Handling angry customers is the toughest part of customer service. Several things have usually broken down by the time a customer is upset or even irate.
It’s a critical point that can easily be the end of that customer’s journey with us. Or, if we employ the right techniques, we can salvage their business and even regain positive sentiment.
We’ve assembled some words of advice from three thought leaders with varying perspectives on dealing with customers.
Darren Prine is a Managing Partner at Cloud Tech Gurus, a firm specializing in technology solution matchmaking. Leslie O’Flahavan, specializes in communication and is the owner of E-Write. And Megan Merrick is the Customer Experience Vice President of Happier Living, an outpatient mental health private practice.
They each have several de-escalation techniques to share that can help customer service call centers handle angry customers.
Darren Prine, Leslie O’Flahavan, and Ramakrishnan Nagarajan, all recommend using empathy. It’s a powerful de-escalation technique for customer service call centers.
Why?
Simply because everyone appreciates being understood and interacting with someone who just gets it. Particularly when things have gone wrong.
But empathy can be challenging when you’re handling irate customers or trying to communicate with someone who is stressed, upset, tense, and feel they have no control. Leslie has simple advice for putting empathy into action: “demonstrate your ability to see the situation their way.”
A simple way to let customers feel they’re heard is by following Ramakrishnan advise “Repeat customer reported issue to ensure it is correctly captured” This not only makes your customer feel heard, and calm down, it also ensures that your agent captures the correct information.
ALSO READ: Sue Duris advises us on on how to create a more empathetic customer service team.
Another de-escalation technique for customer service call centers is to let them get everything off their chest. Megan says, “your customer is angry – let them speak, vent, or ask questions first. Listen to understand, then respond.”
Even if agents know what’s going on and have an immediate answer, it’s helpful to simply let customers tell you how they feel.
Cutting them off, even to provide a resolution, may still leave them with pent-up dissatisfaction. And if they don’t vent to you, they may do so on social media.
There’s value in listening to an irate customer call. You gain insight into exactly where service fell short, why it was so upsetting, and may recognize service blind spots or missed opportunities for improvements.
This might sound obvious. But in the race to wow our customers with stellar experiences, we’re starting to lose sight of the basics. Ramakrishnan says “Provide appropriate solution if possible at that moment,else take required time from customer to ensure appropriate solution is offered. Adhere to resolution timelines.”
PWC’s customer intelligence survey breaks effective customer service down into four elements: speed, convenience, knowledgeable help, and friendly service.
Surpassing expectations with slick, omnichannel features is great. But only when these enhancements are built on a solid foundation of effective service.
So, if your agents have access to expanded customer insight, make sure they know how to focus on the essential information.
Is anything more frustrating than having to repeat yourself to agent after agent? Or re-explain a complicated situation on a second call to supervisors?
Your agents will be more effective when handling irate callers if they have full omnichannel visibility and insight into customer profiles.
Providing agents with comprehensive customer insight is a de-escalation technique that all customer service call centers should use.
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