When a customer reaches out to you about a problem, they usually don’t think things will be easy. They expect to enter a fray.
Visually, it’s like this. There’s a brick wall between you and your customer. You are on one side of the wall, and your customer is on the other.
Eleven years ago I published my first YouTube video. I called it Top 6 Ways to Get An Angry Customer to Back Down. That little video has gotten more than 2.9 million views. (I have this old-school video at the bottom of the page if you’d like to take a look.)
The style, content, and quality of that video are as far as the east is from the west from my current videos and work. But people watch it, like it and learn from it. So, it serves its purpose.
For some time I’ve wanted to update my Top 6 Ways to Get An Angry Customer to Back Down tactics. In a few days I’m heading to Montreal to help a new client, a team of Customer Service Representatives, get their demanding and unreasonable customers to back down. I’ve spent the last few weeks coming up with solid tactics and strategies for this client.
The tactics and techniques I’ll use in my Montreal training, as it turns out, are an excellent update to my original Top 6 Ways to Get An Angry Customer to Back Down. So, I’m now issuing an update to these strategies and I’m calling this Six More Ways to Get An Angry Customer to Back Down.
Maybe I’ll do a video later when I’m not delivering back-to-back workshops on the road. For now, though, I’ll merely share my new tactics.
The first thing you need to do with demanding and unreasonable customers is create calm. Create calm by using anti-inflammatory words and using words that show the customer that getting to the bottom of the problem is as important to you, as it is to them. Statements like these work well:
“I’m sorry you’ve had such a frustrating experience.”
“This is no more acceptable to us than it is to you.”
“Thanks for taking the time to let us know.”
“We want to get to the bottom of this as much as you do.”
Responses like these show the customer that you’re on their side. Customers won’t refute these statements, and you’ll begin to create calm.
Do you find it difficult to get customers to accept your word as final? Like, do they just come back and ask their question another way. Or even better, do they ask to talk to […]
Flashback Friday! My kids used to post Throwback Thursday and Flashback Friday photos on Instagram. They don’t do that anymore. In fact, they spend more time on Snapchat than on Instagram.
Well, I’m doing a Flashback post of my own – even if flashback posts are out of style.
I joined YouTube in 2007 and one of the first videos I published was “The Psychology of Customer Anger.”
That cheesy video has gotten over 60,000 views. I cringe when I look at the quality of the video and my style in front of the camera. My son laughed out loud when he came into my office last night and I had the video up.
I look so different from back then, nearly 10 years ago. I’ve lost weight, like 30 pounds. I wear my hair kinky curly. I like to think I’m more controlled and poised in front of the camera.
But my strategies haven’t changed. Not much anyway. I’m taking a risk and posting this Flashback Friday video because one, some or all of these tips just may help you get an angry customer to back down.
Try not to laugh too hard.
Myra Golden Customer Service Training Highlight Verbal Aikido: A non-aggressive, highly effective strategy for handling difficult customers Thanks to the Internet and social media, customers are more savvy now than ever before. Although this sounds […]
A common mistake I hear customer service professionals make when I perform quality checks is ignoring the customer’s expression of anger.
There is something known as the communication chain. When people communicate, they expect the person they are communicating with to respond or react…this response is a link in the communication chain. A failure to respond to communication leaves the communication chain broken.
For example, If I open a customer service training with “Good morning!”…and the audience is dead silent, they’ve broken the communication chain. And that leaves me feeling awkward, perhaps embarrassed. I’d have the uncomfortable feeling that the workshop would not go well, based on the lack of acknowledgement.
If a customer expresses anger and we fail to respond to it, the communication chain is broken and the customer feels like they are not getting through. The customer might become even angrier and more difficult, as they are resorting to whatever it takes to feel heard and understood.
I’m sitting at my desk reading feedback from my recent Verbal Aikido workshop. The workshop was: “What Aikido Master Know About Handling Difficult People That You Don’t” As you know, much of what I teach is focused […]
The following editorial was written by one of Myra’s clients, Insurance Consumer Affairs Exchange (ICAE), following Myra’s Verbal Aikido Training at their annual conference in Newport Beach. Myra Golden (Customer Experience Designer) states that customers are more […]
The drink: Ethiopian espresso. The scent: pumpkin spice candle. The music: Reggae. The scene: My home office. The task: Run-through for a keynote I’m delivering in Scottsdale. I’m working from home while contractors install my […]