How to Calm Angry Customers
Before you can calm an angry customer, you have to first understand Why they are mad. Once you do that, defusing the situation and even building customer loyalty is easy. Trust me — decades in customer service, and an even longer history as a human being, have taught me a thing or two about how to handle an irate customer.
No matter what product or service you offer, angry customers have certain characteristics in common:
1. They are mad about a real or imagined transgression.
2. They don’t care how or why it happened, they just want someone to fix it. Now!
3. They want to know they are being listened to, Really listened to, and heard.
4. They want you to care about them as an individual, not just a number and they want to know they are important to your business.
Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. We’ve all been there numerous times. Something happened to upset you. How did you feel? Betrayed? Angry? Frustrated?
What was the outcome? How was the situation handled and did that action make you feel better? Or worse? Pay attention each time that happens to you in real life — there may be some creative solutions you can apply to your own business.
When I worked customer service, the primary job was handling angry customers. After all, not too many people call to let you know what a great job you did. As I always used to joke — “if you can’t say something nice — call customer service!”
Here’s how I successfully handled thousands of angry customers.
1. Acknowledge the anger without trying to explain, shift blame or justify.
It isn’t a court case and you aren’t trying to get the customer to understand why something happened. All you are doing is saying “I hear your frustration.” I did this by saying things like, “Wow, that sounds frustrating”; “I can understand why that would make you angry.” It’s a proven fact that if you don’t acknowledge the customer’s anger, they will get even madder.
2. Say thanks and offer to listen so you can help.
It’s important that the customer knows you are glad they called and are giving you an opportunity to make things better. Too many customers will just leave and never tell you they are mad. Say things like, “I’m glad you called so we can fix this” or “We definitely don’t want one of our best customers to be upset. Let me get some details so I make sure I’m understanding what we can do to help.”
3. Restate the problem or concern so they know you heard them.
There’s nothing worse than pouring out your frustrations, only to have the customer service rep launch into a solution that doesn’t fit! So take a moment to recap. Say, “let me make sure I’m understanding” or “as I understand it, the problem is…” and be sure to engage them by asking “is that correct?” or “have I got that right?”
4. Thank them again and offer one or more solutions.
Let the customer know you appreciate them explaining the situation. This is especially critical if the person has been transferred from another department (or Several! I once had to talk to FIVE different people before I got one who was able to listen and help. And No one acknowledged my frustration until I got to her! So you can imagine how angry I was by that time) you can tell the customer things like “thank you for taking the time to explain. I wanted to make sure I was offering the best solution. Here’s what we can do…”
5. Verify that you’ve addressed all your concerns. You can briefly recap the issue and the solution if that seems appropriate. Then ask, “have I addressed all your concerns?” or “is there anything else you think we should know?” The second question would provide a great opportunity for the customer to let you know they are happy with you again. If they answer something like, “yes! Let your boss know you saved a customer today” then you know the call was a success. That doesn’t always happen but it’s nice when it does.
One suggestion to you bosses out there. Be brave — throw out the script and canned responses. I worked so many places where we had to respond to the customer's first verbal volley with “I’d be happy to help you with that. Not a good reply when the customer opens with an abusive “you people are all a-holes!” Let your employees be themselves. You chose them because they are good at talking to people.
I often used humor in ways that would make my boss gasp — but it Worked! For Me. That isn’t the case for everyone. Let me give you an example: I had a customer who had spoken to another rep previously and was calling back, still angry. He started the call with, “I suppose the notes on my account say I’m a real jerk!” I paused just a second and then said, “Hmm, I don’t see that…do you need me to add that note?” For some reason, that made the guy laugh, and we went on to solve his issue. Maybe it was the warmth in my voice. Maybe it was the shock factor of not getting yet another canned response. I don’t know. And I Definitely wouldn’t recommend that you teach that response! It worked because that was my honest personality coming through. Maybe the man just wanted to know he was talking to a “real person”.
So — try it. Let your employees have the freedom to handle situations in their own distinctive way, and watch the results. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. All most customers, most People want is that feeling that they are a unique and valued human being. It will calm angry clients and turn them into loyal life-long customers.
