How to Handle Difficult Customers on the Phone?
24 June 2008
Read by 2129 persons
In my work, I'm on the phone with customers every day. Sometimes I deal with difficult customers who can be aggressive and rude. After many unpleasant calls, I sometimes struggle to stay calm and polite. How can I control my anger in these situations?
ANSWER
It's understandable that you sometimes lose patience with difficult customers. In such situations, our tolerance level partly depends on these customers, our mood, and how we handle these situations.
How to react?
That said, you know that these difficult customers are part of your daily work. So you'll have to deal with them one way or another.
You can do this in different ways. You can try to exert more influence on your customers' reactions – for example, by using humor or adopting a cheerful approach. Or, you can use techniques to manage your own reaction: deep breathing, pausing the conversation for a few seconds, signaling a colleague sitting next to you (without disturbing their work, of course).
Training
You can, of course, register for training in techniques for handling difficult customers or managing phone aggression. The internet offers many suitable training courses.
You can also ask your colleagues who face the same problem for advice. A group discussion might help you find solutions together.
If there are enough people interested, you could also suggest to your employer that they organize such training, which would then contribute to improving well-being at work. Your internal or external occupational health and safety service should be able to give you more information on this subject.
Posted on May 26, 2008
references.be
ANSWER
It's understandable that you sometimes lose patience with difficult customers. In such situations, our tolerance level partly depends on these customers, our mood, and how we handle these situations.
How to react?
That said, you know that these difficult customers are part of your daily work. So you'll have to deal with them one way or another.
You can do this in different ways. You can try to exert more influence on your customers' reactions – for example, by using humor or adopting a cheerful approach. Or, you can use techniques to manage your own reaction: deep breathing, pausing the conversation for a few seconds, signaling a colleague sitting next to you (without disturbing their work, of course).
Training
You can, of course, register for training in techniques for handling difficult customers or managing phone aggression. The internet offers many suitable training courses.
You can also ask your colleagues who face the same problem for advice. A group discussion might help you find solutions together.
If there are enough people interested, you could also suggest to your employer that they organize such training, which would then contribute to improving well-being at work. Your internal or external occupational health and safety service should be able to give you more information on this subject.
Posted on May 26, 2008
references.be
