How to Answer: At Company ABC, our medical devices can truly change people's lives. Sometimes, though, a patient may have a question or concern about one of our devices. How have you handled a difficult customer interaction in a previous position?
Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Medical Devices job interview.
3. At Company ABC, our medical devices can truly change people's lives. Sometimes, though, a patient may have a question or concern about one of our devices. How have you handled a difficult customer interaction in a previous position?
How to Answer
The interviewer wants to know you can handle the stress of a difficult customer interaction. The customer could be a physician group who use the medical device or an actual patient who has a question or concern about your product. Show the interviewer that you can stay cool under pressure and resolve the concern.
1st Answer Example
"I am a lead in our department, so I take the calls that are escalated or too difficult for one of the other reps to handle. I had a customer who was yelling about how much money he spent on the device and it wasn't working. He was beyond the return date, so we couldn't give him a refund. I let him get all of his anger out and finish talking. I then asked him questions and always addressed him by first name to try and build some rapport. I learned that he hadn't been to see his physician to follow up. We have relationships with the care-givers at one of the local facilities, so I was able to put him on hold, and see when they had an appointment available. When I transferred him over to the scheduler, he had calmed down a bit. It wasn't a perfect scenario, but I tried to treat him with dignity and respect and not take it personal."
2nd Answer Example
For example: "I used to be a waitress in college and dealing with difficult customers was my specialty. My co-workers would always give me the regulars who were cranky because I had a way of working with them that made it look easy. One evening, I had a customer who was very upset with his food order. I listened to his concern and asked him if he would like me to bring him something else, but he kept going on and on and was getting quite loud at this point. I apologized again and asked told him I could give him a discount on his order or bring him another choice. He ended up taking the discount and leaving, but at least his volume went down and he left. Difficult customer interactions don't always end perfectly, but I feel I handled the situation appropriately."