We all have that one customer that refuses to let it go. I stopped at the local frosty freeze to pick up food one night and when I was looking up the phone number on their Facebook page, saw a bad review. It was harsh, laying the business out for something so silly that you had to laugh. My first reaction was, “This guy has never run a business.” Now that’s not always the case, but if you have run a business you typically fall into two camps with how you view other businesses: 1) you judge harshly because you hold other businesses to a high standard or 2) you give a lot of grace to other businesses because you know how hard it can be to serve customers, manage staff, and spend less money than you make day in and day out.

So how do you deal with a crank? That person that leaves a bad review, yells at your staff, decides to leave and never come back and tells all their friends to do the same.

1. Separate the complaint from the complainer. What is the person actually complaining about and can it be fixed? Sure, they may be jerks, but if it is fixable, fix it. If it’s not, apologize for the bad experience they had.

2. Know that you cannot make other people be something they are not. You can’t make them behave in a way they do not want to behave. But you can control how you react to that behavior. Take a breath, attribute it to someone having a bad day and taking it out on you and approach the next customer as if it never happened.  It’s tough being a business owner but treat these experiences as opportunities to grow the thick skin that you need to have.

3. Examine and deal with the real damage a crank can have. Everyone thinks that means the damage of on-line reviews/comments, but that is rather easy to manage.  The real damage can be to your employees. As the owner or manager, you set the tone with how the business deals with tough customers.  Fix the problem, address any shortcomings of staff in a professional way (i.e. calm voice, not in front of other staff), and let people know that the business does not hinge on one customer’s bad day.

Cranks can take a toll on the morale of both you as an owner and your employees. Having some tools handy in dealing with them helps soften the blow and can help keep your employees on track. Cranks are everywhere and dealing with them online boasts its own set of challenges. We will cover how to deal with the online reputation issue in a separate post.