Customer aggression in retail: sellers report disrespectful

Customer aggression in retail: sellers report disrespectful

In retail, a worrying trend can be observed: sellers report on increasingly rough tone on the part of the customers. Respectiveness are described as an everyday phenomenon. A particularly blatant incident occurred when an older customer threw a lettuce on a seller to a seller. The reaction of the company, which stood on the customer's side, caused excitement among the employees. This act of violence is not isolated; A new employee was also racially insulted and broke out into tears. Long -standing sellers confirm that such problem customers, especially locals, appear more and more.

The topic of the brutal interaction is not only an internal problem for the trading company, but is also perceived by readers as part of an aggression as a whole. Some people take the view that unfriendly behavior is often just an expression of personal dissatisfaction. Emotion -charged comments indicate that nostalgia is often an illusion after more polite times, since courtesy in the past was often only a facade. It is frightening that the majority of problem customers are Autochthone Austrians and not migrants. This raises questions about the general social mood.

conflict resolution in retail

In order to deal with these conflicts, retail companies should develop clear guidelines for complaint talks. Customers have often already thawed a certain frustration before they even submit a complaint. Sellers are therefore required to actively listen, ask questions and repeat the allegations in their own words. It is important that responsibility is taken over, even if the seller is not directly responsible for the incident. Sellers represent the company during such conflicts and an immediate problem solver should be sought. Business knowledge emphasizes that understanding the situation of the customer is crucial in order to show empathy. To keep calm and not to blame the customer is essential.

The challenges in customer service are complex and require a high degree of emotionality and empathy. According to a report by Zendesk from 2020, almost 50 percent of customers are ready to switch to a competitor after a bad experience, and this value increases to 80 percent with multiple bad experiences. Conflicts that are not treated can not only have negative effects on customer loyalty, but also on brand perception. Chris Voss, an expert in conflict management, sees conflicts as opportunities for creative solutions.

strategies for conflict resolution

In order to effectively solve conflicts, experts recommend various strategies:

• pause and pay attention to yourself to be emotionally grounded.
• active listening to understand the customer's point of view.
• tactical empathy to defuse emotions.
Negotiate
• with a cool head and ask the customer's wishes.
• recognize and clarify gaps in understanding.
• Feedback and set the next steps to solve the problem.

The recruitment and training of employees in conflict resolution skills are also of great importance. Team leaders should go through conflict scenarios and use role playing to promote the use of these strategies. Conflicts should be regarded as opportunities to strengthen relationships and not as mere problems. Zendesk emphasizes that employees who can handle conflicts with conflicts not only increase customer satisfaction, but also improve the corporate image.