How you and your staff handle hard to please customers in your pool and spa business can make or break whether they are a returning customer or someone who will bad mouth and complain about your company.

One of the meetings and training sessions that I like to have with my pool and spa sales staff consists of storytelling. Have each of your employees share a great customer service experience that they had when they were a customer. Have them explain why it was a pleasant experience and why they appreciated the salesperson, waitress or service person that helped them. Then, have each share a bad experience and explain why it was bad and how it made them feel. Discuss what could have been done differently to make it a good experience rather than bad.

Next, have everyone present past scenarios from your pool and spa business when they had a difficult or disgruntled customer. Discuss what happened and how each situation could have been handled differently for a better outcome. These discussions and solution finding exercises are a very effective method of customer service training.