Communication Beat

Where London’s West End usually held its spot as the world’s most expensive area for office real estate, Tokyo’s Inner and Outer Central Districts have jumped into the top five, with the Inner District coming out on top and relegating London’s West End to second place. This was the result of a survey report recently released by CB Richard Ellis Group (CBRE).

CBRE follows office occupancy costs in around 170 cities, and this year, Moscow came in third, and Hong Kong’s Central Business District was placed fifth in their survey. London’s West End failed to hold on to the top spot. This is largely due to the economic climate, which has made businesses extremely wary of making new acquisitions for office space. Expansion of businesses has also ground to almost a complete halt, and as a result, there is a much lower demand for office space, depressing prices by almost 20% this year in comparison with last year.

Only three cities have escaped this overall decline – the French city Marseille, Perth in Australia, and the American town Charlotte. This however may be attributed to the fact that they previously experienced low costs or are emerging cities, which hardly have any track record. Therefore, the remaining cities of the 170 surveyed, London included, have seen a downward trend in occupancy costs (for a cost effective solution click on shared office space).

London’s West End has seen one of the worst falls in office space prices, as the average cost used to be around USD 300 per square foot, but has now fallen to USD 170 per square foot, according to CBRE’s Global Chief Economist, Dr. Raymond Torto. He also remarked that areas catering to employers from the financial sector are doing much worse than the rest.

If you’ve been in business very long, you’ve likely heard it all! You know, the irate customer who is going to sue you over the nineteen dollar product that they claim is bogus; the one that’s going to “shut your business down” because they conjure up in their minds that you might have breeched your privacy policy, or the one that takes complete advantage of your money-back guaranty. My favorite has to be the one that calls and screams vulgarities into the phone for apparently no reason.

It doesn’t happen often, but if you’re going to be in business, you will run across some nut cases from time to time. Some can be diffused, some can’t. That’s just the way things go in business.

There are some simple techniques for dealing with irate customers without burning yourself an ulcer over them and without telling them you hope they get cancer and die!

Here are some tips you may find useful…

1. Don’t take it personal

There is one thing that almost all nasty customers have in common. They try to attack you on a personal level. Name calling is not unusual. When you take it personal, you are likely to get into a yelling match with the customer which resolves nothing and only stands to make things worse. Try to diffuse the situation – kill the anger with kindness so to speak. If that doesn’t work, ask them to contact you again once they have calmed down and are willing to speak reasonably. Refuse to speak with a customer in an irate state. You don’t have to put up with abuse ever.

2. Don’t overdo the “customer is always right” concept

In customer service training you will always hear that the customer is always right. While that is true to some extent, sometimes they are just flat wrong. You should always try to accommodate a customer within reason, but do not allow that concept to go too far.

3. Realize it isn’t always your problem

Sometimes people just have a bad day and are looking for someone to take it out on. A hateful, ugly customer is often one of these people. If you listen to their ranting and raving, then respond kindly telling them you understand their frustration and you want to work with them to come to a resolution, you will often diffuse the anger and uncover the rational human being beneath it.

4. Don’t fall for fear invoking bluffs

In customer service some business people tend to do anything to avoid the potential harm of a threat even if it means losing money or giving in to irrational demands. When you are threatened, consider the validity of the threat. Do you really think someone is going to pay thousands of dollars in attorney fees to sue you over a low dollar transaction? Likely not. Again, do what you can to accommodate within reason but don’t give in to unsubstantiated threats.

5. Be prepared to decide whether or not a customer relationship is worth salvaging

You’ve heard it said that one happy customer tells one person about your business while an unhappy customer will tell 10 or more. Undoubtedly, word of mouth can be the best or the worst exposure for your business. This is the very basis of the “the customer is always right” concept. Of course it is best to salvage a customer relationship if you can, but again, do so within reason.

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