Often customer service representatives are seen taking the heat from all quarters, be it from their bosses or the clients who give them enough and more sleepless nights. There are many clients who refuse to understand that they are just doing their jobs like everybody else and get personal and pretty abusive. These are some of the pain points of the customer service job and the customer service representative has to deal with all this on their own. In order to deal with abusive suggestions and clients who get personal the customer service representative should be trained and should be taught the skills which will help the customer service representative deal with the anxiety and pressure which accompanies the job. Abusive and rude behavior is a part and parcel of the job and a customer service representative should be ready to handle clients who are angry and get abusive in a very refined and professional manner. There can be several ways that the customer service representative handles rude and abusive clients and one of them is to show no emotion from his or her side. They should remember that this is a big part of their job and they will have to get used to dealing with clients who can be rude sometimes.
How should a customer service representative learn to take the heat?
- Learn to listen to them and hear them out
So what do you do when you are hurled with abuses and the client is very angry and rude with you? You have already been told that this is a very big part of your job and there is no escaping from it all. You need to keep in mind that you need to look beyond the aggression and take a note of all the important details which will help the client solve the problem. If you lose your cool and don’t take down the necessary details you might lose the case completely, you will lose the plot and receive major flak from your boss. Hence you need to hear them out completely, let the moment pass and only react to the things which pertains to your job. Help yourself out of this challenging situation by making notes of all the relevant details and help solve your clients. Very soon it will be mundane and regular for you to get a call where the client is being aggressive and you will know very well how to help the client out.
- Learn to empathize with your client
Sometimes you may feel that the client is terribly upset and needs your help and the anger and aggression is due to not being heard. This is the time when you need to acknowledge the feelings or emotions that your client is going through and help them out. If you feel that they are terribly disappointed, you may say that you are sorry that they are upset and disappointed and do whatever is needed to help the client. If the client sees that there is a genuine effort from your side to help him, the client will calm down and you will find that the anger and aggression has suddenly dissipated. The trick lies in empathizing with the client and making a genuine effort to resolve their queries and problems. If this does not help there are other ways to help a client, but the point is that you cannot lose the plot and need to be in complete charge of the situation.
- Apologize and take action
If you notice that a client is terribly upset and is complaining about how badly he or she has been treated it is important that you apologize first and then start the conversation. It is important that you make an effort to understand their situation and sometimes all they need to hear from you is a simple sorry. That can ease the situation to a great extent and can be of great help in helping the client calm down. The next time you see a client who sounds terribly upset it is important that you apologize and help the client calm down. But remember that a mere sorry would not help and you need to come up with an action plan. Once the client calms down she is going to ask you about the action plan which you would adopt to solve the crisis. It is important that you share the action plan with the client so that they know what would be done next and are not left in a lurch. If it is possible share the timelines as well as they will have complete clarity over the situation and will feel reassured with the call. You need to make a genuine effort to assist the customer and they will immediately feel at ease after they talk to you.
Thus these are some of the ways that you can take the heat, help the client calm down and find a possible solution to the problem that they are struggling with. If you sound genuine it is bound to ease the customer to a great extent.
