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The Lion King is one of my favorite kid’s movies.
As adults, I think we can all safely say that Scar was wrong - but, like, we sorta get it.
“I’m surrounded by idiots” plays in our minds on particularly frustrating days of interacting with our fellow humans.
But when your business is service-driven, and it’s only you in it…oof. It feels like you’re not just surrounded by idiots, but like they’re closing in like the zombies in Michael Jackson’s Thriller video.
With far less rhythm.
WHAT’S NEXT:
Customers of Chaos
The Customers of Chaos Illusion
Gut Check
The Choice Is Yours
Customers of Chaos
You may occasionally end up with a customer who is just a pure agent of chaos.
Someone who is there to purposely fuck things up to get something for free or just because they’re psychotic and enjoy being a pain in the ass.
Customers of Chaos are rare, even though it feels like it’s every 3rd person some days.
Let me be clear - Customers of Chaos are rare.
When you do encounter one, the experience is burned deeply into your brain. Your brain desperately wants to protect you from dealing with it again.
Try your best to avoid falling into the Customers of Chaos Illusion.
The Customers of Chaos Illusion
The Customers of Chaos Illusion is a self-perpetuating spiral that gets worse over time if we’re not careful.
Here’s how it works:
How we think and the energy we put out into the world tends to attract the same. This is the Law of Attraction.
If you believe: Most customers will get away with anything they can and try to screw me over, then the Frequency Illusion kicks in. You notice the few people who are like that, and it’ll seem like they are far more frequent than the people who aren’t.
See! I was right! I had a bad customer today! Even though it was one in the last 6 weeks. This is Confirmation Bias kicking in.
You change your behavior to safeguard against these types of people, driving away customers who are good-intentioned. This creates a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.
Humans tend to be fairly predictable in a lot of ways.
When someone does something nice for us, we tend to want to do something nice for them. This also works the other way around - if you treat your customers like they’re going to screw you over, they’ll match what you give. This is the Law of Reciprocity.
This further cements your belief that most customers are out to screw you over, creating a deeper spiral into The Customers of Chaos Illusion.
And so the cycle continues.
Okay, okay. I know that sounds like a lot of woo-woo stuff. The Law of Attraction I’ll give you is a bit suspect. And I made up the Customers of Chaos Illusion to try to summarize what’s happening when we feel like shitty customers are everywhere, but the rest are well-studied social psychology and sociology concepts.
Managing Customers of Chaos is an entirely different topic. For now, thinking that a difficult customer is a Customer of Chaos should be your last conclusion.
Gut Check
Okay, so here’s the thing -
Everyone has the potential to be a shitty customer. Yes, even you and me.
While there are a lot of great businesses out there, I’d wager you’ve run into your fair share of not-so-great ones. You take those experiences with you into future businesses.
The next time you go to work with a similar business, you go in with your battle armor. The first sign of trouble, and you draw your sword. Next orange flag, you’re charging and shouting your battle cry of, “NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER,” ready to fill your goblet with the blood of thine enemy.
While mildly dramatic, I’m only half-joking.
Everyone does this.
That’s why it’s important to make the extra effort to communicate well, think through your processes, and design your customer experiences.
By being proactive, you’re showing them that they can lower their sword. Create multiple good experiences, and they’ll start leaving their armor at home.
So remember that even good people like you can be a shitty customer sometimes.
The Choice Is Yours
If you think that people are normally shitty, you’ll create an atmosphere where you run into shitty people more often.
You can certainly choose to be hypervigilant and worry about those types of people, but honestly, that sounds like an awful way to experience life.
Instead, try to focus on:
a) Putting good energy and thoughts into the world
b) Back those up with your behavior, and you’ll attract similar people.
c) Create customer-centric policies and experiences
d) Lead with curiosity and empathy when your Shitty Customer Radar starts to bleep
Will a few truly shitty customers slip through the cracks? Of course.
But when it does happen, it’s such a small percentage compared to the rest of your customers that it’s something you deal with and move on.
And if you’re honest with yourself, it’s sort of fun to tell the stories of customers who need to put the audacity they have back where they found it.
THE TAKEAWAY
Personal service solopreneurs are prone to falling to The Customers of Chaos Illusion. True Customers of Chaos are a rarity. The rest of the customers who seem to be “shitty” customers can be rehabilitated into fantastic customers with thoughtful customer experiences.