On Handling Irate Clients

Handling irate clients is an everyday thing for BPO companies especially call centers. Customer support representatives / account managers / technical support / etc. handle angry people requesting for support or simply ill-mannered individuals who say bad words in every sentence that comes out of their mouths. This is why some people prefer not to bother considering opportunities in the BPO industry because it takes more than just personality to be able to handle such stress on an everyday basis. It takes a certain skill that enables so-called emotional barriers to protect them from verbal onslaughts and other forms of stress. 

I was thinking about this last night after I got off from a call with a very angry client. While our company is not a BPO company nor a call center, we still deal with clients needing support for the products and services we offer. And since we are an Internet company, that also goes that half of the time, we deal with foreigners as well. As a product manager, I only deal with calls that are considered “critical and urgent”; those elevated to my attention by the head of the customer support department. Most of these clients are very pissed off. After sorting out last night’s highlight debacle with an American client, I got into thinking how much stress our customer support department is facing everyday and all the crap these impolite clients throw at them.

On such occasions, I’d employ a strategy taught to me back in college. “Take the H.E.A.T.” is the magic formula in dealing with angry clients, partners, or any other common Joe who simply wants to say bad about your product, service or whatever it is that you’re handling.

“H” stands for “Hear them out“. Listening to the aggravated party’s concerns will enable you to fully understand the situation and will help you craft your action to resolve the matter. Many managers fail to solve problems simply because they failed to listen to what others are saying and base their decisions on what “they believe is right” and what is “tried and tested”. Many of them fail to realize that while there are usual situations with usual solutions, there will always be unusual situations that require unusual solutions as well. The ability to listen will allow the manager to gather as much information about the problem.

“E” stands for “Empathize“. A good manager would not only listen to get facts about the problem. Putting yourself in the position of the aggravated party will allow you to handle the situation better and craft a more effective solution. Problems are not always technical. There’s always an emotional and a co-related factor that is infused with the situation. For example, if your company is handling an email service and the email servers goes down, clients will not only be pissed off at the fact that they can’t send or receive mail. They’d be be more likely to be pissed off at the fact that they’re losing business for not being able to send or receive mail. The ability to recognize such factors will help the manager to handle the situation more effectively.

“A” stands for “Apologize“. Express your apologies accordingly. They’re pissed off for a reason. Just say sorry. Even if it’s not your fault. Trust me, they want to hear you say it. And it’s only professional that you do so. So just say it. It will make things lighter. It’s a psychological thing. 

“T” stands for “Take action“. Of course. Isn’t this what it’s all about? : )

I hope this formula helps you as much as it has helped me. I’ve been dealing with angry people for more than 4 years  now. Believe me, you’ll get a hang of it. The key thing here is you don’t get pissed yourself. If he throws words about your mother and calls you names you don’t even recognize, keep your cool. Just be a negotiation samurai and follow the ways of the Force. You’ll solve problems like eating pancakes on a rainy morning.