And it depends only on your actions whether he will go to competitors or stay; will tell friends about a bad experience or admire excellent service.

Common types of clients to help you: step-by-step instruction on conflict resolution and recommendations on how to turn negative experiences into new opportunities.

Types of Unsatisfied Customers

Some clients expect a thorough apology, others react calmly but shake their heads, and still others insist that problems be resolved immediately. Each requires a special approach, and it’s good if you immediately determine which one. By understanding what the client expects from you, you will structure the conversation correctly and reduce dissatisfaction to a minimum.

Ferocious the client directs a stream of continuous accusations at you - general and possibly personal. It takes some time for him to get directly to the problem.

Sometimes such behavior is deliberately “embellished” to cause a feeling of guilt, because of which employees try in every possible way to somehow please.

Be firm, patient and polite. Excuses won't help. It’s better to get straight to the point: explain how, who will solve the problem and in what time frame..

Balanced the client replaces accusations with the phrases “well, I don’t know,” “how can this be,” “I would have acted differently.” He is culturally indignant, expressing concern and disagreement.

Answer calmly but confidently. Solve the problem and be sure to keep the conversation going on other topics, as this type of client especially appreciates attention.

Quiet the client rarely complains, but does not forget anything and draws conclusions. One fine moment you simply discover that he has gone to a competitor and at the same time told his colleagues how bad your service is.

Organize easy way for claims and complaints: periodic letters with a short questionnaire, a call from a personal manager or another method will help, depending on the standards adopted in the company. You don’t overdo it: according to statistics, out of 25 quiet clients, only one complains.

Key the client realizes his importance, is sure that he deserves the best, and is ready to pay for it. Like the ferocious type, he does not tolerate excuses and requires quick troubleshooting.

Solve the problem, then be sure to contact the client, check if everything is in order, and ask how to compensate for the inconvenience caused.

Omniscient the client is upset because you do not agree with all of his suggestions. He sincerely believes that he understands many things, although this is not always true.

Explain your position in detail and provide examples from personal experience. This type of client is great for improving your communication skills..

begging the client is seeking compensation. He doesn't need answers or explanations. If he thinks that you did something wrong, he will not be satisfied with anything except a bonus for the inconvenience caused.

Composure, confidence in the product, accurate numbers and verified facts will help repel unreasonable onslaught.

whining the client asks a lot of questions, doesn’t bother trying to figure out unclear points, writes to support and complains even in situations where the problem does not relate to your product.

Be patient and keep your cool. It is difficult to satisfy such a client: he expects the most detailed answers and lengthy apologies, after which he immediately finds a reason for a new complaint. The upside is that he will appreciate your efforts. If he likes everything, he will sing your praises to everyone he knows..

Conflict resolution

Exit with honor difficult situation and seven proven steps will help improve the company’s reputation in the eyes of the client. Stock up on restraint, patience and diplomacy in advance.

1) Listen

Let the client have their full say. Perhaps he is angry and communicates in a raised tone. Don't take it to heart - the aggression is not directed at you, but at the situation. Keeping a cool head is extremely difficult, but don't get emotional.

Your task is to figure out what the problem is and help the other person let off steam. Do not interrupt the client, but make it clear that a quick solution to the problem depends on his calmness.

Your enemies: emotionality, elevated tone, mirroring the client’s behavior, inattention.

2) Show empathy

We all appreciate the compassion of our interlocutor, especially in stressful situations. After the client's aggression subsides, gather your strength and express sympathy. Show that you understand how upset he is.

Your friends: “I understand your disappointment”, “How unpleasant it must be for you”, “I myself have been in such a situation and know how terrible it is”.

3) Apologize

Even if it is not your personal fault in the current situation, be sure to apologize. Attempts to point out the culprits, blame the problem on a third-party service, magnetic storms or a full moon are inappropriate, they will only add fuel to the fire.

Imagine yourself in the client's place, think about the inconvenience that was caused to him, and ask for forgiveness.

Your enemies: prevarication, falsehood, formal politeness.

4) Decide on actions

If you are not entirely sure what the client expects, just ask him. Repeat key points problems and ask additional questions if necessary. This will show the client that you were listening carefully, and you will confirm your assumptions about which direction to move. You must clearly understand what result will leave the client satisfied.

Your friends: desire to get to the bottom of things, calmness, friendliness.

5) Solve the problem

If solving a problem is within your competence, do it. If not, immediately involve a specialist who will cope with the task better than others. Explain your actions to the client and warn them how long it will take to correct the defects.

Offer compensation: a discount, bonus, or free use of your product for a certain time. If you are at a loss, ask the client: “What can we do for you in the form of compensation?”

Your enemies: chaotic actions, slow response, refusal to compensate.

6) Restore your strength

After reaching desired result rest and take a few minutes to reflect on what happened. Even if the client is ultimately satisfied, similar situations do not pass without a trace. Therefore, a short “cleansing” of the mind will do you good. Documenting events (time, date, problem, and solution) simplifies this process.

Your friends: a short break, analysis of the situation, conclusions for the future.

7) Run diagnostics

Appreciate a dissatisfied customer - he showed the weak point of the product or service. After you resolve the conflict, understand the reasons. Don't look for the culprits, don't incite a war between employees - just make sure that this doesn't happen again in the future.

Your enemies: neglect of received signals and lack of “work on mistakes”.

Don't turn the desire to provide excellent service into banal sycophancy. Customers are not always right, and some will be unhappy. Respect yourself and your employees. Follow the famous Ritz-Carlton maxim: “Ladies and gentlemen serve ladies and gentlemen.”

In any work devoted to marketing, there are many variations of one truth: a satisfied client will be satisfied, a dissatisfied client will tell 50 others about his dissatisfaction. In a situation of rapid development social networks the ending of the phrase can be safely changed to “a dissatisfied client will tell all his subscribers about his dissatisfaction, and if he does it with talent, they will tell theirs.”

Let's not look far for an example. Famous musician David Carroll once handed over his concert guitar to United Airlines employees, after which the guitar was happily broken and could not be restored.

After numerous but unanswered complaints and requests for damages, David apparently caught some special Inspiration from an Angry Customer (a scary thing, I must say), wrote the song United Breaks Guitars (“United breaks guitars”) and shot a video that became one from the then hits on YouTube (more than 10 million views). Don't waste your time, definitely roles To. It was really done with talent, and you can see how the person’s soul was boiling.

Let's talk about how to react and work with negative feedback about your project.

First of all, don’t be afraid of negative reviews.
By definition, your project cannot be liked
immediately and absolutely everyone

First of all, don’t be afraid of negative reviews. By definition, your project cannot please absolutely everyone at once. There will always be critics, haters, envious people, competitors and (imagine) good and adequate users who actually encountered certain problems when using your product. Because the goal of 99% of your clients is not to ruin your mood and pinch off a little more from the thin skein of your nerves - they just want to solve their problem as quickly as possible.

Make sure that the absolute majority of any reviews (including negative ones) fall directly into your hands. A well-organized support service, a convenient feedback form and a well-functioning ticket system that allows you to contact the site administration will help you with this. It will be much easier to deal with dissatisfied customers if all complaints come to one place and you don’t have to chase them all over the Internet.

At “Everyone is Lucky,” we call each client after the transportation has been completed to get the opportunity to purchase two hare carcasses - a positive review from a satisfied client, which we will post on our website, or a negative review from a dissatisfied user, whose opinion we will try to correct by solving his problem.

In this case, in any case, carry out daily monitoring all major social networks, not forgetting such a convenient thing as Yandex blog search (or Google alerts, which will help you instantly track product mentions on the Internet). If your product is quite popular and collecting reviews manually is difficult, there are specially trained “catcher sites” that will do all the work themselves. I recommend trying youscan and buzzlook - amazingly convenient things. The only thing is to calm the inner panicker in advance. There’s a lot of people writing about everyone on the Internet and they’re happy to write about them, right?

Well, the treasured negative reviews are in our hands. It's time to get to work:

Know how to distinguish criticism from obvious provocation. A client who criticizes your website general outline, without relying on specific examples, generously throwing around the words “terrible”, “disgusting”, “worst design in the world” and at the same time being rude, is not worth your time.

Don't be negative in response. After an aggressive response, the client will most likely get even more worked up, and the analysis of the unpleasant situation will inevitably drag on, turning into a protracted holivar.

Don't abandon a negative client halfway through solving the problem. There is no more offended creature in the world than a user who was promised to improve and was deceived.

Communication with the client should be entirely aimed at solving his problem. Describe to him a possible way out of the situation, ask for advice, show interest. The question “If we offer this alternative?” will play much better than “What do you want in return?”

Be sure to apologize to the client and offer him a small bonus, preferably related to your company.

Negative reviews are like a trip to the gym for your project. Constructive criticism helps to “tighten up” the project, correct weak points, find and close gaps that are not visible to the blurry eye.

And remember that your reputation only works for you if you work for it.

Continuing the theme of the previous article, we will talk about speech formulas and rules of behavior that will help increase the effectiveness of communication with “problem” visitors or customers. The ethics of communicating with clients whom your colleagues have managed to properly anger is to force the person to calmly express the essence of their complaints and begin an adequate dialogue.

Rule one: Never show irritation. Do not respond rudely if the client speaks to you in a raised voice

When someone is rude to you, the easiest way to respond is to be rude. But in this case, you will not achieve anything positive; rather, on the contrary, the conflict will acquire even greater scope. Positive aspects, as you might guess, in this case no. It is best not to react to rudeness, and even to direct insults, and then you will come out of the situation “in the black” in any case. Although it's not easy, treat the situation as a training session in your communication skills with clients.

You can do this: wait until the client takes more air into his lungs to give out another portion of claims (no one can talk while inhaling) and ask the question:

How can I help you?

Depending on the situation, we rearrange the phrase. It is advisable to speak quietly, calmly looking your opponent in the eyes.

Rule two: Don't show off your wit

Even if your words are razor-sharp and you have extensive experience in putting anyone in their place, communicating with clients is not the time to show off your wit.

Rule Three: Put yourself in your client's shoes

“Point one – the client is always right, point two – if the client is wrong, see point one.” The old joke is quite relevant here. If you show the client that you really sympathize with him and are ready to help, you will greatly knock him off the “aggressive wave” and it will be much easier for you to communicate with him further. Even if he's wrong.

Example phrases that can be used here:

If I were you, I would also be outraged.

I can imagine how unpleasant this is.

It's a shame that this happened. / It’s really a shame that this happened.

I understand you are in an awkward position.

Rule four: Do not tell the client that he is wrong... about anything. Even if this is true.

Now let's see what words should not be uttered under any circumstances, so as not to cause aggression in an already irritated client. A person who comes with a complaint against a company is initially belligerent, and some of its representatives often manage to aggravate this condition.

These are the phrases:

This simply cannot be!

You are not right!(don’t forget that “the customer is always right”).

You should have done it differently.

Well, this happens often...

I can't help you.

In such cases, we always do this.

You should have...

What we have in common with clients who are ready to fight tooth and nail for their truth clearly needs to be built differently. With such words you can only “heat up” the conflict, and you absolutely do not need this.

So, the phrase “This can’t be!” means you don't trust the person's words. You don’t fully believe that everything happened exactly as he says. But the person who comes with a claim will, in any case, try to prove his point of view.

Rule five: Don't take attacks to heart

For a consumer who comes to you with a complaint, you can be the personification of the entire company; he sees you and talks to you, and to no one else. Neither rules of communication with clients, nor basic common sense They are not allowed to react heatedly to phrases and claims in the style of “Yes, I’ll sue you!”, “You, girl, cheated me!” etc. Even if it goes to court, the claim will be brought against the company, and not the secretary, who has nothing to do with it at all.

Before I start my post on how to calm down an unhappy customer, I would like to tell you a story. It happened to me in 2007, when I worked as a senior flight attendant at Air Astana. It was a flight from London to Almaty. The company's management informed the crew in advance that high authorities - representatives of the British corporation BAE Systems - would fly with us.

We were ready for the flight, but deep down we were a little worried. As a senior flight attendant, I was entrusted with the mission of coordinating the flight so that it would be comfortable and in accordance with all safety standards. Before takeoff, everything went according to plan: the pilots prepared the plane for flight, my fellow flight attendants greeted the passengers, various airport services brought additional food and documents for passengers onto the plane. The important guests were already on board when one of the passengers stopped me as I was running to sign documents in the cockpit and said: “You stole my Vertu phone!” He was a Russian-speaking man of about 50, expensively dressed and quite adequate in appearance. For the first seconds, I looked at him in confusion, trying to understand whether this was a joke or not. The fact is that during boarding I was busy with documents and did not approach his seat. Having recovered from such an unexpected accusation, I looked around the passenger and saw that his phone was lying under his feet. The phone was found, and I thought that the incidents with this passenger were over. But it was not there.

After takeoff, one of the business class passengers, a foreigner, began to press the button to call the flight attendant and explain that the Vertu owner, already familiar to us, hit him in the shoulder, and, as if nothing had happened, turned to the window, pretending to be asleep. I made a verbal reprimand to the Vertu owner, sincerely hoping that his unfunny jokes would end, but the blows on my neighbor’s shoulder did not stop. The whole circus was observed by my British superiors, who were shocked by what was happening. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the plane was full and I could not separate the hooligan and strange passenger from the intelligent foreigner.

Of course, we were trained on how to deal with disruptive passengers, and I diligently followed the instructions. I made a verbal reprimand, and when it had no effect and the hooliganism continued, I filled out a special form, warning the passenger that we would hand him over to the police at Almaty airport. But this also had no effect on him.

The owner of Vertu was not violent and aggressive, rather he was strange. Standard methods for solving this conflict situation didn’t work, then I turned on my feminine cunning and intuition. I told the passenger that I could brew him a special type of tea that would help him relax and sleep. I took the risk of inviting him to the flight attendants’ kitchen to brew “miraculous” tea in front of him. He agreed.

While I was preparing tea for him, he told me that he had participated in military operations in Afghanistan. In the story, he mentioned some kind of tragedy on board a military aircraft, as a result of which he had a panic fear During the flight. After sharing his fears with me and drinking a couple of mugs of hot tea, our strange passenger went to his seat and fell asleep. All I had to do was cover him with a blanket and Once again apologize to the “injured” foreign passenger.

All this time, my colleague barely had time to serve food to 20 business class passengers. Chilled white wine with pieces of French cheese was served hastily. Alas, but show high level We were unable to receive service on this flight. At that moment it seemed to me that there was no worst flight in my 4-year flying life. I knew that our flight did not meet established standards, and I was prepared, if not for dismissal, then for a severe reprimand and suspension from international flights.

A couple of days later I was called into the office for a debriefing of the “flight”. I was determined to humbly accept the harsh punishment, but instead I was given a letter of gratitude from our shareholder Nigel Bradley (he was on this flight), who highly appreciated my actions in resolving the conflict situation with the passenger.

Based on this and other cases, I deduced 5 ways to calm an unhappy client.

Method No. 1

Apologize.

In most cases, a conflict situation arises when customer expectations are not met, so the first and a win-win where conflict resolution should begin is an apology. Even if you are right, start with an apology.

Example: “I sincerely apologize to you for the inconvenience caused.”

Method number 2

Be diplomatic.

It is necessary to listen patiently to your client and not get into arguments with him. At the beginning of my flying career, we were told how not to take to heart the rash (not always pleasant) words of passengers. You need to repeat to yourself that he is saying all this to your form, and not to you personally. The person has complaints against the airline, but not against Nastya. The airline delayed his flight, and I am now a representative of this company and must listen to the person and minimize the inconvenience caused to him. I get paid for this.

“Obviously, we upset you. I want you to know that understanding the reasons for what happened is as important for us as it is for you.”

Method number 3

Turn on robot mode.

This method should not be overused, but in some cases it is irreplaceable. While in Kazakhstan, I conducted conflict resolution training for employees of a large cinema chain. It would seem that people come to the movies for positive emotions and not conflicts, but sometimes it turns out differently. For example, students forget their student cards, but still persistently demand a discount. Cinema employees have instructions and they cannot violate them. At this point, you can turn on robot mode and demand that you follow the rules of your business. However, with the robot mode you need to be careful not to repeat the sad story of the death of your grandmother in the Russian Magnit store.

“You are right, this situation causes you inconvenience, but in our cinema (store, airline, etc.) there is certain rules which must be observed."

Method number 4 (the most important)

Admit your guilt, show empathy and offer a solution to the problem.

My experience tells me that most conflicts have reasons. It is necessary to understand them, admit your guilt, show sympathy and offer a solution to the problem. The best way a solution to the conflict situation has not yet been invented.

“I am aware of my guilt for the mistake when selling the ticket, and I am ready to do everything possible to correct it. Can I offer you another session time or give you an invitation to a date convenient for you?”

Method number 5 (magic)

Show that you appreciate criticism and comments. Promise not to let this happen again.

They said this phrase with kind smile, wrote a report to management about the existing problem - you can go to the nearest bar with peace of mind to drink tea (coffee, lemonade, beer).

“Thank you for taking the time to tell us about this issue. Your opinion is very important to us, thanks to which we can improve the quality of our service.”

I believe that you have your own ways of resolving conflicts and would be glad to hear about them. Write your reviews and share your experience in the comments. Just a minute, watch this one video clip on resolving conflicts with clients. He helped me a lot in creating this post.

Good luck in your negotiations,
Your Nastya

This blog is my creativity, through which I share with you my experiences, thoughts, tips and useful information. As an author, you can support me in word and deed. You can express support with words, you can criticize, because this will help me become better. The point is to make any financial contribution that will help me devote more time to texts, videos, photographs and inspire me to create new materials that are useful to you.

Map Kazkom 4003 0327 4576 4375

Recipient Shestaeva Anastasia Viktorovna

Think back to your last conversation with a dissatisfied customer. What was your mental reaction to his irritation? I think you really wanted to repay in kind, and maybe send it to a well-known address.

But if you work in and provide, you have to keep your emotions in check and find Right words to reassure the person on the other end of the line. This skill is an indicator of your professionalism.

How to talk to an unhappy customer

Let's check how it works.

Everything you say to an angry person should first of all help him cope with his emotions and defuse the situation. If you manage to calm him down, consider that you have taken a huge step towards constructive dialogue.

There are 4 types of dissatisfied clients that we identified in the process. We offer you a list of acceptable phrases for each of them. Of course, each client is unique, so sometimes you will have to combine the suggested phrases. Now let's look at everything in detail

1. "Truck"

This type of dissatisfied customer is called that for a reason. He likes to literally “load” you with his problems and discontent. He is not satisfied with every little thing in the company you represent.

Although the real essence of the problem may not be this at all. It is likely that this person is suffering from some personal experiences, he feels bad, so he is trying to make everyone around him feel bad.

Call center operators find it difficult to deal with such people. Because even if you offer the optimal solution, something will still not suit him.

To force the truck to slow down (you won't be able to stop it anyway), don't follow its lead. If he realizes that he has provoked your dissatisfaction or caused you to change your cheerful tone to a deliberately slow one, he will know that he has broken you.

Don’t give him a reason to think so - stick to your line. Try to speak to him in a friendly and confident manner, as you did when you picked up the phone and introduced yourself.

Yes, it will be difficult, but it will reduce your suffering. The “truck” will understand that he was unable to get you out, will solve his problem and quickly hang up. He simply will not want to waste his time on you if it turns out that you are not being provoked.

When talking with the “truck”, use phrases that will allow you to achieve excellent results. Try to repeat them several times throughout the conversation:

• I'm sorry to have caused you any inconvenience...
• As a solution, may I suggest...?
• Right now I can help you in the following way...
• It is valuable for us to receive feedback from you...
• Can I call you back in 1 hour to make sure the problem is resolved?

Problems happen. There's no getting around this. Sometimes even large companies are faced with the fact that their employees do not provide customers with the best best service and miss some points.

A fighter for justice will definitely tell you about such “egregious” cases. It is also important to communicate competently with such clients so that their dissatisfaction does not splash out online, in the media, and does not lead to any unpleasant consequences for the company.

If you have to deal with this type, do everything to let the person know how important it is for you to hear his opinion:

• Thank you very much for letting us know about this...
• I'm sorry for the inconvenience caused to you...
• I understand perfectly how you feel...
• Thank you for your patience...
• Adequate measures will be taken immediately...

You will recognize this person from the first seconds of the conversation. He speaks in a raised voice and does not mince words.

He may well resort to personal insults. Therefore, even a person with a reinforced concrete psyche is not obliged to endure this. There is a certain standard for call center operators: warn the rude person three times that you do not intend to listen to insults and will help solve his problem when he expresses it calmly and without obscene words.

If after 3 warnings the person does not calm down, the call center operator has every right to hang up. However, it’s worth trying to tell the impudent person a few phrases that will help him calm down.

But what is also important here is the operator’s skill to maintain composure even under such pressure of negativity. Naturally, no problem justifies the client's rudeness. But it would be completely wrong and unprofessional to answer him in the same tone.

In addition to the phrases you use, take into account those that will help you “tame” very emotional clients:

• I really understand your frustration, but I don't have to listen to it in the terms you're using now...
• I will do everything in my power to help you...
• You seem to be too upset. How would it be more convenient for you to continue the conversation: by e-mail or online chat?
• I'm sorry you're so upset. Do you want me to call you back when you've calmed down a little?
• I'm sorry, but if you continue to talk to me in these terms, I will be forced to stop this conversation.

Sometimes he is confused with impudent. Although if the impudent person seeks to insult you and make you lose your balance, then the blackmailer has a different goal. He craves reassurance through your fear. He just wants to scare you.

In this he has no equal. Surely you have heard various threats addressed to you. But when they sound on the phone, it is clear that they are empty. But nevertheless, call center operators often follow the blackmailer’s lead, taking his threats personally.

Don’t react, because your fear is exactly what such a client needs. Neither a solution to the problem, nor a constructive dialogue with you - all this is of no use to him. In your arsenal there are a couple of “bombs” that will help neutralize the blackmailer. It is likely that if you react completely differently than he expected, the caller will quickly retreat.

Remember that, no matter what, you are talking to a customer of your company. And clients are the main source of its profit. So try to find a middle ground between the official tone and empathy for the client:

• I understand how much trouble this problem has caused you...
• Let me suggest ways we can make things right...
• I recommend that you (insert the desired action) so that I can immediately suggest you a sequence of further actions...
• I will be glad to help you...
• In order to quickly begin solving the problem, I ask you...

Finally

People get angry for a reason. There is always a specific reason for this. This reason is not you personally or even the problem that your company caused the client. Surely this incident only became the last straw, which launched the explosive mechanism.

Whatever it is, be calm, professional, sincere and always try to do your best to help the person. If you do everything right, even the most dissatisfied customer in the world will change his anger to mercy, thank you and hang up the phone satisfied. And if he doesn’t thank you, then he’s just an ill-mannered rude person.