• Penguins – the Key to Handling Angry Callers

  Posted: Thursday, May 3, 2012

  by Lisa Raven

If only it were that easy!  But in reality, handling angry, irate or just dissatisfied callers takes a little more finesse than a tuxedo clad bird!  Here are a few tips from our new Customer ServicePLUS course to help when dealing with upset callers:

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1. Refuse to engage in the fight – this isn’t the time to “be right” either in words or voice tone.  Sometimes just not “striking back” might actually disarm the caller and help calm them down.

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2. Avoid the “customer is the enemy” mentality.  No company can survive without customers, so see these calls as an opportunity for Service Recovery and a way to create a customer for life.

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3. Remember your role – you are the Ambassador between the company and the customer.  Your job is to maintain peaceful, friendly relations, so be open, approachable and fair. 

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4. Be sure to demonstrate empathy so the caller knows you care.  Just knowing that someone cares about their problem is one of the quickest ways to diffuse an upset caller.

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5. Remember that customer dissatisfaction occurs when there is a gap between customer expectations (what they WANT) and their experience (what they GET).  So try to discover what happened that upset them, and then bridge that gap.

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6. If all else fails, call in the penguins!  Or better yet, call in the PhonePROs!

 

Our new Customer ServicePLUS course goes beyond the basics of handling upset or dissatisfied callers.  We’ll explore the reasons people get upset, solutions and techniques for resolving the problem and the importance of the service rep’s mindset in each and every call.  We are proud to offer this course to help your staff “PLUS IT UP!”