Customer Service 911

(from Comics & Games Retailer #153)

When someone is seriously injured, he or she requires immediate medical attention. It’s an emergency situation that requires the wound be repaired immediately. The same is true when you have an angry customer. Just as a standard emergency is the threat to the well-being of someone’s person, angry customers are a threat to the well-being of your business. You need to learn to recognize these emergencies and treat them accordingly.

Remain Calm: This is the single most important thing you can do when you have an upset patron on your hands. If you get mad and yell or otherwise appear to be upset, you’re going to lose this person and create an assassin. Over the years I’ve heard varying numbers on how many people a happy customer tells about your business as opposed to an angry one, but suffice to say that people who get mad at a business tell a lot more of their friends than the people who have a great impression. And there’s the danger that those who only hear about how bad your business is will be shocked enough to tell others.

More importantly, the idea is to defuse the situation. Even if you can’t make the person happy, you don’t want him or her shouting on your floor or otherwise disrupting business. If he or she is going to go away mad, at least make sure the person is quiet about it.

All of this means you must remain calm, even while you’re being insulted. That’s a hard thing to do, but, if you can master it, you’re on your way to turning this problem into customer service success story. More often than not, the customer isn’t angry at you; he or she is angry at your business. There are exceptions to that, but, most of the time, angry customers get mad at Joe’s Comics and Games, not Joe. You may be able to see difficult situations through more easily if you don’t take what the irate patron says personally.

Listen: The first step to resolving a customer complaint is listening. Just as an ER doctor can’t treat a patient if he or she doesn’t know what’s wrong, you can’t solve a problem if you don’t know why the person is upset. So give them an opportunity to tell you what the matter is.

How you listen is as important as listening itself. Your body language is crucial here. Don’t cross your arms. That’s a closed and defensive stance. Keep your arms open; it makes you more approachable. Use your best poker face. You don’t want to smile or frown. Keep a calm expression, nodding as appropriate. Lean in. This demonstrates that you’re engaged and interested. You might think about coming out from behind the counter. This removes a barrier between you and the customer, demonstrating again that you’re interested in listening to what he or she has to say.

Another technique you can use is to sit down with the person. Sitting is a calming act. It’s much harder to shout and act angrily when you’re sitting than when you’re standing. Offer the customer a place to sit, and then sit with him or her while you’re discussing the issue. If the customer is being particularly vociferous, you might offer to take them into a back room, your office, or a bench outside the store. That defuses the situation on your floor.

Whether you sit or stand, try to arrange the conversation so that you’re not facing the customer. Sit or stand at an angle. Once again, this is less confrontational. It gives the impression that it’s not you against the customer.

Finally, if you think it will help, take notes. This allows you to get down exactly what the customer is saying. Always ask before you do this. You might say, “Do you mind if I take notes so that I can properly understand your concerns?”

Echo Concerns: Once you’ve listened to what the customer has to say, you’ll want to repeat it so that the customer knows that you have understood him or her. Once again, it’s important to do this right. Don’t echo the emotion behind the customer’s complaint. Just repeat the issues. You’ll want to say something like, “So if I understand you correctly . . .” and then repeat the customer’s complaint back to him or her. It’s perfectly acceptable to rephrase it in your own words, but make sure you put it in simple terms devoid of emotion. Don’t use phrases like, “you’re upset because . . .” or “you’re unhappy with us because we. . . .” That puts the complaint in a pejorative context and may make the customer defensive. Just repeat the issue. For example: “So, if I understand you correctly, you were supposed to have the game room from noon to four, but at 2:00 you were told you had to leave.” Note how that phrasing only mentions the facts (as the customer sees them); it doesn’t mention anything about who is wrong, what should have happened, or whether the customer has a right to be upset.

Be prepared for the person to get defensive no matter what you say. Remember he or she is angry. He or she may think that you are being accusatory and launch into another explanation. Let him or her know that you just want to be sure you understand the problem so that you can solve it properly.

Sympathize: Once the customer agrees that you have the correct understanding of the situation, sympathize with him or her. Say something like, “Based on what you’ve told me, I can see why you would feel that way.” This is a powerful statement. It doesn’t admit fault or apologize, but it does validate the person’s feelings. That’s a very big and very important step in healing the injury. If the customer feels as though his or her feelings are being taken seriously, he or she will be much more likely to accept a solution you propose.

You can also take this opportunity to thank the person. Yes, that’s right. The customer is giving you feedback on your business. He or she might have been one-hundred-percent wrong, but it still gives you an opportunity to think about how you might do things differently. After all, you don’t want this sort of thing to happen again, so you’ll want to think about how to prevent it in the future, even if it’s completely the customer’s fault. A quick, “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I appreciate you taking the time to help us improve,” will go a long way towards making the customer feel better.

Evaluate the Situation: Once you’ve done all of the above, you’ll have to decide what you can do. The vast majority of customer service emergencies can be fixed with minimal effort. Most people aren’t after free stuff or to take you for a ride (although there are some who are). Instead, they just want you to hear their complaints, validate them, and then offer some sort of apology.

That’s not always the case, of course. Sometimes, the situation just can’t be saved. Perhaps this customer causes trouble all the time. Perhaps he or she wants you to give something you’re unwilling to offer. Maybe he or she is just plain abusive. You’ll have to evaluate whether this customer is worth saving. Some people are not good for your business. I’ve met a few of these in my years in retail. Fortunately, they are rare.

If you feel you have to “fire” a customer, be polite. Say things like, “I’m sorry, but I’m not going to be able to help you if you continue to curse at me,” or “I’m sorry you feel that way, but I don’t think that’s an acceptable solution.” Be polite, be calm, but be firm. And be prepared for the person to go away mad.

Suggest Solutions: At this point, you can start mending fences. Offer a solution to the issue. That doesn’t mean you have to give the person something for free. That is one possible solution, but it costs you money, and it might not be the right one for the situation. What you might do instead is offer a discount on their next purchase. That way, you’re still making money from this customer, and you’re encouraging him or her to purchase from you again. You can also offer things that are already free such as time in your game room, or things that don’t cost you money to offer such as some free time on your LAN network.

One tactic is to ask the customer how he or she would like the situation resolved. Ask, “What can I do to make this right for you?” or “How would like me to handle this?” Most people appreciate giving their input, and they also rarely ask for much. Oftentimes, when I’ve used this approach, the customer asks for less than I was willing to give. That’s a win-win scenario, which is what you’re after.

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