Dealing with Angry Customers

you probably heard a popular saying that
goes the customer is always right
and of course there's lots of opinions
on that but i prefer the quote of a
martial field that goes
right or wrong the customer is always
right basically it acknowledges that the
customer might be wrong
but it's your job to help them be right
so when you're dealing with upset
customers
don't focus on the argument instead the
best thing you can do
is to refocus their attention on the
solution to help them be right
in other words look at ways you can
resolve the issue so they walk away
satisfied with your service
these principles apply to your
communication in person
on the phone and even online arguing
with a customer who's left a negative
review on a social media channel
is not going to make your company look
any better in fact
it'll just stir up more public debate so
when you're responding to their message
remind yourself that the goal is to help
them become right
even if they start out wrong regardless
of who's to blame helping customers feel
like they're right is a great way to
show empathy
avoid arguments and make them feel
better overall
this can be challenging especially when
you're dealing with an angry customer
and feel like you're being attacked by
them but the most productive way to
spend your time is to try and to help
them even if you ignore all of this and
get involved in a heated discussion over
who's right and who is wrong
you'll be stuck in a negative situation
without an actual solution
your goal should then be to resolve
their problem so you can meet their
needs
in this section we're going to look at
ways that you can show empathy
take ownership and avoid language that
triggers negative emotions
we'll also cover ways that you can
prevent customers from getting upset
and how you can take care of yourself so
you can easily manage stressful
situations
are you ready to dive in i'll see you in
the next lecture
if a customer comes to you already upset
it can be tricky to get past those
emotions in order to help them
sometimes strong emotions get in the way
of finding a solution to the problem
so what should you say to someone who is
disappointed or even angry
while this kind of situation can be
uncomfortable to deal with
there is an effective way to address
their concerns and that's using empathy
if you recall our earlier lecture
empathy is the ability to understand
and share the feelings of another person
it requires you to put yourself
in the customer's shoes and see the
problem from their point of view
when you hear stories of customer
service failures usually that's due to
lack of empathy
it's important to know that being
empathic towards someone
doesn't mean that you agree with
everything that they're saying
it simply means that you understand and
acknowledge what's true to them
using empathy will help you succeed in
your role and
represent your company in the best way
possible there are many benefits to
expressing empathy apart from simply
making customers happy
empathy helps you gain a better
understanding of people
and customer support is all about
working with people if you understand
your customers better
you can offer better service and that
comes with practicing empathy on a daily
basis
it'll also help you strengthen your
intuition and notice things that
are unsaid based on the situation you'll
easily pick up on people's body language
voice and tone you'll also have a better
understanding of what their needs are
and how they are feeling you'll pick up
on these cues without even them having
to spell everything out for you
all of this will help you resolve
conflicts much faster and customers will
see that they are being heard and
understood this is especially useful
when
in situations where you have to say no
to a customer for example
if they're requesting a service that
requires additional payment
or product that you simply don't offer
you'll need to use
empathy to communicate that
strategically without empathy
these kinds of conversations can make
the customer upset or distrustful
so when you show that you're able to
understand their perspective it'll be
much easier to gain their trust
and to convince them of your point of
view
taking ownership is about accepting
responsibility for solving a problem
sometimes it gets confused with being
blamed but that's really not the case
you can take ownership and defuse anger
by first acknowledging the problem and
then
refocusing the conversation on the
solution this approach
lets you show empathy and helps the
customer feel like their opinion
actually matters like that you're also
going to avoid getting stuck in who is
to blame it's an effective approach but
be careful not to make any of these
mistakes
number one when you apologize and say
i'm sorry
make sure that your tone and body
language convey just as much empathy as
your work
otherwise your customer will pick up on
the fact that you're not being genuine
and they won't feel like you're
acknowledging the problem
number two avoid putting blame on others
or using phrases like
who told you that or i didn't say that
instead of pointing fingers or trying to
defend yourself
focus on the solution to create a
positive word of mouth you need to take
ownership in customer service situations
remember when you take responsibility
customers are more likely to perceive
that you actually care
about what they have to say and more
likely to do business with you
it's no surprise that negative words can
trigger negative emotions
now i would like to look at examples of
common trigger words and how they can be
replaced with positive language
number one instead of saying i don't
know you can say
let me find the answer for you it shows
that you're going to take initiative
to help the customer number two when
dealing with someone who's upset
don't ask them to calm down chances are
it'll stir up even more emotion
instead use empathy and say i understand
how you feel
three when someone comes to you with a
complaint instead of just saying i'm
sorry about that
you can say i will fix the situation
here you're refocusing their attention
on the solution
which will be a more efficient way to
continue the conversation
four when you get a question that you've
never heard before and don't have a
solution
avoid simply saying no one has
complained about this
this might actually sound offensive to
the customer and make them feel like
they did something
wrong instead try saying i've never had
someone bring this to my attention
could you please provide more
information about this issue
this way you're asking an open-ended
question to learn more information about
the problem
example number five another common
expression that can trigger negative
emotion is
it's not my fault instead of focusing on
who created the problem
refocus the conversation on what you can
do to help the customer
so instead you could say something like
this let me see how i can fix this
do you see how something so simple can
completely change the mood from negative
to positive
sometimes you encounter requests that
you simply can't do for example
customers might ask you for a product
that you don't offer
or have completely unreasonable
expectations
in this situation a negative response
would sound like this
unfortunately there's nothing i can do a
much more effective way to answer that
would be
well i can't do this this is what i can
do and then
try to work with them to find an
alternative so they're satisfied with
your service
and last but not least what happens when
a customer misreads information about
your policy
avoid saying things like sorry for the
policy
this is a tricky one clients often
misread information about refunds
exchanges and other important
instructions
you still need to find a way to work
with them so you can say
the following this is the policy however
i can offer this alternative
and see what you can do to make them
happy as you can see you can simply
replace language that triggers
negative emotions to end the
conversation on a positive note
next time you're tempted to say
something that might trigger a negative
emotional response think of how your
language can completely transform your
whole communication with your customers
dealing with challenging customers is
not all doom and gloom
although it might not feel like it in
the moment it's a great learning
experience
you actually learn more from an angry
customer than a happy one
when you do get an upset customer your
goal should be to find a solution
but you should also try to learn from
their complaint and use it to improve
your service
if you don't fix the issue and the
complaints keep repeating
your company will get a bad reputation
when you get an irritated customer
they're usually upset for one of two
reasons one
either you didn't meet their
expectations or they think that you
didn't meet their expectations
whatever the reason is your goal should
be to work it out and see it as an
opportunity to improve your services
so ask yourself the question what can i
learn from this situation
even if you're a superhero customer
support these situations will still come
up
word of the mouth travels fast whether
you're serving a local community or
working online with clients worldwide
you want to make sure you don't leave a
negative impression that could affect
your company's reputation
while you're dealing with difficult
customers it's important to analyze
why the complaint came up and try to
resolve the internal issue
that might have caused the problem that
your customer had
don't be afraid to discuss with the team
and collaborate with your colleagues
talk about the situation and what you
did to resolve it
or what you can do as a team together
and watch for patterns
if this issue or similar one comes up
again chances are
something needs to be improved on your
end here's a quick checklist
that will help you analyze complaints
and discuss them with your team
one is the problem real or imagined
two what are the customers expectations
three are their expectations reasonable
four what solutions have worked so far
or failed so far
five what can we do to improve and
prevent this from happening again
working as a team can help to reduce
stress and improve your overall
performance
as a company sometimes the solutions are
outside of your control
and require help from your colleagues or
approval from management
you and the whole team should figure out
the best practices
and challenge yourselves to keep
improving
aside from clear communication there are
things you can do to prevent angry
customers from getting even more upset
the approach requires you to spot a
situation where a customer is likely to
get upset
before it actually happens you can then
prevent a negative situation by
acknowledging their emotions
before they come up basically there are
three steps to make this happen
first step is to recognize the problem
before the customer has a chance to get
angry
the second step is to acknowledge their
emotions and the third
step is to fix the problem to give you
an example i've had this happen before
in a restaurant
my family went out to dinner at a
popular greek restaurant in our town
and there were a number of big groups
celebrating birthdays that night
so naturally service was slower than
usual and the kitchen staff needed more
time to prepare the food
luckily the server recognized the
problem before things got out of hand
based on the number of people she could
tell it would take longer than usual to
bring us our meals
so she apologized for the delay in
advance and thanked us for being patient
and to fix the issue she came by
frequently to fill our drinks and even
offered a complimentary appetizer to
keep us happy while we waited
in the meantime we just enjoyed our
conversation and didn't really pay
attention to the delay
as a result she didn't have to deal with
frustrated customers
and for us the long wait wasn't a big
deal she spotted the problem and dealt
with it before anyone had a chance to
get upset about the weight
by providing friendly and personable
service and a free appetizer
she actually exceeded our expectations
which made the service even more
memorable
it was a positive experience and now i
always recommend that restaurant to our
friends
so do you see how a negative experience
can be turned into a positive one
if you catch it in time the key is
really to spot the situation
before the customer has a chance to get
irritated
to apply the strategy in real life start
by thinking of a few situations where a
customer is likely to get upset
just so you know what to do if and when
that comes up in the future
i'd like to share a number of tips that
will help you deal with negative
situations
so they don't affect your job
satisfaction and your performance
here are a few things that you can do to
manage how you react to these kinds of
situations
one if a customer is upset remind
yourself not to take their anger
personally
keep in mind that a negative customer is
likely to be negative no matter who
they're
talking to do your best to stay calm and
objective
this will help prevent the situation
from escalating and refocus your
conversation on finding the solution
use active listening techniques that we
covered earlier to understand the
problem and to shift focus
from the problem to the desired outcome
you don't have direct control over their
emotions
but you can help by proposing solutions
to improve the situation
remind yourself that you're doing your
best to help and try not to take others
emotions
close to heart number two is create a
positive work environment
if you're working from an office at your
job or in your own home set up a
positive workspace
get rid of anything that doesn't
contribute to a comfortable space
this could mean recycling old notes or
putting away any unnecessary
distractions
just to give yourself some more space
you can leave a few personal items on
your desk
such as things that make you smile when
you look at them for example
you might want to put a picture of your
family or pets or maybe even
a decorative plant also make sure that
you're comfortable when you're sitting
down at your desk
so you're not straining your back or
your neck which leads me to my next step
so tip number three is exercise to ease
stress
i found that having a consistent
exercise routine makes a big difference
when it comes to managing stress
it's a great way to get your mind off
work and just to feel rejuvenated after
a long day
if you've had a stressful situation even
just going for a brief walk will help
you to feel more grounded and refreshed
if you like to exercise in the morning
it's a great way to start your day to
feel alert
and energized and in the evening it's a
nice way to unwind
and end your day on a positive note the
best is to find an activity that you
enjoy doing and that will help you feel
much better about dealing with stressful
situations
and help you unwind and eat stress at
the end of the day
tip number four take breaks to clear
your head
taking breaks throughout your day is a
good way to recharge your batteries and
refocus
if you work on the computer it's also
important to give your eyes a break from
the screen
you can get up to stretch or breathe in
some fresh air
taking a pause is a great way to reset
when you're dealing with difficult
customers
you'll come back to the situation
feeling much more relaxed and calm
it'll help you stay focused and
objective when you're dealing with
challenging situations
and the last tip number five is
celebrate your success
in customer service you're constantly
thinking about the needs of other people
your job is super valuable to the
company and it's important to remember
that
when you receive positive feedback from
customers take the time to reward
yourself
and recognize your success if you're
having a tough day
look back on the positive comments that
remind you of the people that you've
already helped
and that will also cheer you up when you
take the time to take care of yourself
first
you'll see a big improvement in your
overall well-being and your performance
remember the essentials a peaceful
workplace exercise routine
taking breaks and celebrating your
accomplishments
all of these will help you strengthen
your performance and boost your
productivity at work