“Difficult” customers often make customer service staff feel uncomfortable, which somewhat negatively affects their work morale and makes them feel discouraged.
The best way for a professional customer service is to create a call script specifically for this group of people to reduce the pressure on customer service staff and significantly increase the quality of customer service. Here are some useful tips.
View difficult customer calls as opportunities for improvement.
According to Alison Mathiebe – Customer Service Training Expert:Difficult customers are a sign of a problem organization, but they are also a great opportunity to create better solutions.
However, most customer service staff tend to make the following mistakes when dealing with difficult customers:
– Suppressing anger: pretending that the conflict did not happen.
– Negotiate with customers: Ask customers to agree.
– Ask a colleague to mediate: Ask a colleague to call the customer back
– Put customer name on blacklist
– Debate and challenge customers.
None of these actions benefit either the customer or the company, so the first thing we need to do is change the way customer service agents think about difficult customer calls.
Let the customer vent and ask yourself 5 questions
Difficult or angry customers often just want you to listen, they want to get all their emotions out of their chests. So let them express themselves freely, remember that all anger is directed at the company, not at you. Always know how to show empathy at the right time with customers.
When a customer vents, listen carefully and ask yourself these five questions:
- What are customers thinking?
- Why do customers think and feel that way?
- What information would help them?
- What can this customer help you learn?
- How to best solve this problem?
When you can answer the above questions, you will be able to solve the problem of “difficult customers” more easily. In addition, do not forget to listen to the call recordings to learn from experience and be better prepared for the next calls.
Summary
– When you need to handle a problem from a difficult customer. First, you need to change your perspective, avoid negative approaches, instead see this as an opportunity to learn and improve.
– Let the customer talk, find the right time to ask questions to extract information and find out what makes the customer angry and try to find the best solution.
– To find the best solution to satisfy customers, focus on the customer's benefits and your own benefits.
– If the customer is still not satisfied with your solution, give them additional benefits such as vouchers, free shipping, etc. (if the policy allows)
Remember the most important key to problem solving is still empathy and respect.
