s heat. If you do that, it will affect your brand image. What will you do in this case? Respond quickly but react slowly.
Naturally, you would want to react according to concern, but reflection is essential. When you reflect on the issue and decide to provide a solution, it will give better results. For this, you can email the agitated client saying that you have received the message and will return shortly, taking time to reflect on the solution.
Keep a Professional Tone
Professional communication is significant in maintaining client relationships. You must keep a respectful and professional tone – when it comes to such clients.
Despite the challenges of dealing with these clients, maintain a calm tone. You don’t want to escalate the issue. Ensure a productive rapport – in a working relationship.
Also, avoid emotive language because you need to use a constructive and not a defensive tone. For instance, thanks for your feedback – I am sorry to hear that this campaign hasn’t met your expectations. I shall discuss your concerns in detail – This response will keep the client on your side without a defensive tone.
Listen Carefully and Empathize
Want to solve the client issue? You will have to listen carefully and empathize with the client. Start with active listening and ask them to speak about their concerns. Your undivided attention will make the client feel valued. Once the clients finish, repeat what they said to understand their perspective.
After which, follow up to get more details and look to solve the issue. When you listen to clients, you signal to them that you are addressing their concerns. Clients will trust you more if you follow this approach of problem-solving. Patience is the key to dealing with such clients, so keep patience.
Look for Solutions
Once you know about the issues, focus on the solutions. It’s vital to focus on fixes and solutions rather than getting frustrated with the problem. If they create issues, steer the conversation towards practical solutions.
You can ask them for suggestions to improve the situation. Besides asking for suggestions – assure them that their feedback is valued. Of course, some clients will never be content with whatever solutions you provide. Your job is to fill in the gaps and deal with the situation. Even if the issue goes out of control, feel confident you did your best to solve it.
Establish a Conflict Resolution
Every company goes through the nightmare of dealing with such clients. To tackle this situation, you can establish a conflict resolution plan. What’s that? Make a plan with your team with a clear set of guidelines to deal with these clients. It will ensure that everyone in your team uses the same guidelines to resolve the conflict.
Plan a framework in different steps. Acknowledge client concern – with access to the situation and seek a resolution (concrete steps to move forward). Implement a proposed solution and monitor progress.
Also, keep follow-up as part of the resolution. Follow up with the client and take feedback on the concerns. Most importantly, train your team members to implement this plan in different situations. Motivate your team all the time. You can tell them to deal with the situation positively if it affects their morale.
Know Where to Cut Your Ties
Lead generation and customer retention are the two vital aspects of the real estate business. Dealing with these clients can be tricky, but you must know where to cut your ties or draw a line.
No matter how you crack the problem and find a solution, some clients are not worth your time. And if you continue to hold on to such clients, they can pose problems in the future as well.
Recognize such clients and communicate to them that you no longer want to continue providing services to them. However, do this professionally, as you don’t want to salvage your business reputation, right? If there is ongoing work, finish it and provide a notice period.
Maintain a professional approach,
Maintain a professional approach to dealing with these clients. You must protect your resources, finances, and time. The best option is to de-escalate a conflict and turn such a client into a positive one.
Lastly, listen to these clients and identify the issues. If you can solve the concerns calmly, do that. Sometimes, situations can get out of hand, so it’s best to cut ties with such clients. With a positive approach, everything is possible.