Complaints - Avoiding Your Responsibilities

When faced with an irate customer, it's tempting to try to avoid responsibility for a problem – or to shunt the customer to someone else. This is likely to frustrate the customer even further.

hen faced with an irate customer, it's tempting to try to avoid responsibility for a problem – or to shunt the customer to someone else. This is likely to frustrate the customer even further. Instead, it's important to be helpful, take ownership of the problem, and act as the customer's point of contact for resolving the matter.

The following each guideline are associated with taking responsibility for customers' complaints:

BE HELPFUL

You may be tempted to avoid responsibility, saying you're busy or you can't help resolve a particular problem. This unhelpful reaction will make the customer feel even more frustrated.

If you're busy when someone approaches you, promise to attend to the customer as soon as you can, and then deliver on your promise.

If you can't give exactly what a customer asks for, don't say you can't help. Instead, offer constructive solutions to the problem. Phrases that you can use include "I can..." or "I'll be with you as soon as I can."

TAKE OWNERSHIP OF THE PROBLEM

When you feel accused or threatened, it's natural to get defensive. Maybe you react by saying there's nothing you can do, you don't know, or the problem is either not your fault or not your job to resolve. This knee-jerk reaction escalates tension. It also stops you from really listening to a customer.

Instead, you need to take ownership of the problem. If you feel you can't help, don't say there's nothing you can do. Rather find out if there's anything you can do to help. If you don't know the answers, say you'll find out.

If someone else needs to deal with a problem, let your customers know you're referring them to somebody who can help.

ACT AS THE POINT OF CONTACT

When an irate customer approaches you, it can be tempting to pass this person over to your manager. This may seem like a good idea especially if the customer is asking for something that's not part of your company's standard procedures or you aren't sure what to do.

Instead, the best response is to reassure the customer. Then approach your manager yourself, and report back to the customer with a solution.

See how a customer service agent handles customer complaints.

SASHA

"When I'm really busy and a customer is trying to get my attention, I often say something like 'I'll be with you in just a moment.' This tells customers I'll help them as soon as I can, so they are more patient.

I ensure my voice sounds friendly and warm, because a pleasant tone goes a long way in setting a customer at ease.

When a customer asks for something that I can't provide, I make an alternative suggestion. I say something like 'What I can do for you is...' A partial solution is sometimes good enough – it shows I'm trying to help."

MARIO

"Sometimes I'm not sure how to proceed or whether I can help a customer. At these times, I don't tell this to the customer. Instead, I say 'I'll find out.' And I make a point of doing just that.

Even when something isn't my fault or the fault of my company, it doesn't help telling the customer that – in fact it may make things worse."

MARIE

"When I first started answering customer queries at my company, I used to refer the difficult ones to my manager.

After a while, I realized some customers felt I wasn't willing to help them – even when my manager helped them straight away.

Now I say 'I can help you' to a difficult customer. I then ask my manager for advice and return to the customer to offer a solution. I now feel more confident and capable, and my customers are pleased. They're delighted to find somebody who's committed to sorting out their problems."

Sasha, Mario, and Melanie all make a point of taking responsibility for customers' complaints. The techniques they use demonstrate to customers their concerns are being taking seriously and they can expect professional, helpful responses.

I have been teaching and training agents, team leaders, supervisors, managers and admins of call centers and other businesses in BPO related fields. This series, comes as a result of that experience. I have more than 4,000 modules that I plan on sharing here. This is # 002-03

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