📞 Phone rings
Sales Person: XYZ Company, good afternoon…
Caller: Good afternoon. I want to purchase item X in bulk.
Sales Person: Thank you for choosing us. I will be happy to serve you. The item costs *** inclusive of VAT. How many of those do you want to purchase?
Caller: No sir, I want to buy from your company but you cannot serve me because you are African and I am Indian. Please transfer my call to an Indian…
Sales Person: We do not have any Indians working here, I will be happy to help you.
Caller: Isn’t the company owned by an Indian? Transfer my call to the owner. I can only do business with an Indian.
How would you have handled the call from there as a customer service representative or a sales person?
The above conversation reminded me of my daily encounters while working as a Sales Executive years back. I vividly remember the tarmacking, being chased by dogs and the racist comments I had to deal with day in, day out while trying to secure new clients.
More often than not, security guards would not let me in because their bosses had advised them not to allow visitors of my color in. And when I was lucky enough to be welcomed, I would make a pitch then the potential clients would say that they could only close the deal with the business owner because he was of their race.
Respect and honor all human beings irrespective of their religion, color, race, sex, language, status, property, birth, profession/job and so on.
Quran [17/70]
Below are some useful tips for handling such scenarios:
Maintain Your Cool
Do not start a back and forth argument with customer who makes any racist or offensive comments.
Be kind, stay cool, let them talk.
If you have to address it, react towards the racism not the person.
In the scenario above, the Sales Person could have taken the caller’s details and asked another person, preferably a supervisor, to get back to him later.
Also Read: How To Handle An Irate Customer Online
Question Their Intent
There is a high likelihood that the caller was just talking carelessly not knowing his comments would affect the other person.
Calmly, the sales person could have tried to understand why the caller insisted on purchasing from an Indian and using that information, use his sales skills to win the customer’s trust and close the deal.
Also Read: Thinking Like Your Customers
Ignore The Comment
Not all action calls for reaction.
If you can ignore the comment, the better.
