Customer Service Revisited: Dealing with "That Guy"

As we all move out of the winter season and into spring, our businesses and lives are filled with so much noise, it is hard to filter out the important from the not-so-critical. However, as humans, our filtering process is exceptionally important to our successes, and our failures.

Every one of us has lived a unique life, and each of us use our experiences to create a framework that helps guide us through each day. All of us have experienced great pain, and great joy. Some customers, let’s face it, give us great pain. Sometimes, we may even project experiences we’ve had with others, including family and friends, onto our customers. The challenge is to give your customers what they want and need while not compromising your company or your values. Even more so, we work and live in a business environment where shallow conversations and relationships are the norm. How do we discover a deeper understanding of our customers?

As we service our snow and ice customers, we may be challenged by these ‘guys’ from time to time:

The Detail Guy: This customer wants to know every detail regarding when you will be there, what equipment you’ll use, and what color socks the plow truck driver will be wearing. He thrives in an environment ruled by spreadsheets. This seeming obsession with details gives The Detail Guy a sense of control, he feels more whole when he knows exactly what is happening. Most likely, he feels overwhelmed if he doesn’t know every detail. He may not be the most trusting individual; however, if you take time with him up front to go over the details and engage him on the decision-making, he will feel a greater sense of control and trust with you. If you find yourself being driven nuts by this guy, do a gut check and think about your own personality, and if there is someone in your past who was similar, and who made you angry or uncomfortable with their need to control everything about a situation.

The Temper Tantrum Guy: This customer learned at a very young age that if he throws a temper tantrum, he gets his way. Much of this behavior has probably been around for a long time, and let’s face it, you aren’t going to change him. This individual is not going to trust you when he’s mad, you become the bad object. He also has some control issues, and usually flies of the handle when he feels he’s lost it. The best bet is to not rise to the bait, fighting fire with fire will get you nowhere, and this guy has a lot more experience throwing a tantrum than you probably do. Remain calm and assertive, focus on the issue not the person, and give this guy space to get his anger under control. Being more proactive up front, and avoiding a blowout, is the best method to mitigating this guy. Sometimes more impersonal communication, like via email, may be the best follow up after a blowout.

The Needy Guy: This poor guy just has a ton of problems, and he uses language that implies he is the victim in his own life. This person normally only feels comfortable when the person they are dealing with is in the position of power. These folks may be passive aggressive and do things that aren’t in line with what they actually say, although they may have a very people-pleasing personality. If we are playing armchair therapist for this guy, we are doing him and ourselves a disservice. Be kind and direct, focus on the business relationship you have with the company, and do your best to make sure you are not enabling this guy to take time away from other customers. Don’t be rude, be empathetic and make sure he knows you are on his side. When you get a chance to break the conversation, don’t re-engage by asking questions concerning items that don’t really apply to the goal or direct work.

The Big Picture Guy: This guy thinks big, he doesn’t like details, they annoy him. He focuses on the big picture and sees himself as a visionary, a leader who shoots from the hip. He will not read the 11 page document you send to him, and he’ll never finish an email longer than a paragraph, as he probably has a pretty short attention span. He’s a people person, and will spend more time telling you a ‘This one time…’story than talking about the details of your contract. Make friends with this guy’s administrative assistant, as that individual will have his ear and be able to get the appropriate and needed materials in front of him to handle. Make sure you engage this guy at his level, and show him that you can think of the big picture and have a grasp for the ‘important’ items, and that he can leave the details to you.

The Poker Face Guy: This gentleman holds his cards close to the table, and you never really know what he is feeling. He will explain to you what he thinks of a given situation, but is reluctant to show emotion, and might be uncomfortable getting praise or help. He may get angry with you, but you might not be able to tell. In general, the relationship you have with him will be somewhat superficial, but if you share more of your history and experiences with him, he’ll understand and may be more prone to opening up a little to you. Keep the conversation on what the two of you can achieve together, if you push too much about trying to help or please him it may make him uncomfortable.

Obviously, the characters addressed above are not real people, as real people are not so one-dimensional. However, they do illustrate the great degree of variation we have to deal with as snow and ice professionals. There are many other types of customers out there, including the Know It All Guy, the Meek Guy, the Sneaky Guy, and the Paranoid Guy. You’ll meet them all and many more throughout the course of your professional life. The harder you work to understand where they came from, the better you’ll be able to support them as your customer. You’ll also get a better feel for when it’s time to end the relationship.

Here are some tips for rethinking how you approach people in your day-to-day business relationships:

• Treat people as you’d like them to be—use this wisely, not in the form of control, keep it positive.
• People behave the way they do because they are getting something out of it. If you can get a little insight into that, you’ll understand them at a deeper level.
• In any relationship, there are 3 ways to turn; toward, away, or against.
• Don’t let someone else’s anxiety control you to the point where its interfering with your life or work.
• Understand your own character and personality and its filters and experiences. Sometimes we strongly react to people based on experiences we’ve had before we met them, which is unfair.
• When you interact with someone, picture them as they may have been as a child. Think of them in the sense of a composite of all of their experiences, some that they could control, some they could not.
• When you interact with someone, picture them how they will be in retirement, after experiencing all the years of life.

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