The good customer service customer agent will communicate
with a lot of customers in his carrier and will find solutions to a lot of
problems. Which are the toughest problems - hard to tell, but who are the
toughest customers - easy, the angry ones. We all know, that speaking or
communicating with an angry person is very difficult and even the easiest task
seams impossible when its screamed in your ear with a bunch of bad words and
threats. But, we have an easy three steps solution to dealing with angry
customers. Here is how you do it.
Step 1: Stay calm
This is the most important thing in the whole situation. If
you get upset or angry you will just make things worse, so take a deep breath
and try to stay as calm as possible. Ask questions politely and make sure you
speak with a mellow tone. This will either make your job easier or it will calm
down the customer. It's a win-win situation. The customer's criticism can take
a lot of directions and sometimes they will use everything against you (your
words included) so mind your words and explain everything thoroughly. When the
client speaks (or yells...) don't interrupt him. Never. But be sure to ask for
the information you need to find a solution to his problems;
Step 2: Put yourself in their shoes
In most of the cases the customer is angry for a reason -
they've paid a big price on a product that doesn't work or the product stopped
working in the worst possible moment. Try to see things from their point of
view and you will be able to see beyond the anger and find out what exactly
bothers them. Once you show the customer you understand exactly what their
problem is, they will calm down and get easier to communicate with;
Step 3: Take notes
This one is a two part thing. First - take notes while you
speak with the client and write down everything useful he says. The thing is,
when you face an angry client, your blood pressure goes up, you get uneasy and
this prevents the brain from memorizing short information. And you don't want
to ask an angry customer twice about something. The second part is after you
achieved success - write down the name of the customer and what made him calm
down, because there might be a second round to this battle and you want to be
prepared for it.
More interesting stories:
1. 5 Signs You Need to Get Rid of This Client
2. Customer Value - How to Calculate it
3. The 5 Sins of Customer Service