Page 101 - DENG401_Advance Communication Skills

Advanced Communication Skills

Notes 3. Stay calm and neutral: As a means of self-preservation, you react physically to anger with
a “fight or flight” reflex. This is why most people avoid conflict and delivering bad
news—they fear an angry reaction. Others have a tendency to fight back. Both responses
are counterproductive because they do not solve the underlying problem. Take time to
make sure you are calm, control the pitch and rate of your voice, and speak with composure,
using neutral language as you talk to an angry customer.
4. Apologize: Apologies are powerful tools that can quickly reduce anger. Apologize to
express regret, but avoid accepting blame if doing so could create legal problems. Instead
of accepting the blame, you can acknowledge the problem with comments such as, “I am
sorry that you are having this problem. How may I help you?” or “I am sorry that this
doesn’t work the way that you want it to.” A sincere apology and a promise to help are the
quickest ways to calm an angry customer.
5. Explain how you will help: Your customer is approaching you because they want to solve
a problem. What they most want to know is that you will help them or connect them with
someone who can. Clearly communicate that you will help them solve their problem
before you ask questions or start troubleshooting.
6. Conclude with a thank you: Leave the customer with a positive impression of you and
your organization by thanking them for giving you the chance to help with their problem.
Figure B-8 outlines a successful conversation with an angry customer.

Caselet Way of handling an Angry Customer

The Problem
"Sometimes people get angry and take it out on you. Occasionally, this is justified if
you've made a major mistake. Often, though, the anger is misplaced. The irate customer is
angry because of something else entirely perhaps he or she simply got out of the wrong
side of bed. Either way, you have to deal with the anger and solve the problem.
"On this occasion, Mr. Satish heard one of my staff, Rita takes the initial phone call from
the customer, Mr Gopal From the start, it was clear that Rita was struggling. This was no
fault of her's - she has good communication skills. It was just that Mr Gopal seemed
determined to be unreasonable.

"Anyway, when Rita looked at Mr. Satish across the office, satish nodded and told her to
transfer the call to satish's phone. On reflection, satish could say that he wish he hadn't
taken the call. But when you run your own business, you have to take responsibility.
"Mr Gopal didn't give satish a chance to say more than 'hello' before he launched an attack
on the product he'd bought, on satish's company in general and on satish in particular. I'm
a seasoned campaigner, as it were, but this onslaught took me aback. I knew that if I wasn't
to say anything I might regret, I needed to control the conversation.

"When Mr Gopal finally took a breath, satish jumped in as politely as he could and told
him he would phone him back in five minutes, and that he would definitely help him. Mr
Gopal threatened satish with all sorts of retribution if I didn't call back, and put the phone
down.

Contd...

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