Handling Telephone Abuse

Handling Telephone Abuse
By Sammer Hakim

Customer service as its affectionately known revolves around the telephone. You have to be very particular when delivering customer service over the phone. Since they can't see you, your voice and style is pretty much all you have.

Problem is, people are animals. I'm not referring in any evolutionary sense -just the behavioral. Once an animal senses you are afraid of it, it's likely to attack you. Angry people on the phone are pretty much the same:

Customer: "YOU PEOPLE ARE *&$#@@#!! I DON'T BELIEVE YOU DID THIS!" (Here the caller's testing the water, to see whether the listener's afraid or not?)

Customer Service Rep: 'Oh, Oh, I'm sorry, oh..umm..hmm..sir...ummm, I'm sorry' (Voice trembling with fear. Guess what? Green light - Attack me!)

"YOU'RE SORRY!? I DON'T WANT YOU TO BE SORRY! I WANT YOU TO FIX THIS &^$%^%&^ PROBLEM!" (Attack mode!)

Hmm, sound familiar?

If this has happened to you I bet you felt really insulted by the put-down. Probably so spooked that every time the phone rings now, you're haunted by the memory of that call. On the other hand, you may have argued back and thought to yourself "HA! I showed him! No way is someone going to talk to me like that!"

And it made you feel a whole lot better right? And the customer never buys from you again and tells 10 others how much you suck. So - Wrong!

Here are some handy tips on how to handle phone abuse and turn the caller into a loyal customer. Customers who have their complaints solved quickly and satisfactorily, are more likely to become loyal than ones who didn't

1. Realize the anger is not directed at you, personally. I've seen people literally in tears because customers yelled abuse. They were angry with the situation they faced and were coming to you for a solution. They didn't call to abuse you. They don't know you! They called you for a solution. Don't take it personally.