Dealing with the occasional angry customer is one of the least pleasant but inevitable aspects of being in business. Whether your customer’s ire is deserved or not, how you handle the phone call will likely determine whether he remains a customer or takes his business elsewhere.
How to Handle Angry Calls
Use these tips from our call center experts to appease angry customers:
- Stay calm. Maintaining control of your personal feelings and responding calmly and courteously to an angry customer can help diffuse uncomfortable situations more quickly. Don’t take customer comments personally. The customer’s anger is directed toward the company, not you.
- Listen. Listen patiently while the customer has his say. Angry callers need to vent before they can work with you toward a solution.
- Sympathize. Actively sympathizing with the customer’s complaint acknowledges and validates his feelings. Anger often dissipates when the customer knows his feelings are understood and respected.
- Apologize. A sincere apology and offer to make things right shows the customer you value his business and can make the difference between keeping and losing a customer.
- Solve the problem. Try to find a fair and realistic solution to the customer’s problem. Most customers will continue to patronize businesses that place a priority on customer satisfaction.
Nothing that stokes the anger of an unhappy customer like slogging through a series of prompts or waiting on hold before reaching someone who can help him. Using a live operator call answering service to handle your business calls ensures that every call is answered promptly and pleasantly by an experienced professional. Visit www.CallCenterUSA.us to find out how we can help you turn angry callers into satisfied customers.
