At some point, as a business owner, you are going to encounter an upset customer because something went terribly wrong. The most important thing to remember, when you receive a phone call or come face-to-face with an upset customer who is on the edge of exploding, is to remain calm.
By remaining calm and allowing them to vent and tell you what is wrong with your business and why they had a bad experience, it causes them to start to run out of steam. Often, the reason they are upset is simply because no one is listening to them or their problem. Once you notice they are calming down, now it is your time to take control of the situation.
Displaying empathy for their situation, you need to get to the heart of the matter. It is okay to apologize for their bad experience, but do not just stop here. Instead, ask them if it okay to ask them some further questions to get a better understanding of their situation. Most of the time they will say yes, because you are listening to them, and they are willing to let you dive deeper into their problem.
If they say no, you can say you understand where they are coming from because they have already put so much time and effort into attempting to get things resolved without much success. However, if they could be patient with you, you are willing to help them and will take as much time as needed to get things resolved. Often this is enough to get a person that said no previously to change their mind.
Once you have identified their issue, propose a solution that benefits your customer and resolves their concerns. At the end of the conversation, remember to restate their problem and what you did to resolve it, and get final clarification that their issue has been resolved to their satisfaction. Last, remember to follow up with them in the near future to verify they are happy with the resolution.
For further suggestions on dealing with aggressive and irate customers from our experienced telephone answering service agents, contact Always Answer at 1-800-606-9898 now!
