Customers generally get to be rude or angry for a wide variety of reasons where some are justified and some not. And since you are in a business where you need to serve the customers you would here likely to encounter rude or angry individuals at one time or another. How you respond would here make a difference a customer who feels satisfied with a resolution and the one who vows would never patronize your business again.
Winning them with kindness:If your customer calls and is annoyed with your products and services do make sure that you show them some kindness, as they might be feeling you are fake. Try and be sincere, faithful, showing sympathy for what ever happened and empathy for their frustration. By exhibiting your kind gesturesyou can definitely ease and win your customers. This is a practice that never fails and might not work on the fullest but will help you win the battle at ease.
Listen and Really Listen:Wait and listen till the user has vented out everything before you speak. Sometimes this would also mean listening to them and describing their frustration all at once. This is a key because venting is exactly what they have been doing and they have been getting their frustration out ensuring that you have been hearing them. Once they are done with this they would be happy to listen to you.
Maintaining a positive and professional tone:No matter what the tone of your customer has been the call centre industry agents need to keep a professional tone. Customers who turn out to be abusive enough may be referred to the supervisors and asked to cooperate respectfully, and in no situation would the agent reciprocate negative feelings or language.Have a positive or sincere tone while giving customers meaningful resolutions is essential.
Understanding their core problem: When the customers turn out to be emotional they would not be able to clearly communicate what their core problem is. They might complain about the feature behaviour when they are using a wrong feature, or complain about their support experience when they are really frustrated about the products and services they have been offering.Once vented do make sure to ask questions so that you know what really has to be addressed.
Repeating their concerns:Once the client gives you the entire reason of what has made him upset, try and repeat his concerns so that you are sure of addressing the right issue. And in case you are in a doubt then feel free to ask a questions making sure you have identified the problem correctly. Use a calm and objective wording. Say for example as I understand it, you are quite rightly upset because we did not deliver them the samples we have promised you last week.
To apologize or not to apologize:There has been a huge debate when it comes to apologizing the clients and customers you have been dealing with. Some teams here feel that you should never ever apologize it encourages the users to blame you and expect that you would be addressing them immediately. Some feel you need to apologize as if it’s your team fault and should never if it has never been under your control. Validation as some suggested should be more effective than apologizing.
Trying To solve their issues:Resolve the issues of your clients as fast as you can. This is something that can only be done if your employees have the authority to do what exactly it takes in terms of compensation. So do make sure you are empowering your team to act.In case you are not sure of what sort of compensation or solution you need to provide then do ask your customers once about it. By showing eagerness to your customers of doing things right you can begin to bridge the gap between your dissatisfied customers and where you want them to be.
Compensating customers for their trouble: If you have particularly been dealing with a difficult client on the phone, then you might have to give them a special kind of a treatment. Not all the call centre organizations are able to give the customers some discounts or freebies to the angry customers, but many of them still do. If you have a problematic customer who refuses to relax, you may then throw them a freebie as a last resort.
To conclude
It can really turn out to be difficult for the brands to please each and every one, and embracing a professional and empathetic approach to communication with unhappy customers would here turn out to be the most frustrated customers to the most loyal ones. So what other tips would you like to add to the list above and how have you been dealing with them. Do leave the answers in the comments section below.
About The Author
Michael is the Marketing Manager at Ampliz, specializing Emailin Address Verificationand marketing database management software, editing blogs, case studies, and guides. He tries to make the world just a bit more pleasant enough by working on strategies that would help them prevent and eliminate spam in terms of email marketing.