How to resolve conflicts with customers

Handling disputes with customers is one of the parts of the moving business. Even if your company tries to do everything by the book, you might come into a situation where you are accused of doing something wrong and that customers demand their rights. Luckily, those situations are rare, and if you come into a conflict with your customer, it usually means that something happened. If you want to know how to resolve conflicts with customers, Master Moving Guide will show you how to do it in a peaceful and effective way.

You need to be ready for all kinds of conflict situations

Moving is a complicated process. And in such complicated and complex processes there is a big chance that something bad will happen. You just cannot run away from this.  If you are a moving company owner, you need to be ready for all kinds of situations and you need to know how to resolve them. Even if your company did everything by the book, you will come across customers who will be ready to argue, do not know their rights and responsibilities, do not know what is a binding estimate, or even try to exaggerate a small or non-existent problem so they can benefit from it. Therefore, you need to have a plan and you need to be ready to deal with all sorts of situations. If you already had a similar experience, you know what we are talking about.

When you want to resolve conflicts with customers, the most important thing is to stay calm and solution-oriented

When you come into a conflict with your customer, the most important thing and the thing that you need to have constantly on your mind is the need to stay calm and solution-oriented.  That is the best way to resolve a dispute with your client. Of course, there will be situations where a raised tone is necessary. However, it is better to leave that as your last resort for those who try to create a problem and profit out of it. Therefore, calmness and a will to come to a solution is your main weapon in conflict situations.

Be ready to offer a solution immediately if you want to to resolve conflicts with customers smoothly

Of course, when you clearly see that your customer is right and that you made a mistake you need to accept that, apologies, and immediately offer a solution. If your customer had moving insurance, see if that is a job for an insurance company. If not, offer to make amends free of charge, offer a bonus service, or some other kind of compensation.  When you do this immediately after a complaint is made, your customer will be pleased and feel like you care about their satisfaction. Moreover, they will be glad to hire you for their next relocation as well.

In moving business, it is important to document everything from start to finish

When it comes to damage, to either your customers’ items or property, it is important to accept responsibility for it and offer a solution. It these situations it is also very important to immediately document everything. State of the item before the damage occurred, condition after the damage, and customers’ complaints.  Documentation should follow the moving process from the beginning. This means that if it comes to some false accusations, for example, you will have a document that will prove otherwise. Of course, most of the time the accusations will be well-founded. Still, if you want to do everything by the book it is important to have everything on black and white. It is important because of future resolving. And it will show your client that you are serious about making amends. That is the only way to resolve conflicts with clients.

Try to stay professional even if they accuse you of something that was your customer’s responsibility

Sometimes you will come into a situation where your clients accuse you of something that was their responsibility.  In this situation, it can be difficult to stay calm and solution-oriented. However, if you want to stay professional, you need to solve it somehow. Of course, the best approach is to explain your customer the situation, and offer a few reasonable solutions. This way you will keep your customer and even earn a few points on some moving companies’ review websites.

Try to understand your customers and offer a solution even when force majeure is responsible for the problem

If you are a professional moving company that cares about its reputation, you will need to solve every situation. No matter why it happened. For example, sometimes you will be late for the delivery because of the traffic congestion. Or because of the bad weather. Most clients will accept the situation and understand your situation. However, there will be customers who just do not know when to argue with movers and will ask for compensation no matter what your reason is. Of course, your task is to stay calm, professional, and offer a solution that will satisfy your customer and yourself.

If you can’t resolve conflicts with customers, work to prevent them

As you can see, in moving business (like in every other business) staying calm and open to solutions is the best way to resolve conflicts with customers. However, your goal is not to resolve conflicts but to avoid them altogether. Unfortunately, in the real world that is something that is impossible to do. However, running your business in an honest and responsible way is something that can reduce the number of complaints that you will receive.  Do your business right and you will have fewer problems to deal with.