how to deal with irrate customers in work

dublin80

most of the jobs i've worked in involved taking incoming calls. This is one major problem for me, for a start i hate talking on the phone. id be the first to say it Im no good at dealing with irrate customers.

im a very sensitive person. if i get a nice customer on the phone, i chat away and am very pleasant. but then you get the pr*ck on the phone, i try and stay calm , listen till they are finished and then try to explain the problem with their order or find a solution for them, but when they become really mad on the phone, my heart starts to beat faster and i snap back at them. i know this is wrong...in my head i do say to myself 'calm down , relax' but i just cant control this moment of outburst. im actually surprised ive not been sacked in the past over my telephone manner. I started taking StressLess tablets, also last year my doctor prescribed me xanax

I know the rules about dealing with these type of customers.....take a deep breath, stay calm , let them talk, dont interupt and try and calm them, but i find this so hard, especially when its a really smart customer

anyone else experience this??

maximoose

dublin80 wrote: »

most of the jobs i've worked in involved taking incoming calls. This is one major problem for me, for a start i hate talking on the phone. id be the first to say it Im no good at dealing with irrate customers.

im a very sensitive person. if i get a nice customer on the phone, i chat away and am very pleasant. but then you get the pr*ck on the phone, i try and stay calm , listen till they are finished and then try to explain the problem with their order or find a solution for them, but when they become really mad on the phone, my heart starts to beat faster and i snap back at them. i know this is wrong...in my head i do say to myself 'calm down , relax' but i just cant control this moment of outburst. im actually surprised ive not been sacked in the past over my telephone manner. I started taking StressLess tablets, also last year my doctor prescribed me xanax

I know the rules about dealing with these type of customers.....take a deep breath, stay calm , let them talk, dont interupt and try and calm them, but i find this so hard, especially when its a really smart customer

anyone else experience this??

In our office if they are completely going mental, effing and blinding we're told to just say that unless they calm down we're going to terminate the call. If they dont, we say bye and hang up.

I'm sure it enrages a lot of them even further but who cares, I dont get paid to sit and take abuse.

seamus

It might help to continually remind yourself that no matter how angry the person on the other end of the phone is, you haven't done anything wrong. They are angry at your employer and are shouting at you by proxy.
If you can learn to remember that whatever they're saying is not personal (even if they're calling you names and so forth), it then becomes easy to deal with it in a calm manner.

When you're listening to them, imagine in your head that it's a 3-way conversation where the person on the other end of the phone is talking to someone else and you're just observing.

If this is causing you to take medication, then I think it's time to get your employer involved. Ask them about the possibility of sending you assertiveness courses, especially ones designed specifically for phone operators.

ElleEm

Same as the above poster, I used to work in a call centre and when people were being horrible, you would just pray for them to curse or insult you so you could tell them you weren't gonna tolerate it and hang up!
Why not try and script certain responses so that when a common situation comes up, you have an automatic reply? This means you will start to take things less personally.
For example, if someone is talking over you and not listening to you, you could say "excuse me sir/ madam, but I am trying to help you so if you could just hear what I'm saying", or if they're waffling and blaming you on something, you could use specific statements of "I am sorry to hear you feel like that, now if we could just go over your problem again so that I am sure I am dealing with it correctly" etc.
I found that customers/ clients who speak with you over the phone often think that you are stupid. To ensure they don't get annoyed with you for no reason, be sure that you keep repeating everything back so you don't make mistakes because of them. This also fills in time so they have less time to give out. Keep them focused on the problem.
And another tip is if they are shouting, say you are having trouble with your headset volume, and are finding them harder to hear, and encourage them to lower their voice.
If your voice stays at a calm level, it will encourage there's to as well.
Have you spoken to your team leader about this? I'm sure the problems are recurring so they should be able to help.

actuallylike

My mate who works in a solicitor's office (obviously a place where clients can get very heated) told me of a policy they use which I found interesting. He said that instead of remaining calm and apologising and been the less dominant of the two, to raise your voice to match their attitude always being careful not to overtake them. If they question your attitude, then just explain that that is the attitude they're taking.

I found it pretty hard to believe but he said they had a seminar on it. I can kinda understand though. I never get mad on the phone to anyone, unless they are personally responsible for a mess up but I know from talking to Sky Digital phone operators that it does get infuriating when they're overly polite and just reading instructions. When a person calls with the intention of screaming abuse, they do so knowing that they will get little or no resistance, hence why they continue to do it. But a bit of resistance may show them how they're acting and knock them off their stride and create a calmer atmosphere.

I've had the experience in an off licence I used to work in, never took shít off people who gave me grief with the customer's always right nonsense and I did find that they calmed down quicker and you could then relate to them in a more courteous manner. Some also ran off and complained to head office but I said that I would never kiss the ass off someone trying to buy a bottle for €9 from the 2 for €18 line

seamus

actuallylike wrote: »

But a bit of resistance may show them how they're acting and knock them off their stride and create a calmer atmosphere.

That's completely at odds with all of my experience. Someone who's ringing with the intention of screaming abuse is someone who's looking for an argument and will be more than happy that the person on the other end of the phone has engaged them.

The technique you mention may work in a face-to-face scenario, but all of the experts will tell you straight off that the last thing you do with an irate person is raise your voice because it simply escalates the situation. And my experience confirms this.

In 99% of cases, if you remain calm and let them do their initial rant, the lack of any kind of serious reaction makes them calm down and realise that they've just acted like an asshole. Almost everyone who has ever shouted down the phone at me has ended up saying, "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to take it out on you".
Reacting to them and shouting back simply validates their anger in the first place and is unlikely to bring the situation to a swift resolution.

There is nothing at all like a poker face and a polite voice in response to your angry rant to knock you straight on your arse and make you feel like a complete prick.

actuallylike

seamus wrote: »

That's completely at odds with all of my experience. Someone who's ringing with the intention of screaming abuse is someone who's looking for an argument and will be more than happy that the person on the other end of the phone has engaged them.

The technique you mention may work in a face-to-face scenario, but all of the experts will tell you straight off that the last thing you do with an irate person is raise your voice because it simply escalates the situation. And my experience confirms this.

In 99% of cases, if you remain calm and let them do their initial rant, the lack of any kind of serious reaction makes them calm down and realise that they've just acted like an asshole. Almost everyone who has ever shouted down the phone at me has ended up saying, "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to take it out on you".
Reacting to them and shouting back simply validates their anger in the first place and is unlikely to bring the situation to a swift resolution.

There is nothing at all like a poker face and a polite voice in response to your angry rant to knock you straight on your arse and make you feel like a complete prick.

I tend to agree, it's just what he told me how they deal with it. I can understand that on a phone is a different kettle of fish though.

ilovefridays

there's a new girl just started in my dept, she is here bout a month. she is just after taking a call from an end user (we are the manufacturers ,so only deal with stockists)
she explained to him that he would have to order through a stockist, he was giving out to her , telling her this is ridiculous and that the stockists rip him off. Demanded that she send him out the part, i could see her going red in the face, and becoming nervous. she told him that she cannot just send him out a part so he asked to speak to the manager (who is based in the UK
so she asked me for the managers number in the UK, then she start giving him the name and number, and he said 'I am going to tell your manager that you are not Competent in your job and that you were laughing at me. :eek:

1. of course she's not competent, she's only new and in training
2. because she was asking me for the managers number, he must have thought she was slagging him to me saying 'he wants the managers number' (thinking she was making a laugh of him)

there really are some dickheads out there.
People are just so ignorant.

wmpdd3

Cant wait for customer service by Skype, let's see them say all that to our faces.

pickarooney

While I would generally be of the school of thought that allowing a customer to rant himself out while remaining calm and polite there are special cases where the only thing a particular caller responds to is being put firmly in his place. Generally these people are chronic cranks and the type to try and make you responsible for their mistakes and they will just eat away at you until you stand up for yourself. Thankfully I've only met one or two like this in my life.

the_syco

Something I was once told, and it's true: the user cannot be angry and explain their problem at the same time.

1) Let them rant for 30 seconds, but listen to what they say.

2) Question what you deem the problem. They'll halt. They were ranting, so will try to think what they said. They'll either rant more, or answer the question.

2a) If they rant more, listen for 30 seconds, and ask more questions

2b) If they answer the questions, they'll usually be more co-operative.

=-=

The 30 second rant will allow them to vent something that which has built up. Not letting them rant will ensure that they have it still in them, and they will derail the conversation when they get a chance.

bbam

I once went out on a call at 9pm on Christmas eve, in the snow, finished up at 11pm and presented a £70 labour bill for 2 hours..
Customer lost the plot at the cost..

Didn't even answer him, jumped in the van and left and never darkened his door again, boss fully supported me and increased bill to £100 for my trouble..

Obviously by the £ it was in the pre € era :rolleyes:

Some people are never happy and I try to let them at it and move on quickly as possible...