Guide to Handling Difficult Customers

Guide to Handling Difficult Customers provides proven strategies for transforming dissatisfied customers into satisfied, loyal, long-term customers who know your company can be counted on.

The booklet guides reps through a seven-step process including Step 2: Techniques for calming customers down, which is reproduced below. You’ll see how much useful information is packed into a brief page of this practical guide.

Techniques for calming customers down

In most cases, customers who are difficult just want to let off some steam. They want to get their dissatisfaction or their perceived slight off their chest and they want someone to listen to and acknowledge their discontent.

For that reason, your first strategy for dealing with an angry or difficult customer should be to let them vent. Becoming defensive or combative yourself is only going to escalate matters. By the same token, moving too quickly into problem-solving mode and failing to give the customer a chance to vent his or her feelings is equally likely to make the customer angrier.

Some customers will blow off steam in three seconds, and others will take three minutes, but you have to spend that time letting them vent. Otherwise you may think you’ve fixed the complaint, but you are still likely to lose the customer.

You need to be able to step back and say, “OK, this is where I let them get it all out.” And while the customer is letting it all out, you can begin to develop a rapport with them through phrases like, “Yes, that is frustrating, isn’t it?”

It’s very difficult to continue to argue or be upset with someone who is agreeing with you. You never want to agree in any way that your company is at fault, at least not until you know all of the details, but you can agree that the issue is frustrating or that you can understand why the customer is upset.

Say things like, “I see,” “Go on,” or “And then what happened?” In fact, you want to keep asking “Is that all?” until the customer sputters out. That way you are certain to get all of the details about the cause of their anger or frustration.

Other useful tricks for calming someone who’s upset or being difficult are:

• Speak slowly and in a low, resonant voice. People respond to tone of voice when they’re in a really overwrought state of mind, and a low, resonant voice will communicate that you’re responsible, intelligent, and there to help.
• Have them do things or answer questions that are very easy for them at first. Ask for name, address, phone number, or ask them to describe the form or a detail of the product they’re looking at.
• Use calming language. “Alright, let’s start at the beginning,” will work because it means, “I’m listening to you. I’m prepared to hear you out. Let’s get to the basics first.”

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