Angry customers are a reality that a customer service employee will face throughout the day. In the following report, we will review 10 important tips to absorb customer anger.
How to absorb customer anger?
Despite companies’ best efforts to anticipate and resolve issues, there will inevitably be scenarios where products are difficult to obtain and deliveries may be delayed, leading to customer complaints and a flood of angry calls to customer service representatives.
Experiencing an angry customer, while unfortunate, is often inevitable. When a bad customer experience occurs, it’s never too late to mitigate it, and it’s certainly never too late to learn the lessons learned.
It is an opportunity to learn by turning a negative situation into a positive customer experience. The way a business interacts with an angry customer can make or break the customer’s perception of the brand and gain their trust in the future.
Instead of fearing an angry customer, a company with a success mindset can use the situation to improve its product or service and build a better relationship with its customers.
According to management consulting group Accenture, companies lose up to $1.6 trillion annually due to customer churn, edesk reported.
Additionally, one in 25 customers will complain to a company about their experience, meaning that most customers don’t tell companies they’re unhappy.
This is a red flag for retailers, who stand to lose out significantly if they can’t correct issues they’re not aware of and this is where customer service comes in to figure this out.
In fact, companies should treat every complaint as a gift. Complaints are full of insights that can help customer service teams improve, and thus provide value to a number of other dissatisfied but silent customers.
10 Tips for Dealing with Angry Customers
Here are ten tips on how to deal with angry customers:
listen
Active listening rather than passive listening means focusing on everything the customer is saying so that you clearly understand why they are upset. Passive listening means only absorbing part of the message and not fully paying attention to the feelings behind their communication.
“Most people don’t listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply,” says Steve Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Be present and give the customer your full attention, focusing on the words they are communicating and not the anger behind their words.
To show the customer that you are actively listening, rephrase their complaint, ask clarifying questions, and do not interrupt them. This is often the most effective way to deal with angry customers at the beginning of the situation.
Apologize to the angry customer
Apologize for the problem the customer is having. Acknowledging your mistake will go a long way with difficult customers. Be specific in your apology. A comprehensive apology shows the customer that you care about them and that you understand their frustration. Provide a brief explanation, but don’t overdo it. Keep it short and move on.
Dealing with angry customers by showing empathy
Empathy helps guide your response and reaction to an angry customer. Empathy does not necessarily mean agreeing with the customer.
This means that you truly understand how they are feeling and can meet them where they are. By truly understanding how a customer is feeling, you will be able to connect with them on a more personal level. As you have difficult conversations with customers, showing empathy will help defuse the issue and show the customer that you respect them and are listening to them.
Keep a calm tone of voice.
Maintaining a professional demeanor is an essential skill for a customer service employee to develop. It is important for employees to learn not to let frustration get the better of them when dealing with an angry customer. It may be tempting to match their tone of voice. However, this should be avoided at all costs, as it will only make the situation worse. If you are speaking in person, listen without interrupting. Let the angry customer have his say, then take a breath before you speak. Slowing down the pace of the conversation will naturally help calm the situation.
Use customer name
There is power in a name. Using a customer’s name helps instill a strong level of personalization in the interaction. This is much more effective when trying to deal with angry customers than when addressing an anonymous entity that could be anyone. “Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language,” said Dale Carnegie, author of How to Win Friends and Influence People.
Building and maintaining trust
It is very likely that an angry customer’s level of trust in your company has been damaged, and it is important to rebuild and maintain that trust moving forward. If you made a mistake, that is okay; you will just need to work harder to repair the relationship. The first thing you need to do is show angry customers that you care and that you truly understand the problem. When dealing with an angry customer, make sure that you have all the essential information and order history of that customer. This will show the customer that you trust them.
Don’t take difficult customers personally
Remember that this is business, not personalization. Constantly remind yourself not to take a customer’s anger personally. They are not angry with you personally. They are angry with the product or service. They had certain expectations when they bought a product and had a problem.
Deal with angry customers using positive language.
When it comes to dealing with difficult customers, support teams need to be skilled in the language they use. Negative language will only add fuel to the fire, while positive language is an element to help tame a heated situation. Avoid using language that suggests the customer is wrong or makes them feel isolated. The customer doesn’t want to hear these things right now, even if there is some truth behind the statements. Instead, using positive language will help instill confidence in the customer and turn a negative situation into a positive one.
Problem solving
The primary goal when dealing with an angry customer is to resolve their issue. Are there solutions? Is there something the employee or customer can do immediately to address their needs? If so, let them do it. If you discover that you can’t resolve the issue right away, be honest with the customer and set expectations with them so they know when their issue will be resolved. Most importantly, meet those expectations. If you can’t, let them know in advance so you don’t damage the relationship further. If necessary, escalate the issue to a more senior support team member or your manager.
Share knowledge with difficult customers
This is an important point, as involving angry customers in solving the problem and knowing its causes may result in ending the problem and calming the customer down, especially when he knows that a large part of the problem is in an action or behavior that he himself has taken.
