The Right Way to Handle Them Like A Pro

Although this good old saying is correct that "the customer is always right," but they may not always be easy to deal with. Learning how to handle the situation and dealing with demanding customers is an essential skill for any business owner, especially those who work in the customer service industry.

Even businesses with the best products and services indeed have to deal with angry customers occasionally.

Empathize & Apologize

Taking a step back and apologizing is very important. If you can spare a moment and think through a series of careful steps, you may be able to avoid a lot of bad things. The thing to realize is to put yourself in the customer's shoes.

Rather than justifying your point and considering the scenario as a personal attack, see the bigger picture of how the customers feel whose needs have not been met.

Always show a willingness to resolving the problem and put their needs first. Even if you don't always agree with their complaint or opinion, try to present the solution. If the customer suffers from a loss, they deserve an apology. It is still better to offer a potential solution in this case, but it all starts with letting the customer know you are sorry first. After it, let them know that you empathize with their situation.

Listen Actively

The most crucial step in keeping the situation under control is listening actively to your customer is saying. It is for sure that if someone is pissed, they want to be heard, and to air their grievances.

Start the empathizing dialogue with a neutral statement, such as, "Please let's go over what happened," or "Please tell me why you're upset." It precisely creates a feeling-full partnership between you and your client and lets them know that you're ready to listen.

Don't just try to jump into the solution to try to solve the situation right away, or don't conclude instantly. Instead, let your customer tell you their story.

As they're sharing their bad experience, don't plan out what you're going to say when they're done – this isn't active listening!

Also, don't allow any other member or anything to interrupt this conversation. Give your client all of your attention.

Don't Fear Bad Comments.

Fear of a negative consequence controls many of our reactions. Most commonly, fear makes us want to change things on the spot. Suppose a customer is angry, and they express annoyance with your timeline or pricing. In that case, we're afraid in that situation because we might not be able to fix the problem and satisfy the customer right away.

The perfect solution to this problem is to let go of the idea that you need to fix anything. When having a conversation with a problematic customer, your job is to listen, understand, empathize, and plan next moves – not to immediately produce a solution.

Be Careful About Your Verbal & Non-Verbal Actions

The things you don't say can be heard loudly as well. And it can significantly affect the outcome of any customer interaction. Signs of dullness, impatience, or anger will only worsen the situation. So, be very mindful of the words you say and the body language you project. Let us help you out with a few of them;

Verbal Responses

Use "phrases of courteousness." According to the observation in the worst cases, it is found that customers appreciate being treated politely. So, whenever you have that heated up argument, interject words and phrases of courtesy appropriately throughout your conversations. That is how you show your customers that you respect them.

Presenting you a handy list of phrases of courtesy that you can refer to. Check them out and find the right term to resolve the issue at hand

- "I apologize. I didn't understand what you said."

- "Will you please tell me?" rather than "You will have to explain first."

- "Yes," rather than "Yeah" or "ok."

- "Sir."

- "Ma'am."

- "I'll check and be right back, asap."

- "Will you please hold for a moment while I check on your issue?"

- "Thanks for waiting."

If you have these angry customers on emails, try drafting an empathetic response and save it for future use too. These situations happen over time, and the best way to deal with them is the prompt and best-matched response. For this purpose, use a repair shop software, that has the automatic email response feature integrated into it. Add the canned responses against individual emails, and you are good to go.

Non-Verbal Actions

Be more careful with the non-verbal signals that you give off. Body language is always known to be an essential tool for showing customers you are serious about resolving the issue.

Nodding on what they're explaining, maintaining eye contact, and taking notes on the issue, are all excellent modes of silent communication. 

Most importantly, keep quiet while they're explaining. Di answer them, but ff you interrupt too frequent, the person will assume you are not listening, and they may start over again. Be patient and listen to the whole story.

Pro Tip: Even if you feel frustrated, avoid defensive or aggressive gestures such as closed fists or folded arms as they could worsen the condition.

Solve & Take Follow Up

Once you and your customer agree on a single solution, you need to take action immediately. Explain everything in detail that you're going to do to fix the problem to your client. If the frustrated customer reaches you out via phone, make sure that you give them your name and contact details. It gives them a feeling of control because they can get hold of you again if they need to.

That's all for controlling the fired-up situations at any business store. Be patient, empathetic, and calm, and see the tables turning. Be fabulous today, and use these tips to communicate with angry customers anytime. Good Luck!