30 May How To Deal With Angry Customers | 10 Proven Ways
If you work in customer service or have any customer/client-facing role, you are likely to encounter an angry customer at some point. And they’re often not just angry – they can also be irrational, impatient, unreasonable, a little wild and personally aggressive towards you. Handling these encounters effectively requires both emotional control and skill, and it’s very easy to trip up. Here are ten tips on how to manage with angry customers, and hopefully resolve the issue to everyone’s satisfaction.
1. Stay Calm
Your best chance of calming the customer is for you to stay calm. Even when they are screaming and insulting you, your job is to stay cool and rational. Fighting back will only escalate the session, so keep your head and just deal with it. The main challenge with staying cool is when the anger is or seems to be directed personally at you. When we feel under attack, our natural instinct is either to run away (often not possible) or fight back – fight or flight!
When trying to stay calm, it might help to take a step back and see yourself as a third person. It’s not about you – it’s about the customer and giving them what they need. Separate your feelings from the situation. Take yourself out of the firing line by staying calm and helping the customer as best you can. The more they see you are willing to help them rather than fight them, the more they will relax. (However, don’t be too calm and cool as it can appear dismissive. Try to be calm but engaged).
2. Use Your Best Listening Skills
In terms of how to manage angry customers, an essential factor is to understand their first need, which is often to vent their anger. Let them do this. Let them tell the story their way. Listen carefully and actively to what they are saying without challenge, interruption or distraction. Show them you are listening by maintaining eye contact, nodding your head and responding with affirmations (“yes”, “I see”, “uh huh”). Interruptions and challenges at this stage will only make them angrier.
Listen for the facts, but don’t rush ahead to craft your defence. Just listen. Try to identify what made them so upset. Show that you are eager to listen and understand by using positive, supporting questions such as “How else can I help you today?”. The phrasing is important in that it shows you are ready and willing to help – asking a question like “Is anything else wrong?” is likely to lead to more tension and negativity.
You should also restate what they told you. This ties into active listening and shows you are attentive, you understand the customer’s pain points, and you are interested in helping them resolve their issues. You can also use this tactic to ensure you understand their situation and what they want from you. After restating what your customer told you, ask them to confirm that you got it right. A simple agreement goes a long way toward de-escalating tension and putting you both in a more comfortable space. Use their words to signal that you’re not minimising their pain, and look for opportunities to tweak their language to something less loaded and more tangible.
3. Empathise With Your Customers
In terms of how to defuse angry customers, the second need of angry customers is validation. They need confirmation that they are entitled to feel angry and upset. Give them this validation by acknowledging both their concerns and their feelings. Acknowledge that they are right to be annoyed. Tell them you understand their frustration. Respect and understanding go a long way toward smoothing things over.
Acknowledge their emotions. Instead of jumping straight into problem-solving, spend a moment validating how your customer feels and showing empathy. This allows you to. If your team made a mistake, be transparent about what contributed to their issue. This context helps your customer understand that everyone, even the person they may be angry with, was just trying to do their best.
When you do this, personalise your interaction with them. Introducing yourself and using your name can be
powerful when de-escalating a stressful interaction. It creates a human connection and serves as a reminder that you’re real people instead of faceless, nameless voices.
4. Use Positive Language
When dealing with angry customers, using negative language during an interaction with an angry customer is a great way to light the fuse in an already explosive situation. Instead, use your ‘soft’ customer service skills to carefully craft your responses, using positive language to lift the conversation and steer it toward a satisfactory resolution. Injecting positive language into the interaction suggests to the customer that you’re glad to help and want to work toward a resolution together.
- Instead of: “I don’t know”, You could say: “ Great question, I’ll find out.”
- Instead of: “I can’t”, You could say:“What I can do is”
- Instead of: “You’ll have to”; You could say:“ Would you mind”
- Instead of: “Calm down ”; You could say: “I understand why you feel that wayy”
- Instead of: “That’s not our fault”; You could say:“I apologise for the frustrating situation”
5. Apologise Gracefully
Sometimes, an apology is all angry customers want to hear. Let them know that you are sorry that this has happened to them. Make it a proper apology even if you weren’t responsible. Remember, it’s not about you.
“We’re sorry that you feel that way” or “We’re sorry that you are having this problem” both sound like a dismissive deferment of blame and can be infuriating to customers. In terms of how to apologise, say you’re sorry, then move on from the blame game and justifications towards a solution. Moving towards a solution is a sign of a genuine rather than a dismissive apology.
6. Accept Responsibility
Angry customers also need to feel that something is happening – that they are achieving something. In terms of how to treat an angry customer, accept responsibility for improving things. It doesn’t matter if you were personally at fault, and it doesn’t matter if the customer is being irrational or not. What matters is that the customer is talking to YOU and expecting YOU to help resolve the issue. Don’t blame others. Don’t blame the process. Don’t make excuses. Don’t fight battles.
Focus on what you can do for angry customers rather than what you can’t. Build trust. Find a solution. Take action. Get others to help as required. If you are not in a position to help them, help them progress the matter with somebody who can. Walk them through each step of the resolution process and show them you’re doing everything you can to help them. Even if an opportunity is lost and you think there is no direct solution for that specific customer, think about how you can make things better for other customers. Sometimes, it’s not just about the customer getting something for themselves; it’s about them feeling they have achieved something.
7. Thanking Angry Customers
Simply thanking an angry customer for bringing the issue to your attention can help you build rapport with them. This makes the customer feel that they are a valuable part of your business and can help improve issues you may not have otherwise known existed. You should also say thank you after receiving customer feedback and acknowledge their patience during a lengthy resolution process.
8. Think Critically When Dealing With Angry Customers
Does the customer want a refund, or are they just looking for someone to validate their experience? Remember, the reason your customer is angry can change throughout their interaction with you and your team. Before addressing your customer’s request, you must understand their motivation. You may need to go above and beyond your usual problem-solving to help your customer out, and that’s okay. Use your communication skills to gather all the information the customer provides and try to track down the root of the problem. This involves reviewing each step of the process with your customer to try and pinpoint what caused the issue and asking the customer for detailed answers when you suspect the issue may have occurred on the customer’s side.
9. Set Clear Next Steps
You often won’t be able to solve the issues of an angry customer immediately. Therefore, it becomes even more critical to communicate exactly how your team will fix their issue. One best practice is to walk customers through a roadmap of how you plan to solve their problems. This roadmap includes what you’ll do for them right away, what comes after, and when they can expect a follow-up or resolution. If your customer knows when you’ll follow up or resolve their issue, they won’t need to call every hour for an update. Communicating clear next steps prevents the situation from becoming more heated and putting more pressure on your team. By following through as promised, you can diminish your customer’s anger.
10. Explore Solutions
Exploring solutions demonstrates to your customers that you’re doing everything in your power to help them. It also shows them you’re trying to find the best solution instead of a quick fix so you can finish the conversation and move on to the next one. If your customer demands a refund, but it isn’t an option, go to your manager and ask for it anyway. It may involve delivering disappointing news, but your manager may have alternative ideas for a solution that could boost customer satisfaction and turn an unhappy customer into one who will return to engage with your business.
At CX Training, we believe resolving difficult situations is the single biggest test of an individual’s emotional intelligence. Contact us on info@cxtraining.com.au or 0404 266 174 to discuss your training needs for handling angry customers.