If you are in a customer-facing role, you will often have to deal with people who are angry, demanding, aggressive, and sometimes even abusive. How you deal with these difficult customers speaks volumes about your brand.
Your customers could have had a bad day, and a small bug might be enough to throw them over the edge. While these customers might not be easy to deal with, it’s your job to ensure that even your most problematic customers leave with an ideal experience. One misstep along the way can cause churn or negative reviews on social media, which is the last thing any brand would want.
However, dealing with difficult customers day in and day out can be very stressful and demotivating. Here are eight tips that will make these challenging conversations a little easier and more positive for you and your customers.
Face it head-on
Difficult and angry customers are not easy to face. You might be afraid, but facing that fear and facing these difficult situations is vital for your company and growth. Conflict resolution is an important customer service skill that agents need to have.
Customer relationships forged after a difficult conversation are stronger than the ones forged out of a nice one.
Face difficult customers head-on and do your best at service recovery. If it doesn’t work, that’s okay too. Because your most frustrated customers are also your best source of learning, so, don’t shy away from angry or unhappy customers unless absolutely necessary.
The first thing to do in a tense situation is to stay calm, patient, and focused.
Show them you understand
Nothing can defuse a frustrating experience better than displaying empathy. Most customers want to be heard, and lending an ear along the way can help the customer calm down.
Put yourself in the customer’s shoes, and really listen to what they are saying. You can even request for a phone call, or a video call that will allow for screen sharing as well. While switching channels when interacting with customers is generally not advised, it might be worthwhile in the case of a difficult customer. Phone calls allow for active listening, that is, listening to understand the underlying emotions and what’s being communicated. This way, you get a holistic view of your customer’s problem that’s required to offer the right solution.
You make customers feel heard and more at ease by saying ‘yes’, ‘mmm hmm’, ‘I agree’, or ‘I understand’ while speaking to help the customer feel that their anger is warranted, and this validation can help them calm down.
Note that the most difficult of all conversations you could have, would be with customers who are right. When you know that the customer is justified in their anger, the best thing to do would be to agree with them and accept that the mistake was on your side. Win the trust that was lost by saying things like “You’re right” or “I am going to fix this for you”.
Show them that you are their advocate within the company.
Show customers that you are on their side and that you are their advocate within the company Click To Tweet
Apologize if needed
When a customer flies off the handle for a seemingly manageable problem, then their anger is probably not about the problem.
Maybe the customer has had a series of issues with your product or service. Maybe they recommended your product or service to their friends and colleagues and they feel let down. Maybe it is not related to you or your product. They might be having a personal problem that they are taking out on someone else.
But your job is to make sure you do everything you can to make them happy. So go ahead and apologize. Even when it is not your (or your company’s) fault, you could say something like “I am sorry you are facing a hard time”. As Lo Marino from Boomerang said, nearly every customer calms down when you shoulder some of the blame.
But make sure you do not apologize too much and sound insincere in the process.
Further reading
How to apologize to customers
A guide to empathy in customer service
3 common difficult situations and how to deal with them
Be solution-oriented
Even if the fault is on their side, the highest priority is to keep the customer happy. If the customer starts to blame you, tell them that resolving the problem at hand is way more important than assigning blame.
Ultimately, you need to ensure that an upset customer leaves with a happy experience. Ending on a bitter note could cause you a loyal customer, or even potential customers, when the negative experience is shared on social media.
Depending on the case, here are a few things you can do to make things right:
– Reach a middle ground
Try to offer a solution that aligns with customer expectations but doesn’t compromise company policies. For instance, if the customer wants a feature from a higher plan, you can offer to enable it for a month, post which the customer can upgrade if they want to. Another example would be bearing the shipping cost when a product has been unavailable for a long time and the customer has been pressing to buy it. Asking the right questions and getting the complete picture can help you suggest the best solution.
– Follow up
Some issues that require you to collaborate with your teammates or other teams can take more time to solve. Keep the customer updated and follow up once you’ve arrived at a solution.
Even otherwise, following up and checking on a customer a week or two after a frustrating experience shows that you truly care about them.
– Offer a token of apology
As a last resort, share store credits, a coupon, or a discount to compensate for the inconvenience caused. In cases where the customers’ asks are unmeetable, this could be the only way to set things right.
Escalate whenever necessary
Escalation is usually seen as a negative thing. The phrase “I want to speak to your manager” universally means that the customer support agent is doomed. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
You can use escalation as a way to help the customer quickly. If the customer is not responding to your attempts to help them and is fixated on talking to your manager, just go ahead and escalate. It just helps because the customer will feel like they are being taken more seriously.
Contrary to what the customer might think, escalation is not always a failure on your part. It means you care enough to see that the problem is solved even when you are not the one solving it.
But if you are the best person available to help that customer quickly, immediately establish that you are qualified to solve the problem. Give them examples of how you helped others who were facing the same issues and gain their trust.
Further reading
The guide to escalation management in customer service
How to respond to angry customers
How to say no in customer service (with email templates for saying no)
Set boundaries
Some customers tend to cross the line. They might be racist, sexist, or abusive for no reason. You should not take this lying down. Not only is it not right for you to be treated that way, but it will also encourage them as they will feel rewarded for their behavior.
Instead, simply let them know that you will not respond to any further inquiries until they change how they talk to you. This way, they have to become less abusive or threatening to get help.
You don’t have to take everything lying down. Do not engage with abusive customers until they change their tone. Click To Tweet
However, if this is not a one-off incident, if the customer has tried to bully you or your colleagues before, it’s important that you escalate it to your management. They can make a decision to sever ties with the customer if they find out that one wrong customer is affecting many employees.
Share your company policies
Having your terms of service or terms and conditions down in writing in simple terms that customers can understand could be a great way to deal with conflicts.
Pointing difficult customers to your company’s or customer service team’s policies helps prove that you’re being fair and just with your service, and also is an effective way to curb conversations from developing further.
You can also rest easy since everything is written in print, and you’ve done your bit to help them. But you need to ensure that you don’t sound blunt while sharing this document with your customers. Be apologetic and say that you could have helped the customer if it were to you, but your companies’ policies don’t allow for it.
Train yourself
Be prepared to deal with demanding customers by training yourself in anger management, stress management, and negotiation skills.
If you are new to support or any customer-facing role, know that you will inevitably have to deal with difficult customers at some point.
So in addition to the generic skills mentioned, find the areas of improvement unique to you. Different people react differently to stressful situations. Some might get agitated, some might cry, some might close off and become completely unreactive. It helps to think about what your reaction would be so you don’t take yourself by surprise.
Last but not the least, customers are not the only ones allowed to be frustrated.
You could be going round and round on an issue with a customer without any sign of a solution. If you realize that the problem is getting on your nerves, excuse yourself from the case instead of faking niceness. Explain to your customer that you are giving this issue to your manager or someone else because you want what’s best for them.
Some customers might have a reputation of being demanding with a record of asking for more or expressing unhappiness.
Take a quick glance at past customer interactions when a customer starts showing signs of being difficult. Your first clue is when the customer just does not budge and keeps pushing you on something.
A good customer service software will capture customer customers in a single thread, enabling you to view the customer’s history in a single glance. Here’s an example of what this looks like in Freshdesk:
Or, you can also search for the customer’s name and find all the interactions they’ve had with your team in one go.
Doing this will help you know what you’re getting into, so you can be better prepared to tackle them. You can even keep the right resources handy or keep your manager informed of something that might come your way.
If the access to historic conversation is unavailable or restricted, then another way to prepare is by analyzing the customer’s personality to understand their needs.
The first and the last ones are troublemakers that you need to be wary of. So when a customer does not seem like they will cease to be angry or impatient, then you need to realize that the conversation could get tricky.
Follow these tips to handle difficult customers every day and turn every hard conversation into a chance to learn.
What are the methods you use to deal with difficult customers? Let us know in the comments section.
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