Every business occasionally encounters dissatisfied customers. Sometimes this happens due to an error on the company’s side. Sometimes the buyer misunderstood something or expected something different. There are many reasons, but the result is the same: you need to resolve issues with a person who is opposed to you. And if the situation becomes public, given that “the customer is always right,” this may affect the company’s reputation. But it is not all that bad. You can and should work with angry people.
Find out the reason for the negativity
You should start by looking for the origins of the problem and the causes of anger. According to experts, it is important to understand what is behind it – the explosive nature of a person, unfavorable external circumstances, or both.
Oleg Matyunin
Managing partner of the Moscow Law Office “Matyunins and Partners”.
From this understanding the situation changes. It’s one thing when an apology is required, another thing when all our actions are absolutely correct and do not violate anyone’s interests, but the client shows aggression.
What he demands in words does not always express his desires and needs. Harsh, hurtful statements can be the result of a feeling of helplessness and strong fear – for your life or safety. By understanding the true motives, it is easier and faster to enter into a constructive dialogue.
Therefore, first of all, it is necessary to understand what exactly the client is dissatisfied with and why. Moreover, it is important that the employee who works with claims does not do this formally. Hence the next point.
Show you care
There are, of course, people who just love to make trouble. And there are activists of consumer terrorism who do not miss an opportunity to stir up conflict in order to get a discount. But usually, an unhappy customer is an upset customer.
An ordinary case for a company, which is easily solved, often causes panic among the customer or buyer, because this is the first time he has encountered something like this. And he doesn’t understand how things will end. In addition, he risks at least money, and also, possibly, a ruined holiday, vacation, or something else that is important to him personally.
Sometimes a person already comes with aggression because he has had negative experiences with companies in the past. Unfortunately, often support services don’t even move while you express your complaints politely and try to cooperate, and they start moving after the smell of frying begins.
Therefore, often the person first needs to be reassured. In this case, it is not necessary to do anything supernatural; it is enough to let him understand that his question was not treated formally, that he is being heard.
Egor Smirnov
Expert in customer experience of digital financial service Lime.
The client may be dissatisfied with the characteristics of the product or service, the terms of its provision and use, or the work of the employees. But in fact, the reason is that the client’s expectations were not met. This reason is often combined with a second one – the support service cannot provide the client with the help he needs.
It is very important not to lose sight of such a client and not leave him alone with his problem. It is important to respond to his dissatisfaction in a timely manner. For example, if he left a review on the Internet, then you need to find this client and contact him.
The best gift for a negative customer would not be a promotional code or merchandise, but the understanding that he was not abandoned in trouble, he was supported, that he is important to the company.
Humanity and understanding in communication in general help to reduce the temperature of the conversation. Because in the first minutes, an angry client sees a company representative on the other end of the line. But the more alive he is, the clearer it becomes that he is simply a person talking to him, on whom it is unfair to blame all the company’s miscalculations. And this may cause the client to cool down a bit.
Irina Polyakova
Head of corporate client support service YuMoney.
Here is one of our recent cases: a client called support who was dissatisfied with the result of his previous request. The first manager did everything according to the instructions: politely refused the option that the client requested, based on the rules of the service. But doing it according to the instructions does not always mean doing it well and maintaining customer loyalty.
The second manager showed empathy and care, looked at the problem more broadly than what the instructions required. He, too, was unable to enable the requested option, but he managed to find an alternative option that satisfied the client. The icing on the cake was that the manager offered the client additional support and made sure that the client understood the next steps.
Keep the client up to date
Resolving the issue is not a quick process. Usually you need to conduct an inspection, figure out what went wrong and at what stage, if the company is to blame. Or, if she is right and the client is wrong, explain to him in human language why he is wrong.
Egor Smirnov
Expert in customer experience of digital financial service Lime.
There are several points here. It is very important not to do this from the position of “you are a fool.” There is no need to talk to the client as a clerk, for example: “Subclause 5.2.4 of the service agreement states that the client agrees to all additional conditions that are specified in the appendix to contract No. 12 in clause 7.” Such a response can not only make him an aggressor, but also turn him even more against the company.
In any case, if you need to take a break to figure it out, you should not leave the conversation and ask the client to contact you later. It is better to instruct him what will happen and when he will be called or written with an answer or additional questions. And it is important to comply with these agreements.
Don’t aggravate
If a company is right three times, its reputation is at stake, so you should pay close attention to the correct tone of communication.
Igor Drozhaev
Head of the department of commercial equipment and consumables of the company “CCT St. Petersburg”.
During difficult negotiations, it is important to remain calm and not get emotional. An aggressive conversation can make you angry, and then it is no longer a negotiation, but a simple quarrel.
In my experience, in the first minutes of a conversation you will only hear the monologue of an irritated client who – be prepared for this – may shout and insult the company where you work, and even you personally. There is no need to take all these insults personally. Try to understand in these first minutes what problem the client is facing and start thinking about solutions. You shouldn’t interrupt either: the client should completely speak out and let off steam.
Moreover, it is important to respond competently not only in cases where the client is already behaving aggressively and assertively. Sometimes it is possible to level out a problem while it is still in its infancy.
Alexandra Chistyakova (Puriga)
Managing Director of the Natura Siberica Group of Companies.
An angry client is not always a client who loudly expresses his dissatisfaction, which may be mistakenly considered by a specialist as there is no problem. The key criterion for the scheme of work with working out the negative should be the fact when the client voices that he is not satisfied with something. The worst thing you can do after this signal is to reduce the significance of the situation for the person: not react at all or start proving the opposite.
To solve the problem
This step is the most difficult, because the solution will depend on the problem itself; there are no universal recipes here.
Antonina Balitsai
Founder of the production center Clever Marketing.
You need to understand what result the client ultimately wants to get. What needs to be done on your part so that the negativity is exhausted? It may turn out that very little is needed to satisfy the requirements and it really “costs nothing” to the company.
There is a high probability that the situation is easily resolved and arose due to a misunderstanding between the client and the employee. It can be resolved through dialogue, and it does not require investment. Often people just want to be heard, have their point of view accepted, and punish those responsible.
If the reason for the dissatisfaction is really serious and there are objective shortcomings on the part of your company, you need to admit the mistake and agree on an action plan to resolve the current situation.
If the client behaves inappropriately, it is impossible to get a sane comment and agree on nothing in the dialogue, it is worth transferring the negotiations to an official format. Ask to state the situation in writing, attach the necessary confirmations and send the information to corporate email. This way you will get the full picture and understand what “evidence” the client has of your mistake. Then you can calmly figure everything out and also formally respond to the client, proposing a solution.
Think about what to do with the information received
It’s great to receive positive feedback from customers, but often it’s the negativity that helps companies change for the better.
Egor Smirnov
Expert in customer experience of digital financial service Lime.
Dissatisfied customers are the best source of information about which places in the company are “sagging.” They often point out what needs to be fixed in processes so that customers don’t encounter this situation in the future. After all, every dissatisfied customer has a “pain”, and the company’s task is to eradicate it. And if the client contributed to the improvement of processes or products with his feedback, it is very important to return to him and thank him for helping the company become better.
Moreover, not every person, faced with a problem, is ready to report it. So any indications of weaknesses should be taken with gratitude.
Yulia Danilova
Expert at the Knopka accounting service.
In our practice, it has happened more than once that a client was dissatisfied with the functionality or interface of a product, and the first-line manager did not formally remove the client’s negativity, but conveyed his wishes to development.
It turned out that the client’s pain was very real. Most likely, many more users encountered the problem, but only one reported the problem. We not only brought to life what the client asked us to do, but also had a conversation with him, where we thanked him for his valuable feedback and sent him a small but pleasant gift.
When a customer sees that a company takes his feedback seriously and improves its work, this, as a rule, makes him loyal. Since he is no longer just a client, he also has a hand in internal processes. This is not only gratifying, but also motivates many to become brand advocates. After all, it’s not easy to watch someone scold something in which you took part.
The path to the client’s heart 🧐
