The psychology of working with angry customers... pt. 1

Lets talk about working with angry people. Which I unfortunately have a lot of experience of.
I can't think when I have had a week when an upset customer hasn't called and berated me for something that doesn't work or is broken. I however always manage to end the call with the customer happy and thanking me for help. During my time in the industry I haven't received a single complaint about my conduct during support calls.

Working in customer service IT-field usually consists of 40% of working with broken machines and 60% of working with broken people. Yes, over half of the job is about psychology and some times body-language. To diffuse a volatile situation with upset client is almost as important as knowing how to fix the actual problem.

Here is a small list of things I do to keep my customers pleased during a call:

1. Listen. During a call use active listening method to communicate to your client that you are actually listening to him and that you care.
2. Small talk. Try to read the situation by making small talk during down time (reboot, installation). Ask the customer a non-business question like "How is weather there by the way?" This way you take clients attention from the problem while you fix it and put your self out as a human, not some mindless helpdesk drone.
3. KEEP CALM. Staying calm and friendly especially when your customer is screaming at you.
   Keeping a calm, friendly voice will make the screamer feel bad. After all, you wont enable his rage. Just remember to keep asking questions about the issue.
4. Explain. Explaining the situation helps always even if the client doesn't understand. Explaining things makes the customer feel like you take him seriously and that you don't think him as a burden or an idiot. 

Talking face to face with an angry person is always hard and some times intimidating.

Here are some tricks I use while talking to a client:

1. Body-language. Try to act as un-agitated as possible. Don't let the customer think that you are scared of him. I know it sounds silly, we're not on Savannah, right? The thing is that most of the time face to face communication consists of subconscious messages that you send to your customer. These messages can of course be used to your advantage. Here are some tips.
2. Try to explain. Explain the situation as best as yo can to the customer. What went wrong. Why did it go wrong? What course of action will you do and why.

That is it. Just keep calm and remember. The client is not screaming to you they are screaming at your company.

Next time: We will tamper with evolution!