Irate, unreasonable customers. They can be the bane of your existence. But customer service training tells us to be polite (even when you’d do anything to wring their necks through the phone), to smile, and to listen. When things begin to get out of hand or when the hard conversations are hairline away, these basic skills won’t solve anything.
Here are a few tips from customer support reps that may even be useful outside the cubicle.
REDUCE CUSTOMER EFFORT – When the request is unreasonable (when a contract was signed or when they knowingly expressed agreement early on), the first remedy is to find and eliminate the frustrating experience. Often, nothing else can be done to give the customer what they want. When this happens, then you have to initiate the difficult conversation.
Focus on how the customer FEELS. Experience is more important than the outcome. As professionals and customer contact associates, we have a huge influence on how customers feel when they interact with us – EVEN WHEN THE OUTCOME IS THE SAME. The best thing to do is to guide the customer to a mutually agreeable solution. Instead of allowing the customer to make demands and get upset, you can take control by lowering their “perceived effort”. Make sure that your empathy is in place. Understand their goals and express your willingness to get them there.
AVOID SAYING NO – Another thing to note is positive language. We all have a negative response to the word “NO”. Physical pain and rejection feel the same to your brain. Experiencing rejection already leads to a decreased reasoning capacity. Safe to say that everytime you say NO, you make frustrated, angry customers more difficult to reason with.
Of course, you can neither lie. If you can’t grant them their request, frame your response by focusing on what you can do. For example, if the customer wants an item that won’t be available till a few weeks, offer alternatives or a later shipping date.
Last but not least, SHOWCASE THE OUTCOME AS DESIRABLE BY COMPARING IT WITH A LESS DESIRABLE ONE. Take this example. Your team leader scheduled you for overtime on a Sunday, no less. It’s the time of year and more agents are needed to support the volume. But then they give you an alternative. Instead of working overtime on a Sunday, they offered you shortened lunchbreaks and staying an hour later from Monday to Friday. (It’s still not a very good option, but it does sound better than working overtime on a Sunday). This method is called anchoring. It’s making an option seem more positive by comparing it to other options. You can have the internet guy come within a guaranteed window on Tuesday next week OR you can be on standby this Saturday. Tuesday seems like a better idea compared to risking being at one place on a Saturday)
Indeed, customer training offers skills that prove to be useful beyond the four corners of a cubicle! Try your hand at these valuable life skills with NEARSOL.
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NEARSOLis a US-based BPO and service company that offers clients custom-design solutions. It began operations in 2006 and has since gained a strong presence in the Latin American regions, the Caribbean, and the Asia Pacific, winning numerous awards for quality and service along the way. Most recent of which is its Great Place to Work-Certified™ Recognition
The Great Place to Work-Certified™ Recognition is a global accreditation that tells stakeholders what employees think of the company culture. In brief, it says a lot about the happiness and productivity index in NEARSOL. Certification means people are happy working here and that leadership trust is palpable and real.
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