There are two major frustrations that have been voiced to me over the years
by employees.

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Firstly, that they do not feel they have the skills and tools to provide excellent
service and get demoralised when the customers who shout loudest get the
best service – Bad behaviour will not be tolerated but you will get what you
want!

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Secondly, they feel undermined when a customer issue or request is
escalated and a more senior member of staff bends the rules or agrees to
something the organisation should not be undertaking.

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We can improve this by...

- Having well-trained staff: with the communication skills and confidence to resolve issues

- Giving authority: trust your staff

- Standing by them: stand by the decision your member of staff has made rather than back down just to get the problem out of the way. If you do have to change the rules for this customer, explain fully to the employee why you have decided to go down that route, rather than leaving them in the dark as to your decision-making process.

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And finally - you might want to sit down and take a deep breath for this.

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Putting some perspective on this, there will always be a small proportion of
customers who do not tell the truth, make unreasonable demands on your
staff/company or ultimately cost you too much. If this is the case, you might
want to consider walking away from them as they are:

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- Costing your organisation money and therefore profit

- Demoralising your workforce

- Having a negative impact on your brand/product and service

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Ensure your staff have access to the systems and tools they need to carry out
their role, they are trained to be experts in your products and/or service, they
have excellent customer service communication skills and finally trust them in
their decision making.