Workforce Management Featured Article
Let Customers Know You Feel Their Pain
Anybody who’s ever dealt with a crabby teenager knows the value of choosing their words carefully. This same advice is handy when attending to an unhappy customer during a contact center interaction.
A while back, Claes Fornell, creator of the American Customer Satisfaction Index, told me that contact center agents should not question the validity of a complaint. Instead, he said, they should strive to help customers feel better in the most efficient way possible.
A great place to start is typically letting callers know you feel their pain. You can do that by saying something like: “Yes, that must be frustrating. And I am here to help you with that. Let’s see what we can do.”
Starting out that way can immediately diffuse the situation. And then you can move on to find a solution.
Then thank the customer for bringing the problem to your attention. Listen to their concern. And then do your best to find a solution.
“Regardless of the circumstances, acknowledge the customer has the privilege to be irate,” says Business Know-How. “Listen carefully to how the anger is express so you can find the root cause of the emotion.
If you can solve their problem during that initial customer interaction, there is also much to gain in both the near- and long-term.
“Customers that receive a successful, first-contact problem resolution… are twice as likely to buy from the company again and four times more likely to spread positive word of mouth about it,” says Jay Baer of online customer service and digital marketing consultancy Convince & Convert. “Embracing complaints also helps your company gather insight and intelligence and differentiates you from your competitors.”
Edited by Mandi Nowitz