I’ve read a lot about best ways of handling difficult customers via phone. Some of them are really far away from reality. I’ve got 5 years of experience handling people on the phone and still find it difficult with some of the worst assholes. Here’s a list of tricks I use when handling some of the most annoying ones. If you are the dude who pissed me off on the phone a couple of days ago, keep reading too!
I. It’s a game
With any customer on the phone it’s a game. Some people genuinely look for advice but there are a lot who will try to prove you wrong, especially if they’re angry about a delay. Treat it as a game of chess, don’t let the opponent provoke you or you’ll lose control of yourself and the call. Think of it as a game with yourself – once you have lost control the game’s over.
II. Let them speak
To me this was the most important tip I got from the colleague of mine. As an employee of the company that pays you, you have a limited number of tactics that you can use. One that you definitely cannot use is to try and outshout your customer. Don’t even try and raise your voice at an angry customer. They’ll shout even louder and get more aggressive. Instead, just let them speak. Don’t worry if it takes 20 minutes for them to finish their monologue. Sit there patiently, play an online game, gesture with your colleagues (no offensive ones though), put them on mute if you can and have a little laugh if you can. Once they have finished talking, let the silence speak. It still surprises me how powerful silence is after a 5 minute long rant. This definitely isn’t the reaction they expected. This is when they start to understand what just happened: you’re not letting them win this way and they’ll be asking if ‘you still there?’.
Brilliant! This is precisely the type of reaction that WE expected. Now, you can use all your energy that you still have left to say ‘yes madam, I was just letting you to finish’. If they start ranting again, let them talk as above. After all, it’s her who’s been wasting her time talking bollocks for the past 20 minutes. She’s doing this for free, you’re paid for every minute of your time. Relax.
Once you have determined the customer has shouted out all the valuable comments they had, you may start doing your job. It’s up to you if at this point you’ll try to help the customer in the politest way you can.
III. Have a good laugh
Once you have finished the call, remember to have a good laugh about how polite you were when handling this call. Don’t forget to look them up on Facebook and make fun of their silly face.
IV. Aggression is unacceptable
Neither at home or on the phone. Anyone bullying or harassing is committing a crime for which they can go to jail. Be sure to take advantage of this law as much as possible.
V. Handling threatening calls
Every now and then you’ll get a crazy punk saying they know where you work and are coming to get you. The funniest thing is, in most cases you’d have their full record right in front of your eyes. You may wish to consider suing him if he’s under 18 and you think his parents are rich. Just remember your employer may not be very happy about it.
VI. Handling email aggression
These are usually easiest to handle. Remember when they taught you about being empathetic and understanding your customer’s circumstances? Now’s the time to use this lore. The guy who sent you the email saying you have not read his question probably has a tiny penis, his girlfriend just left him and kids made fun on him at school. Again, look him up on Facebook, make fun of him in front of your colleagues. Any particularly handsome pictures may be distributed internally via email. Give it a day or two and then phone him. You will be very polite and detailed when talking to him on the phone because you had the time to prepare and you chose the time of the day when you are at your best. He’s not expecting your call and will be easy to handle. Don’t shout at him! He may be a very nice guy after all.
VII. Give it a day
One of the best email tactics for me. Any annoyed and angry customers can only be angry for a limited time. The angrier they were when writing the email the sooner it’ll go away. They just needed to let the steam off. Again, be empathetic, don’t give them a reason to be even more unhappy. Just leave it for a day or two and then decide if you want to email them back and call.
Is there anything you’d like to add? Feel free to add your comments.
