Customers come in all shapes and sizes.  Each has its own unique characteristics (and demands), and how you care for each customer is important not only for their satisfaction, but also for the morale of your team.  You have seen it before- just one customer can disrupt your company's entire day by making an unrealistic demand, and your team can be sent into a tailspin trying to figure out how to satisfy this ridiculous request and to make this customer happy.  Or, how about the customer that calls and asks for a solution, but has no suggestions for how and what should be implemented?  All of these details are then left up to you and your team, which can lead to uncertainty and a bit of insecurity since all of you might think you understand what is best, but you have nothing to guide you on how close to the mark you wil be.  Neither of these scenarios are fun, so for the betterment of our business and employees, you and I need to learn how to navigate through each type of customer relationship and characteristic.  

So how do we properly serve and manage our customers that might be a bit frustrating or difficult?  First we have to identify some of these typical customer types, and then we have to have a plan in place for our strategy for working with them.  Close your eyes for a moment, and think about some of your challenging customers and situations.  Make a list of the key characteristics or obstacles of working with each of these customers.  Now, use the below informative guide created by Ciplex to identify these key customer characteristics and - you ready for this? - to learn how to deal with them.  Thank you, Ciplex, for creating such a useful infographic for all of us!  (Click image for the full size version.)