A tremendous amount of time, money, and energy is invested in corporate America teaching customer service reps and other associates how to avoid, reduce, and remedy conflicts with customers. Examine the classes offered by giants in the training industry, and youll always seem to find something pertaining to Dealing With Conflict & Difficult Customers. Its an appealing title, to be sure, and robust registrations will support such offerings. But its all based on a faulty premise: That the major impediment that needs to be addressed, remedied, overcome, is dealing with angry people. What if customers arent angry? Wouldnt this make most of these efforts misguided, if not utterly wasted? Wouldnt that mean were prescribing the wrong medicine for what ails us, and them? Consider this alternative explanation. When customers call in, using a loud voice, expressing themselves in fits and starts, and even taking personal swipes at CSRs, these people are not angry. Theyre afraid. If theyre afraid, they need reassurance. Like a child who hears a disturbing sound in the night, customers need to be comforted; to be told that theyll be protected, that theyre safe. They dont need to be engaged in a debate about whether theres something lurking out there. You can appeal to that rational side of the brain all you want, and you wont put a petrified kid at ease. You dont have a conflict with your child. Your interests are identical. Youre on the same team! While the child may be expressing herself aggressively, that is her defensive reaction to fear. It makes no sense to attack her defense; that will just obscure the underlying problem, even more. So, does this mean conflicts dont exist? They exist, but we need to define them, properly. Conflicts are misunderstandings and disagreements about facts. The customer who says she sent in her charge card payment on time, and the rep who disputes that, are in a state of conflict. But beneath that, is the fear, fostered by the client that shell be wrongly charged late fees and finance charges. Assure her right away that youll waive any unexpected penalties, and the conflict becomes moot. Suddenly, nobody cares about proving whether the customer did or didnt send in her payment. The key is to look through anger to determine the underlying fear. Be a good customer-doc. Go beneath the symptom, to the real problem. Then, apply the proper care and cure. |
