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>>How
do I deal with angry customers?
The
Psychology of Anger
Some
customers are just plain difficult. They are always
complaining, they are picky, know-it-alls, egocentric,
faultfinders, constant complainers, unreasonable,
demanding…you know these customers.
Each
time you interact with them they leave you feeling
angry, frustrated, or humiliated. As hard as you try,
you can’t change their behavior. And because this is
your job, you can’t even avoid them. But I’m here to
tell you the situation isn’t hopeless.
Once you understand what is going on in the mind
of your demanding, irate, or unreasonable customer, you
can find the most effective and productive means for
turning the conversation around.
Today
you will get a crash course in
“the psychology of anger” and as a result you
will find that understanding and coping with angry and
difficult customers is not quite so difficult after all.
1.
Anger precludes rationality
Angry
customers simply cannot rationalize. This is because
they are so wrapped up in the emotion of anger that
everything you say is filtered through their emotions.
Anger is an emotion and emotions are experienced in the
right side of the brain. Rationalizing, problem solving,
listening, and negotiating are all left-brain activities
and your angry customer is stuck in the right side of
the brain, and therefore cannot be expected to
rationalize with you.
2.
Anger must be acknowledged
It’s not productive for you to ignore anger or tiptoe
around it. There is something known as the communication
chain. When people communicate, they expect the person
or persons they are communicating with to respond or
react…this response or reaction is a link in the
communication chain. A failure to respond to
communication leaves the communication chain
unlinked…broken. For example, If I walk into my office
and say... “Hello Sherry, how are you?” ....and she
says absolutely nothing, she’s broken the
communication chain. And that leaves me feeling awkward,
perhaps embarrassed.
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, that you are not
listening. So, the customer may speak louder to make his
or her point. They might become even angrier and more
difficult, as they are resorting to whatever it takes to
feel heard and understood. You can keep your angry
customers from getting angrier by acknowledging their
anger and responding to it. You can respond to anger
with a statement like, “Clearly you’re upset and I
want you to know that getting to the bottom of this is
just as important to me as it is to you.” This
statement directly and professionally addresses anger
– without- making the customer even angrier. Now that
the anger has been acknowledged, you have completed the
communication chain.
3.
Research has shown that an approach to problem
solving that emphasizes anger diffusion first results in
a lesser payout by the company. If you first work to
diffuse anger and then move into problem solving, you
will find that communication is much easier because your
customer is able to really listen to you. Problem
resolution is now possible because your customer is calm
and in the position to rationalize. Beginning the
problem solving process before addressing and diffusing
anger makes your job much harder because your customer
is emotional and not able to fully rationalize. If you
do attempt to solve the problem or negotiate, you will
almost always have to offer more to satisfy the customer
than you would if you had successfully first diffused
anger.
Now
that you know that anger precludes rationality and that
anger has to be responded to, make sure you don’t
ignore the customer’s expression of anger and that you
always work to diffuse anger and create calm before
beginning the problem resolution process. When you do
this, you’ll quickly find yourself responding to anger
with much more ease and confidence.
4.
The issue is not the issue.
In conflict situations, the issue at hand is not
usually the “real” issue. The way the issue is
handled becomes the real issue. What really matters to
customers is not the $2 overcharge or the fact their
order for cranberry red paint is actually holly berry
red. What does matter is how the company responds and
resolves the issue. That becomes the real issue.
Announcing
a brand-new Dealing with Difficult Customers
e-learning course provides customer service
professionals with the skills and strategies they need
to deal with difficult customers with ease and
confidence, completely regain customer
goodwill after service failures, and offer solutions
that balance the interests of the customer and the
company. Get the full story here: www.goldenmethod.com.
5.
Ventilation is crucial.
An Angry customer can be compared to an erupting
volcano. When a volcano is erupting, there is nothing
you can do about it. You can’t speed up the eruption,
you can’t put a lid on it, and you cannot direct or
redirect it…it must erupt.
When a customer is angry, they must experience
and express their anger…through venting. We should not
interrupt them or tell them to “calm down.” This
would be as futile as trying to tame a volcano. A
volcano erupts and eventually subsides. Your angry
customer will vent and eventually calm down.
When
you’re dealing with angry customers, make sure you
acknowledge their anger, allow the customer to vent, and
carefully handle the issue with diplomacy and tact. When
you do, you’ll find that diffusing anger is much
easier and you’ll significantly reduce your stress
level.
If
you liked this article, you can get a link to a 5 minute
video of master trainer, Myra Golden delivering this
segment and share with your entire team. Simply go to www.goldenmethod.com
and click on 'sample training module' for your link.
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Video
I
was very pleased with Myra' presentation, but even more
so, I was left with a sense of new energy and desire to
put her recommendations to use. I
can't wait for Monday!
Tim
O'Laughlin
The
Coca-Cola Company
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McDonald's
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