4 types of difficult customers (and how to deal with them)

From the Goldilocks homebuyer to the enraged person in front of you at the grocery store, different types of difficult customers pop up in every business. What matters is how you respond to them. For instance, a few months ago, I was standing in the checkout line at At Home when the woman in front of me started shouting. The cashier had told her she would get a discount on her large purchase if she applied for a store credit card, but the system promptly denied her automatic approval.

“You told me the approval would be instant!” she yelled at the cashier. “I told you I only wanted to do this if I could get a discount right now!” 

The cashier apologized profusely, called her manager over, and offered the customer a future discount once she was approved. Though the cashier skillfully de-escalated the situation, 59% of American customers say they feel like most businesses need to improve the training of customer service agents. 

This article will cover: 

• Four types of difficult customers — complainers, aggressors, indecisive folks, and nitpickers
• Strategies for turning the situation around with each type of customer
• Verbatim lines your team can use in difficult situations

Let’s dive in.

1. The complainer

Some complainers have valid concerns. For example, Drew Schuffenhauer, Customer Support Team Lead at OpenPhone, says these types of difficult customers often complain when they don’t receive a thorough explanation or it’s taken a long time to get a response. Then the burden is on the company to clear things up and streamline their customer communication.

But the pessimistic complainer who whines, gripes, and can never be fully satisfied — those are the people who start to eat away at your resources. Trying to please them is a time-intensive task without a sure payoff. 

For example, a realtor may have a client who’s never content with the houses they tour. Working with them is like a drawn-out episode of House Hunters — the house is either in the wrong suburb, has a slightly out-of-date style, doesn’t have a big enough yard, or doesn’t have the right type of kitchen sink.

2. The aggressor

In many cases, angry folks are upset about something unrelated to the situation at hand. For example, the woman in At Home was likely stressed about the high costs of furnishing an apartment. The delayed credit card application was just what set her off. Aggressors make threats, loudly hurl insults, or cause a scene that can put your employees in harm’s way.

Drew says the key to dealing with aggressive customers is to put yourself in their shoes: “Empathy is super important for all customers, but especially anyone that might be expressing frustration or indicating they’re not having a great experience.”

While it’s natural to get defensive when someone sends a rude message or shouts at you, try to keep emotions out of it. Remember, their anger likely has nothing to do with you. Ask clarifying questions to get to the bottom of the misunderstanding and maintain a professional and positive tone.

3. The indecisive

Indecisive customers try to avoid buyer’s remorse by going back and forth with their options. Though they may not be aggressive or high maintenance, they do waste your team’s time. Instead of closing deals with more decisive people, they’re running the clock with wishy-washy folks.

For example, if you run a gym with each location being a small studio, you may only have one person at the front desk at a time. A customer who can’t decide if they want a gym membership or just to attend drop-in classes might spend a long time looking at pricing and different class types. Meanwhile, a line is forming with people who need to check in for a class or ask a question.

4. The nitpicker

Similar to the complainer, nothing is ever quite right for the nitpicker. They will always find something wrong with your service or product because their expectations are often too high. Let’s say you have an agency that pairs executive assistants with CEOs. A nitpicky CEO might go through five different assistants and find something wrong with each — too timid, asks too many questions, too bossy — the list goes on. 

Be gracious, but don’t be a doormat

Dealing with different types of difficult customers requires clear communication, empathy, and patience. Encourage team members to tag a team lead if they’re not sure how to handle a tricky situation — especially if they’re new. A small business phone system like OpenPhone makes communication between team members easy when situations arise.

It’s also important to know when to cap it. While you should be solution-oriented in your approach, you won’t be able to please everyone if you want to keep your business running. Harry Morton, founder of Lower Street, a podcast production agency that has worked with notable brands like Booking.com and Pepsico, suggests stopping at three actionable solutions. 

“The three solutions we present are usually mutually beneficial. If the customer has issues beyond this, it’s likely that the company will have to make a compromise that makes the transaction unprofitable,” he explains. 

Finally, be committed to fixing issues as soon as possible. When people have to wait for hours or even days for a response, they’re more likely to get aggressive, become nitpicky, indecisive, or complain. 

To learn more about how your team can handle tough interactions, keep reading about this topic: Dealing with difficult customers: How to crack the code.

Words by Cierra Loflin

Cierra is a Content Producer at OpenPhone and the former Content and Community Manager at Superpath. She's passionate about communicating better with customers.