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§§ Table of Contents − − − − − − − − −
Ultimate Guide to Difficult
Conversations
1. Introduction 2. When you don’t know the answer 3. When you have to transfer a customer to someone else 4. When a customer requests a feature or product 5. When a customer asks you for a favor that you cannot do 6. When there’s something wrong with the delivered product 7. When you close the conversation 8. When a customer is angry 9. When a customer is unwilling to pay 10. When a crisis occurs 11. When you have a frequently complaining customer 12. When customers complain on social media 13. When you have legal issues 14. When you have to deliver bad news 15. When you have an abusive customer 16. When customers cross boundaries 17. When the customer speaks a different language 18. When a customer asks a vague question 19. When customers ask when something is going to be available 20. When you or your fellow agents made a mistake 21. When a customer wants to speak with a manager 22. When you can’t resolve the issue right away 23. When you need to let a customer know that it was their mistake 24. When a customer reaches you by mistake 25. When a customer asks how your product is different from others 26. When a customer is worried about how secure your service is 27. When a customer says that they forgot their password 28. When you want to point a customer to your documentation 29. When a customer violated your terms of service 30. When a customer is not tech-savvy 31. When a customer is right, but your policy is not 32. When a customer sounds like a bigot 33. You’ve got this!

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8.

When a customer is angry

As we mentioned above, support people have to prepare themselves daily to take on the whole range of human emotions from the customers that they interact with. Unfortunately, sometimes that emotion is anger, and the support person must greet it head on. Working with an angry customer can be especially difficult because, as empathetic humans, support people can start to feel like it is their fault and take personal blame.

When a customer is angry

The first thing to do when dealing with an angry customer is to take all personal feelings out of it — they don’t know you as a person. The anger that they are feeling, while directed at you, is actually about something being out of their control and it frustrating them. Keep that in mind as you move forward, as it may help you to keep a clear head when responding to them, especially if they are saying things that could get under your skin.

In your actual response to the customer, whether it be via chat or email, start by acknowledging the issue, aligning with the customer’s frustration, and then assuring them that you’ll find an issue. It’s also likely that 9 times out of 10 you will be apologizing to them for whatever situation has happened. A genuine apology can go a long way for a frustrated customer. So, a response for a customer might look like:

Hi,

Thanks so much for emailing about this — I’m so sorry to hear about all of the trouble that [product or problem] has caused for you. I know what it feels like to have something not work as expected, and it sounds like we really let you down, here. I’d love to try to start making this right. Here’s what I’m thinking might help: [type in your proposed resolution for the problem here].

Can you let me know if this would meet your needs, or get us going in the right direction? If not, please let me know where I misunderstood. If so, awesome! I’ll get started on that right away.

Thanks for your patience.

This acknowledges the customer’s problem and apologizes right in the first sentence. After that, it goes on to align with a personal share about the customer support agents own experiences and then states that they’d like to fix the issue. Lastly, it double checks that the path the agent is going down is the right one before they start heading off. If a customer is already aggravated and is offered yet another incorrect solution, they’re likely to grow even more frustrated.

Take, for example, if you ordered a beverage at Starbucks and the wrong one came out. If you were in a hurry, you might be a little frustrated by this, as you have to go to the front register and reorder. If your second drink came out and it was still wrong, it would amplify your frustration considerably. The same goes for your customers. So, double check that the answer you’re giving them is on the right track and if it isn’t, offer them to the opportunity to tell you so.

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7.
When you close
the conversation
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9.
When a customer is unwilling to pay
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