Communication:  Communication is KEY to de-escalating a situation.  Here are some communication points to remember:

Reassurance:  Be sure to reassure the florist that YOU can fix the issue without escalating and can handle it.

Ownership:  Take ownership of the issue.  This will make the florist feel better about the situation.  While the issue may not be your fault specifically, it may have been the fault of your team.  In which case you can take ownership.

Compensation: Compensation is available ONLY if a florist requests credit/compensation.  If the issue is something we made a mistake on or that our system completely failed to do correctly, we may can offer some credit.  First you need to find out if the florist is paying for eFlorist or not.  If they are on a free webhosting promo, we likely cannot provide any additional credits.  Please see your manager for approval to issue credit.

More often than not, this interesting caller will have no legitimate grievance against your enterprise. Rather, he or she will have suffered a recent personal strain and, without anybody else to vent to, will turn to taking their grievance out on your staff. This frequently involves amplifying the most minor of complaints right out of proportion. “We really do appreciate this feedback, Mrs. Brown…”

This type of caller is among the most frustrating for a contact center agent; he or she will likely have encountered legitimately furious customers in the past and may feel that to “mollycoddle” their Offloader is a waste of time and energy. Even so, the caller should be taken as seriously as possible, and formally empathetic language should be used at all times.

The following is a list of phrases best suited to this type of customer; note that the words of particular importance have been highlighted – for best results, these should be repeated at various points throughout the conversation.

Phrases:

“I’m so sorry to hear about this, Mrs. Brown…”

Mistakes happen; it’s a fact of life, and it’s forgivable. But, from time to time, corporations miss their service level agreements by such a margin that even the most experienced of inbound agents has difficulty believing the magnitude of the failing.

The Legitimate Grievance is far and away the most important item discussed on this list. You have severely failed your customer and, should the case be publicized in the media, the ramifications for your business could be serious.

Agents who encounter this sort of complainant should, of course, escalate the call to their nearest team leader without delay. But in the interim, it would do no harm to offer some words of empathetic reassurance…

Phrases and expressions used to respond to complaints:

Ah, the Abusive Customer: a fascinating specimen, easily identifiable through its signature high pitch and generous use of profanity.

Paradoxical as it sounds, many agents look forward to receiving calls from this sort of customer. The reason? Well, since corporations’ duty of care towards their employees includes protection from client abuse, the rare emergence of the profanity appears to present a good opportunity to terminate the call.

Though no employee should be expected to put up with personal insults, it is industry standard for agents to warn abusive customers at least three times before ending the conversation. Still, there are a series of phrases that can help to restore calm.

Of course, even more important than the language used is the ability of the agent to hold his or her cool under pressure; needless to say, there can be no excuse for insulting a customer – such an act would constitute gross misconduct, even if done in retaliation. So, along with encouraging professional lingo, school your staff in the emotional side of dealing with abusive callers.

Phrases:

“For the quickest resolution, I would request you to…”

Easily confused with The Abusive Customer, the Threat-Maker is, in fact, a different kettle of chips altogether. Whilst the former’s intention is to insult the call handler into cessation, the latter seeks to obtain appeasement through emotional or even physical intimidation.

Of course, most agents have dealt with enough Threat-Makers to know that, despite their dogged self-conviction, the vast majority of threats levied are as empty as a church on Monday morning. Even so, many telephone staff find this complainant’s tactics the most provocative of any irate caller. As such, it’s important again to remind staff not to react to intimidation; to do so would just give the caller further ammunition, and add weight to a grievance that was, perhaps, spurious.

Sticking to one’s guns is the key to success over the Threat-Maker; offering inappropriate compensation will serve only to encourage future complaints. Moreover, it’s important to remember that, regardless of how unpleasant he or she might be as a person, each and every one of your customers is an essential source of revenue for your business. Agents should strive for a golden mean between level-headed formality and empathy for the customer’s condition.

Phrases: