Brilliant Customer Service - How to Impress your Customers! - Chapter 4
Summary
TLDRIn this chapter of the customer service program, Tony Hunt emphasizes the importance of handling difficult or angry customers effectively. He points out that only a small percentage of dissatisfied customers actually complain, and those who don't may still spread negative word-of-mouth. The chapter introduces a six-step strategy for addressing complaints, which includes apologizing, fixing the issue, adding a token gesture, confirming satisfaction, and begging for repeat business. The discussion also covers the significance of body language and tone of voice, and provides guidance on dealing with different types of customer behaviors, from emotional outbursts to quiet assassins. The key takeaway is to treat complaints as opportunities for improvement and to turn dissatisfied customers into ambassadors.
Takeaways
- 😀 Customer service professionals should relish dealing with difficult or angry customers as it's a great skill to have.
- 🔍 Only about 4% of dissatisfied customers actually complain; many others will not return but may spread negative word-of-mouth.
- 📈 Complaints are valuable feedback that can help improve customer service quality and reduce the need for future complaints.
- 📊 70% of customers leave due to feeling they have been badly treated, highlighting the importance of excellent customer service.
- 🤝 A six-step customer complaint strategy is suggested: apologize, offer to fix the problem, take responsibility, add something for inconvenience, confirm satisfaction, and beg for repeat business.
- 🗣️ Active listening and empathy are crucial in understanding and resolving customer dissatisfaction.
- 👀 Body language and tone of voice are key in communicating understanding and empathy to the customer.
- 🚫 Avoid phrases that can annoy customers, such as citing company policy as an excuse for inaction.
- 🤝 Use phrases that show understanding and a commitment to resolving the issue to build trust with the customer.
- 🧠 Different types of customer behavior require different approaches: deal with emotions first for emotionally driven customers, and focus on the issue for task-driven customers.
Q & A
What is the main focus of chapter four of the customer service program?
-The main focus is on how to deal with difficult or angry customers, emphasizing the importance of this skill for customer service professionals.
Why is it crucial to address customer complaints?
-Customer complaints are crucial to address because only a small percentage of dissatisfied customers actually complain, and those who don't may simply leave and spread negative word-of-mouth, potentially damaging the business without the company's knowledge.
What percentage of customers leave due to perceiving rude or unhelpful service?
-50% of customers leave due to perceiving rude or unhelpful service.
What is the significance of treating a complaint as a professional opportunity?
-Treating a complaint as a professional opportunity is significant because it allows for improving service quality by addressing the issue and potentially turning a dissatisfied customer into an ambassador for the company.
What is the six-step customer complaint strategy mentioned in the script?
-The six-step strategy includes: 1) Apologize without admitting liability, 2) Offer to fix the problem, 3) Fix it or take responsibility for ensuring it is fixed, 4) Add something as a token for the inconvenience, 5) Confirm complete satisfaction after fixing the problem, and 6) Beg for repeat business.
Why is it important to collect information when fixing complaints?
-Collecting information when fixing complaints helps in understanding the root cause of dissatisfaction, which can then be used to improve the quality of customer service and reduce the need for future complaints.
What role do body language and tone of voice play in customer service interactions?
-Body language and tone of voice play a significant role as they convey 55% and 38% of the message respectively. They are crucial in reading emotional responses and in showing empathy and understanding to the customer.
How should customer service professionals respond to emotionally driven behavior in complaints?
-They should first address the customer's feelings with empathy, make them feel comfortable, and then move on to resolving the issue at hand.
What is the approach to handling task-driven behavior in customer complaints?
-For task-driven behavior, the focus should be on resolving the issue first, not the feelings. It involves assertiveness, dealing with the problem directly, and involving the customer in the decision-making process for the solution.
What is the 'Etch A Sketch' approach and when should it be used?
-The 'Etch A Sketch' approach is a mental technique used to let go of difficult customer interactions by metaphorically 'shaking off' the negativity and moving on. It should be used when complaints become overwhelming to maintain a positive and professional attitude.
How can customer service professionals use feedback from complaints to improve?
-Feedback from complaints can be seen as 'The Breakfast of Champions,' a positive opportunity to practice and improve soft skills, empathize with customers, and enhance the overall customer service experience.
Outlines
😀 Handling Complaints in Customer Service
This paragraph introduces the topic of dealing with difficult or angry customers in a customer service setting. It emphasizes the importance of addressing complaints as a professional opportunity and highlights that only a small percentage of dissatisfied customers actually complain, with many choosing not to return instead. The speaker, Tony Hunt, presents a diagram illustrating various reasons customers leave, with a significant portion attributing their departure to perceived poor service. The paragraph concludes with a six-step strategy for handling customer complaints, focusing on apology, fixing the issue, and adding a token of appreciation for the feedback received.
😌 The Art of Active Listening and Empathy
Paragraph 2 delves into the nuances of handling customer dissatisfaction by employing active listening and empathy. It discusses the significance of body language and tone of voice in communication, which together account for the majority of the message conveyed. The speaker advises on reading emotional responses and differentiating between emotionally driven and task-driven behaviors. The paragraph provides guidance on how to respond to various types of customer complaints, from emotional outbursts to passive-aggressive behaviors, and stresses the importance of using empathetic language and personal assurance to resolve issues effectively.
😡 Managing Different Types of Customer Behaviors
In this paragraph, the focus is on managing different types of customer behaviors, particularly those that are emotionally driven. It outlines strategies for dealing with customers who exhibit extreme emotions, such as anger or sadness, and suggests offering comfort and empathy before seeking a solution. The speaker also addresses task-oriented behaviors, including bullying and know-it-all attitudes, and provides advice on how to assertively handle these situations. The paragraph emphasizes involving the customer in finding a solution and ensuring they feel heard and valued throughout the process.
🤔 Dealing with the 'Quiet Assassin' and Maintaining Perspective
The final paragraph discusses the 'quiet assassin,' a customer who appears pleasant but harbors strong negative feelings. It warns of the potential danger this type of customer poses if not handled carefully, suggesting overcompensation and attentiveness as strategies. The speaker also encourages the use of the 'Etch A Sketch' approach to let go of difficult experiences and maintain a positive attitude towards feedback. The paragraph concludes with advice on maintaining perspective on complaints over time and using them as opportunities to practice and improve soft skills.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Customer Service
💡Complaints
💡Customer Retention
💡Empathy
💡Feedback
💡Apologize
💡Personal Attention
💡Rude or Unhelpful Service
💡Active Listening
💡Body Language
💡Issue Resolution
Highlights
Dealing with difficult or angry customers is a crucial skill for customer service professionals.
Only a small percentage of dissatisfied customers actually complain; understanding this can help improve service quality.
Customer complaints are valuable feedback that can help businesses improve and retain customers.
Customers leave for various reasons, including better products, cheaper options, lack of personal attention, and perceived rude service.
A significant majority of customers leave due to feeling badly treated, emphasizing the importance of excellent customer service.
A six-step customer complaint strategy is introduced to effectively handle and resolve customer issues.
Apologizing for inconvenience and offering immediate solutions are key initial steps in complaint handling.
Taking responsibility and ensuring the problem is fixed is crucial, even if it requires escalation.
Adding a token of appreciation for the customer's complaint can show empathy and a commitment to improvement.
Confirming complete satisfaction after resolving the issue is essential to ensure the customer's needs are met.
Begging for repeat business is a critical step in turning a dissatisfied customer into an ambassador for your brand.
Active listening and empathy are key to understanding and resolving customer dissatisfaction.
Body language and tone of voice are significant in communicating understanding and intent to resolve issues.
Avoiding phrases that can annoy customers, such as referencing company policy as an excuse, is important.
Using empathetic language and personal assurance can help in resolving customer complaints.
Understanding the difference between emotionally driven and task-driven behavior is crucial for effective complaint resolution.
Dealing with emotionally driven behavior requires addressing feelings before seeking a solution.
Task-focused behavior may require a more assertive approach to control the situation and resolve the issue.
Involving the customer in the solution process can lead to higher satisfaction and a sense of ownership over the resolution.
The 'Etch A Sketch' approach can be used to mentally reset and move on from difficult customer interactions.
Sharing war stories and seeking mutual support among colleagues can help in handling challenging customer situations.
Transcripts
hello and welcome to chapter four of our
brilliant customer service program I'm
Tony hunt and in this
chapter I'm going to be focusing on how
you deal with difficult or angry
customers because it is a great skill
and it is something that you should
relish as a customer service
professional when somebody is
dissatisfied we all need to know that
only about four out of every 100 people
complain this means that every time you
actually receive a complaint it is
possible that many other people have
been dissatisfied but have chosen not to
complain most of these people who do not
complain will simply not
return but they will tell everyone who
cares to listen about their
dissatisfaction with you and they can
destroy your business and you do not
know about it we need to know people who
are complaining and we need to know how
to handle such complaints and learn from
those complaints so that we can invest
time and energy in reducing the need for
complaint by increasing the quality of
our customer
service if you look at this diagram you
will see
that customers leave for a variety of
reasons 15% of them will choose to go
because they found a better product
elsewhere 15% will go because they found
a cheaper product
elsewhere 20% of them will leave because
they perceive and remember perception is
all there is here they will perceive
that they have received a lack of
personal attention they haven't received
the service they require and 50% of
people will leave because they believe
they have received rude or unhelpful
service if you look at the diagram you
will see that 70% of of people who
choose not to do business with you will
leave because of the perception that
they have been badly treated by
you we can't afford this we can't afford
to lose customers on this scale
therefore brilliant customer service
becomes an absolute
must and if you
[Music]
treat a
complaint as a professional opportunity
remembering that feedback is the
Breakfast of Champions most people will
return to to you if you fix the problem
and if you impress them by how you
handle their complaint they will become
ambassadors for you and for your
company here is a way in which you might
do it a six step customer complaint
strategy try to guess what steps four
five and six are because we rarely use
them first is that you apologize when
somebody complains you don't admit
liability I'm not asking you to do that
you apologize for inconvenience and you
immediately offer to fix whatever the
problem is and the third stage is that
you fix it or you if you can't
personally fix it you take
responsibility to say it will be
fixed there are another three steps that
I'd like you to
take the first is to add something a
token for the inconvenience something
that says I'm sorry not a big big big
thing but just something that says I'm
aware that we haven't met the standards
that we're aiming for and we want to
thank you for your complaint because we
will do something about it and here's a
token of our
esteem the next stage is when you fix
the problem go back to your customer and
ask have I fixed this to your complete
satisfaction and if I have not go back
to stage one and apologize and start
again and there's still still one more
area and this is never done and yet I
honestly think it's the most
important beg repeat
business if you
complain to somebody about something or
other and even if they fix it
perfectly there might be a residual
feeling of embarrassment
still that you'd rather just stay away
from them from now on we can't afford to
lose business in that way beg repeat
business will you please continue to do
business with with us and then make sure
that you have a the possibility of
building a special relationship with
that customer who can then become an
ambassador for your
organization we need to collect a lot of
information when we are fixing
complaints and the methodology
involves a journey that needs to be
taken first of all through using active
listening assess any kind of emotional
signals so that you can think about a
strategy to resolve their difficulty
show them that you understand their
dissatisfaction by empathy by being
empathetic towards it I understand how
you feel I would feel that way of course
using open question collect questioning
collect the information that you need
how did this happen when did it happen
why do you think what do you think we
should do to help you and then at some
point take control of the situation and
move to the solution and follow that
six-point guide until you make sure that
that person has received complete
satisfaction in the fixing of that
complaint
now this is where I would like it to
become a little bit more subtle and a
little bit more difficult 55% of the
message is in body language 38% of the
message is in tone of voice so you
should be able to read these signs are
you
reading emotional responses are you
getting signs of distress from your
customer who's feeling uncomfortable
about it or are you getting focused
anger somebody concentrating on the on
the issue itself there is a difference
between emotionally driven behavior and
task driven behavior and if you can read
the signals that tell you the
differences between these you will have
a better way of resolving
them at one end of the spectrum you've
got emotionally driven Behavior which is
about how I feel about what has happened
and at the other end of that Continuum
we
have anger task driven driven because of
your failure to deal with what has
happened and you should have dealt with
it
differently people in complaint mode are
very sensitive to the words you use at
this point so I'd like you to be very
careful
about using phrases like this in your
answer to a complainant they the bosses
won't let me or I'm sorry but it is
company policy I can't do this I can't
do that nobody has complained before
these kind of phrases are just there to
annoy people they don't do you any good
we need to think differently and
remember that word but that word but
erases everything that has gone before
it I agree with everything you say but
means I don't agree with anything you
say and your tone of voice in listening
and responding your tone of voice can
indicate that you're uninterested and
that's yet another reason for your
customer to become angry with you your
dissatisfied customers prefer to hear
this kind of thing I'm sorry for the
inconvenience I've caused thank you for
bringing the matter to our attention you
are right to complain you know I would
complain under these circumstances your
customers like to have you empathize
with
them a tone of voice that you use which
is empathetic and shows understanding
customers like to hear their name being
used they love your personal assurance
that the problem is going to be fixed
and they like to have a clear plan of
future action all of this is something
that can be trained all of this is a set
of skills that you and I can learn when
certain triggers set off a situation we
then choose to respond in a corporate
way to make sure that the complaint is
met and dealt with
professionally so let's have a look at
these different types of behavior and
how we how we respond to
them emotionally driven Behavior
Behavior which is driven by how I feel
about this at its most extreme can
involve explosions um you don't know
what you said but suddenly that person
is crying some that that person is
screaming at you um they're in tears
they're they're using random words that
that you have said to trigger absolutely
unreasonable responses
these
people need to have their feelings dealt
with before you can handle whatever task
has troubled them slightly less
concerning more moderate than that is a
kind of controlled
anger sarcasm sniping comments and do
remember this sarcasm is a very
disrespectful form of dealing with
somebody sarcasm is disrespectful so it
really doesn't matter how well I have
dealt with this comple
if that person is sarcastic about me
they still don't believe it so sometimes
it is worthwhile just touching on the
sarcasm I couldn't help but notice
sarcasm in your turn of voice there sir
why would you wish to be sarcastic
towards me I'm just trying to resolve
this
issue and the generally unhappy person
who's driven by feeling uncomfortable
feeling guilty whining moping grumbling
all non-specific behaviors these people
are just unhappy and they need you to
try and drag them out of their
misery so in the set of circumstances
emotionally driven Behavior involves
dealing with the feelings first before
you try to seek a solution show empathy
with their current feelings before
moving on you have every right to feel
unhappy I'd feel unhappy about this
perhaps you might want to take them
somewhere comfortable where they can sit
down where they can have a rest maybe
offer them a cup of tea make the
customer feel comfortable not
guilty and you know every now and again
you will find that that kind of customer
will start to apologize to oh I'm so
sorry I really didn't mean to be so
angry with you but you know you're the
fifth person I've tried to speak to
today and I haven't been able to get
through to anybody and I know and I'd
feel exactly the same if I were you just
sit down and relax and then we'll fix
the problem for
you try to involve the
customer in agreeing what the solution
might be so that between you you can
come together with a
resolution task orientated behavior is
different at its most extreme it's loud
it's embarrassing it's non- egotistical
this person really doesn't care finger
pounding point no sense of embarrassment
a wish to hurt or humiliate you because
you have not done what I wanted you to
do these people are very frightening and
they use this bullying approach in order
to try and win over they have to win
you've got to be very brave to deal with
these people but you
can somebody who is Task focused but is
not behaving in this angry angry way may
turn out to be very detail conscious
coming with a file of complaints backing
up the complaint with evidence sometimes
they're on a
mission and sometimes the issu focused
individual behaves in a passive
aggressive way
he or she won't verbalize won't explain
but you can see their annoyance in their
body language and their failure to meet
your eye or if they do meet your eye you
know they're running a video about what
they want to do to
you dealing with issue focused Behavior
involves dealing with the issue first
not the feelings dealing with the issue
first fix the problem not the person so
for the extreme bully this person is a
bully accept that deal with the issue
stay safe and attempt to control the
next steps through assertiveness stop
right there I will deal with this matter
now please sir sit down I will find out
how this can be so as an assertive
person you have got a good chance of
being successful because he or she
appreciates powerful Behavior so don't
give up on that person don't allow them
to trample you stand up and say you what
this happened this is absolutely
unacceptable please sit down and I will
deal with this
immediately it will
work the issue focused behavior of a
more moderate kind of
person can often be called know-it-all
Behavior you know that person who knows
more I've forgotten more about this than
you've ever learned young lady that kind
of patronizing approach this person is
an expert instead of getting angry with
them or instead of trying to be more
expert than they are acknowledge their
expertise and then be very detailed in
your response if they have a big file of
stuff refer to detail be very detailed
with the detail thank them for bringing
this matter to their attention concede
on some matters of fact and then ask for
their proposed
solution very
importantly involve them in the final
decision so that they can own the
solution so that they can go away from
the interaction saying I showed them
and so that person's partner can then
say you're wonderful darling because
these people need to win let them
win let them be the people who decide
what cuz they know what the answer is
and as long as you can give it be happy
to give
it grumblers people who are just
generally unhappy about
everything try to help them to focus
their General statements into specific
issues that you can resolve feed back
what they tell you and ask what their
solution might be so how do you think we
should fix
this are there themes or is there a loop
that drives their behavior does this
tend to happen at a certain time does
this tend to happen at a certain part of
the process that you're involved in and
see whether or not altering that process
in some way might reduce the number of
grumblers you
get and I'd like just to draw your
attention to one person I'm going to
call the quiet
assassin this person is just too
Pleasant something has gone terribly
wrong and they should be more angry and
you know that but they're not they're
nodding and they're
smiling well if you leave things as they
are they will destroy you that person
will leave and go straight around to see
a lawyer or a journalist that person
will make it their life's mission to
destroy
you the quiet assassin is very dangerous
so when you are handling the potential
quiet assassin first of all be very
polite don't allow yourself to be drawn
into anything be careful not to rush to
a conclusion your time is what they
need point out any hidden
agenda and make sure that both of you
are aware that it has been noticed the
wheels have fallen completely off this
let's put some more wheels on shall we
and overcompensate where you can let's
put an extra wheel on here to make sure
have we satisfied absolutely
everything this person needs to be dealt
with because otherwise he or she will
leave and become very dangerous to
you when complaints start to get to you
as they might because there are certain
times when everything seems to go wrong
you might want to use What's called the
eter sketch approach
do you know that toy the eter sketch
which is a brilliant toy for children
but the eter sketch salesp people
themselves used to have one and if they
had a particularly difficult client to
deal with they just draw a picture of
that client on it and then go
gone the eter sketch approach says I've
done it finished let's move
on think about sharing collecting your
War stories with your colleagues so you
can have mutual support be prepared to
accept the challenge see feedback of as
The Breakfast of Champions and be one of
those Champions see it as a positive
opportunity to practice your soft skills
ask what you would do in the
circumstances if you were the complainer
so that you can
empathize and very very
importantly think about the time
Dimension after all in a year's time or
in five years time or in 50 years
time what are you going to think about
this
it's not going to be that important so
don't allow it to get you down
Посмотреть больше похожих видео
Penanganan Pengaduan
Brilliant Customer Service - How to Impress your Customers! - Chapter 2
Brilliant Customer Service - How to Impress your Customers! - Chapter 5
Brilliant Customer Service - How to Impress your Customers! - Chapter 3
PPM Pierce Pharmacy Management Handling Difficult Customers
How to Turn Angry Customers into Raving Fans
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)