We all know there are no shortage of difficult situations frontline employees face when dealing with the angry customer – whether you work for an airline or a municipal utility or a retailer.
It’s important to remember that leadership’s job is to support those customer service representatives and other “customer-facing” positions so that customers walk away feeling positive about your organization, even when they are dissatisfied about a situation. https://www.google.com/save/list/E6C4a03LQ3GfHBkutuPg9A?hl=en
“Customers want someone with the authority to help them; connection with a human being; communication about progress; an apology, when it is warranted; respectful treatment and a timely solution to their problem,” says Robin Schell, APR, Fellow PRSA, Senior Counsel and Partner of the behavioral PR and management consulting firm Jackson Jackson & Wagner. “Most of all, they want to feel heard.”
There are four steps to handling an angry customer:
- Let Them Vent. Tempting as it is, don’t interrupt them. Acknowledge their frustrations. If they escalate, don’t take the bait by raising your voice or answering with sarcasm. (Note: You do have the right to shut down the conversation if they are being abusive).
- Empathize. Use phrases like “I can appreciate how you feel” or “I respect your feelings about that.” If appropriate, apologize. Take notes and practice active listening: “Let me see if I understand what’s happened.” Call a supervisor on the spot to seek an immediate solution, if appropriate. If it’s a phone call, try not to leave them on hold for a long time – that will escalate the situation!
- Offer Solutions. Ask the questions that will help you identify the best solution – and provide choices if they are available. “We could do this, or we could do that.” The best scenario is to give frontliners the authority to handle the less difficult situations, so they can solve the problem without sending it up the management chain. Find out what can be done (within reason) to make the situation right.
- Follow Up. Avoid making the customer do the work by saying, “you need to call so-and-so.” See it through to the best of your ability and, for excellent customer service, give a “courtesy call” afterwards to make sure everything went as discussed.
Other pointers for enhancing customer (and employee) relationships:
- Anticipate issues– add that extra level of customer service; suggest options that might save the customer money and time.
- Educate customers on policies in advance so they aren’t surprised about extra charges, return policies etc.
- Make sure frontliners bring back the “kudos” as well as the complaints. Statistics show bad news gets shared far more often than good news stories. https://www.google.com/search?q=statistic+on+sharing+bad+news+vs.+good+news&rlz=1C1CHBF_en&oq=statistic+on+sharing+bad+news+vs.+good+news&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyCQgAEEUYORigATIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRirAjIHCAQQIRifBTIHCAUQIRifBTIHCAYQIRifBTIHCAcQIRiPAtIBCDc2MjdqMGo0qAIDsAIB&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Robin Schell, APR, Fellow PRSA is Senior Counsel and Partner at Jackson Jackson & Wagner, a behavioral public relations and management consulting firm based in the Seacoast. For more information, visit www.jjwpr.com.