Stop Dissing Customers: 8 Ways to Address Toxic Trash Talk

There is a lot of clucking going on and it needs to stop. Like chickens in a crowded chicken coop, service representatives often cluck about their customers — laughing at them, calling them names and making disparaging remarks. Everybody does it. It’s a harmless way to let off a little steam, right?

Wrong. The fact is, dissing customers is another form of gossip. Gossip breeds negativity. Negativity kills morale. Low morale creates a toxic work environment. A toxic workplace creates high levels of stress, degrades performance, leads to employee dissatisfaction, impacts customer satisfaction and contributes to turnover. And that’s just for starters. Here are some things you can do to squelch the dissing and clucking.

8 Ways to Stop Toxic Trash Talk

1. Have a frank discussion about the harmful effects of dissing customers.
Without pointing fingers to anyone in particular, bring up the topic at your next staff or team meeting. Don’t be surprised if there plenty of employees who share your concern; are tired of it and want it stopped.

2. Tie dissing customers to a core value.
No doubt one of your company’s core values is to “respect others.”  Point out that dissing customers is a form of disrespect and that behavior will not be tolerated.

3. Determine whether dissing customers is a symptom of a bigger problem.
Be aware that there could underlying issues that are driving negative employee behavior. To name a few: ineffective supervisors, lack of rewards and recognition, punitive performance monitoring, dissatisfaction with work schedules or recent changes in policies or procedures.

4. Coach on ways to maintain emotional control.
For some people making a disparaging comment about a customer is displaced anger. Train customer-facing employees to use SODA = Stop. Observe. Decide. Act. This simple four-step formula for maintaining emotional control is a highly effective way to see situations clearly and resist reacting automatically.

5. Point out that customers pick up on their negative attitude.
Disrespect breeds distrust. A distrustful customer is impossible to please.

6. Change the vocabulary.
There is no such thing as a “bad” or “good” customer. A customer is a customer.

7. Stop it when you hear it.
After you have made it clear that dissing customers (or anyone else) is not to be tolerated, you need to hold people accountable for their behavior. Hopefully, one or two visits behind close doors with the chronic cluckers will be discouragement enough.

8. The fact is customers pay our salaries.
For those few employees who need a reminder….

Kudos to you for doing what you can to create a positive, inclusive environment where everyone is valued and respected.

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This Aha! and SODA are from my book, The Napkin, The Melon & the Monkey. Available in bookstores on February 1.

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