How to Handle Irate Customers in a Call Center

irate customers come in two kinds there
is the iris cuz
there are ira customers who are not
verbally abusive they're just upset but
they're also those
irid customers who are verbally abusive
and today
we're going to talk about how to handle
each of them
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so your customer is verbally abusive
when her comments are
racist sexist homophobic
or when she's attacking you personally
or when she's
yelling louder and louder and louder
and when there's repeated and consistent
profanities
first i'm gonna talk about how to deal
with just
a regular irat customer but not verbally
abusive
and once that's done i'm going to talk
about how to deal with
an irit customer and a verbally abusive
one
let's begin
so the step one and the most important
step is to stay
calm and listen without interruptions
now this goes without saying because two
people two parties
just cannot solve a problem if both of
them
are upset so one if one is irate one
must be cool-headed
and that is you the agent and another
thing is
listening now when you listen to the
customer
you're already telling her non-verbally
that she has your full attention you are
willing to listen to her
that she can vent out her frustration
once she vents out her emotional stress
that is a time that is the only time
that she's
going to be able to respond to reason
this is
specifically crucial at the early stage
of the call where the customer
is likely going to pour her heart out
and when she does that make sure that
you listen
do not interrupt when you interrupt
you're telling the customer know that
you're impatient and you couldn't care
less about her problem
you're just going to antagonize the
customer and antagonizing the customer
is the last thing that you want to do in
customer service
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now the step two would be to empathize
apologize or assure
whichever applies depending on the
situation
so apology is when
the company made a mistake you have to
apologize
empathize if the customer is
experiencing an inconvenience
whether that inconvenience is cost was
caused by the company
or caused by her you still have to
empathize it's like telling your
customer i know how you feel i
understand how you feel
and assurance is when you
are going to tell the customer that you
are going to do something certain for
her
for example you're telling the customer
that
don't worry i will make this right for
you here's what i'm going to do
and you will get this solution but if
you're still unsure about the outcome
of her issue then you can still assure
your customer by telling her that
you're gonna do everything you can to
help her
that is still an assurance
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and the step three would be to state the
specific action
that you are going to take to resolve
the issue of the customer
now being specific is very important
because
you're telling the customer that you
have a plan and you have
an exact plan that you know what you're
talking about and that you're gonna
solve your problem
here are the examples so my order
shipped on the first
it's already the 28th and i still
haven't received it
and if you check it in canada post the
last update was on the 16th
so it has been stuck in transit for two
weeks now
and listen i know that you're not canada
post and you did not cause the delay
yourself
but i am desperate and you are the
shipper so i need you to contact canada
post on my behalf
and speed up the whole thing please do
something about this please i don't know
what to do anymore
i'm so sorry to hear that that's way
beyond the canada post time frame
you definitely should have received it
by now but don't worry amber i can
definitely follow up on your behalf
if you can give me the order number i
will call canada post for you
and then update you through call before
the end of this day how does that sound
so as you heard the customer was a
little upset but
there was no apology needed because it
wasn't the company's fault that the
order was delayed
there was an empathy because there was
an inconvenience and there was
definitely an assurance because there
was something that the agent could do
to help the customer with her
inconvenience so as you can see in this
graphic
apology is yellow empathy is red and
assurance is green
and as you can see there is no yellow
here there is only the empathy which is
red
and the assurance as the green
but what happens if it is your company's
fault
here's an example you are a bunch of
incompetent idiots
you had one job one job
to deliver my dress before the 14th i
called you
before i placed the order i specifically
confirmed it with nicole
you know what she said she said yes we
can definitely deliver your order before
the 11th in fact
we will do it within 24 hours now
you know what the best part is that was
five days ago
it's already the 14th and i am left
without a dress for the wedding
all because of your crappy scamming
company
do you have any idea how frustrating
this is for me what is wrong with you
people
do you really expect to build a business
by lying to your customers
i need you to refund that immediately i
truly apologize for this amber
i can only imagine how stressful this
might be for you beyond stressful
candice beyond stressful you can't even
imagine
yes and we really should have done
better than this normally we ship orders
within 24 hours
but this was clearly not the case with
the order
this was a huge mistake on our part and
as you said
you have no need for the dress anymore i
will immediately request to have you
refunded in full
i truly apologize for this i truly wish
we've done better than this
so as you heard the customer was very
upset
and probably even more upset than the
first example
there was definitely an apology because
it was the company's fault
there was an empathy because there was
an inconvenience and
there was an assurance because something
needs to be done to make it right so as
you can see with the color codes here
there's the apology which is the yellow
and
empathy which is the red and
green as the assurance i suggest that
you screenshot
all these guides so you will have a
reference the next time you encounter an
irony customer
and if you need more examples here's a
third one
so as you can see there's the under i
understand how you feel
so that's the empathy we truly apologize
for this amber
this apology and i assure you i will
make this right for you
and then state the specific action
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but what if there's no resolution what
if the customer is asking
an impossible thing or what if there's
just no alternative
what if the what is what if the only way
is to tell your customer
no what should you do well in this case
just empathize with the customer and
then give a reason
why you can't but the most important
thing here is you need to be firm
here's an example amber
i know this is disappointing for you but
because we have given you the exception
before
we can no longer do so this time i see
here in the system that camille sent you
an email about this on the day that she
gave you the exception
so we just can't give you another one so
as you can see the agent
acknowledged that it must be
disappointing for her but unfortunately
based on the company policy there's just
nothing she can do about it
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and the step four would be to repeat
steps
one two three until the customer
calms down do not expect that your
customer is going to calm down
immediately right after you perform
the steps one two and three the first
time because emotions are never rational
so based on my experience assisting
irate customers
they usually start to calm down around
second or third or if the customer is
superior
fourth tries fourth cycles
of one two and three so just bear that
in mind it depends on
the case of the customer and the
customer itself
you're gonna know that the customer has
calmed down because
her complaints will be less frequent and
her tone will be less hostile so you
will definitely feel that
as a human yourself
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one of the best tips that i recommend to
speed up this process of the customer
calming down
is to deliver bits of good news here and
there
if there is any an example of this would
be
you can say something like normally they
reply within hours so you should get an
answer within the day
or you can say i have a direct contact
with the manufacturer so the replacement
should be shipped
tomorrow you're using positive scripting
to
deliver more good news to the customer
and in return
this will help the customer calm down
faster
it's like you're using positive
scripting to lift the customer's mood
so this is also very useful
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another very simple tip that i can give
you is to call the customer
by their first names this applies with
american customers because
we usually just call american customers
by their first name so when you call
them by the first name you're getting
their attention you're getting their
attention
instead of just not addressing them at
all so it's important that
you get the the first name first and
then
address them using that first name and
according to dale carnegie
a person's name is to him or her the
sweetest and most important sound in any
language
so don't underestimate this simple but
also effective tip
you know we all have the experience
where we are in the middle of a crowd of
strangers and then all of a sudden
all of a sudden somebody calls our name
and we're just like
wow and then it gets our full attention
so
this also applies when you're assisting
an iron customer
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and now here is the most awaited part
and that
is if the customer is verbally abusive
if the customer doesn't calm down no
matter how
how how much how many times you repeat
the steps one two and three there's just
no sign whatsoever of
him or her calming down then this is
going to already classify as a verbally
abusive customer now in this case my
guideline would be the following
first you need to assure the customer
that you know what you're doing and that
you are going to help her but second
you have to tell her that what she's
doing
is keeping you from doing your job say
that what he or she is doing
is keeping his issue from getting
resolved
and third give your customer the option
to discuss
her issue now rationally
or discuss it at a later time here's an
example
if the customer is cursing racist
homophobic
sexist amber i can definitely help you
with this issue i
really can however your continuous use
of foul language is keeping that from
happening
now would you be willing to discuss this
rationally
or do you need a few minutes of your own
so i can help you later
which would you prefer now being racist
sexist homophobic it goes without saying
that you really need to call out your
customer
when they exhibit these behaviors during
your call
but when it comes to cursing there might
be an exception
i think it's quite understandable that
when we are upset about something
that we could let out
one or two f words or one or two
profanity
here and there and that's fine for me
as an agent i would just let it but if
the cursing and profanities
are consistent persistent throughout the
call
not just at the start of the call but
throughout the call
then that is a time that i would already
classify it
as a verbally abusive customer and i
would already issue the warning
whereas being racist sexist homophobic
these are inexcusable behavior and you
really need to call out the customer
for this the first time you do this
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another example is if the customer is
attacking you personally
maybe she's not cursing but she is
she's specifically targeting you as a
person
then here's an example amber
i can definitely help you with this
issue right now i really can
but not if you call me names now would
you be willing to stop calling me names
so that i can help you
when a customer is attacking you
personally she has basically
crossed the line between being upset
into being verbally abusive
you have to establish your boundaries so
you have to call her out for that
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and another scenario is if the customer
is not
cursing but is yelling non-stop
that would also classify as a verbally
abusive customer
one of the indications that the customer
is starting to calm down
is her tone of voice is already becoming
softer and softer instead of yelling now
when she is yelling all throughout the
call that is your cue to issue the
warning
and here's an example amber i can
definitely help you with this issue now
i really can
but for me to be able to do so i need
you to give me a few moments to explain
or if you need a few minutes on your own
i can also help you later
which would you prefer now most agents
when the customer is
yelling but not cursing would get
confused whether or not
to hang up the phone because they are
not cursing they are not
using profanities but know that if the
customer is yelling
that's just yelling and yelling and
yelling then
it's time for you to ask the supervisor
your supervisor and see
what to do next yelling might not sound
like
a verbal abuse but it will it will not
help you resolve her issue so it's about
time
to call her out and issue her the
warning
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and on to the last part what if the
customer
is just a plain and just doesn't
stop
cursing being a sexist homophobic
attacking you personally
and all of all those sort of things
so if this is the case then it is now
time
to disconnect the call here's my sample
script
amber we certainly want to help you but
we are not going to get anywhere today
feel free to call me when you are ready
to have a reasonable conversation but
right now
i am going to end this call or you can
say
amber we cannot tolerate this type of
language
i have no choice but to disconnect this
call feel free to call us back once you
are ready to have a reasonable
conversation
thank you for calling abc company bye
hang up and then you hang up the phone
all right guys that is all for today uh
in my next video i'm probably gonna make
a mock call
uh showing an irate customer
and a verbally abusive customer in one
call
so stay tuned subscribe comment down
below if you have any questions
and thank you so much for supporting my
channel bye