Handling Irate Customers 105: Saying No Without Getting Punched Out
1. Review the Principles Driving Your Team’s Customer Service Mission
2. Introduce the Lesson
SCRIPT: Let’s face it: Sometimes we just can’t give customers what they want and so we haven’t any choice but to say no. However, if we say this bluntly, we may trigger even more anger in the already irate customer. Today you’ll learn how to deal with such a situation by developing “option skills.” These skills can be used whenever we have to say no politely and professionally, but they are particularly important to use with irate customers.
LEADER’S NOTE:
3. Explain and Discuss the Skill(s) to Practice
SCRIPT: What are option skills? They are problemsolving tactics based on two things:
• First, a thorough knowledge of the alternatives. What can we offer when we can’t give customers what they want? And I really mean “can’t” because we’re bound by necessary policies, regulations, and restrictions.
• Second, these tactics are based on positioning statements that help us say no professionally by communicating that we’re really offering assistance, not resistance.
Today we’ll focus on the alternatives and the positioning statements that you know already exist in the business. These are additions to our “always say” lists from past training.
LEADER’S NOTE: You may want to discuss alternatives during the next team meeting if it becomes obvious your team has knowledge gaps. That discussion may result in another information tool.
For this lesson, do a sentence-completion exercise with the “always say” list, focusing on one statement at a time. Offer an example of an alternative to a product, service, policy, regulation, and so on. Then ask your team to add others. Advance to the next statement and repeat the process.
Here are two examples:
• “We don’t want to make promises we can’t deliver. Here’s what we can do: We can have that item delivered to your home by 6:00 p.m. on Friday.”
• “We don’t want to make promises we can’t deliver.
Here’s what we can do: I’ll contact my manager to find out what leverage I have to reduce the price and give you a volume discount.”
SCRIPT: These positioning statements involve more than saying the right words—you must also be aware of your tone of voice, your eye contact, and your body language. Does your tone, eyes, and body say, “I can’t
wait to get rid of you?” Or do they project a sincere interest in resolving the situation? The words are important, but equally important is how you deliver them.
Do customers hear and see “Go away”? Or do they hear and see “Yes, I can help you”? Let’s practice that right now.
4. Conduct a Team Activity
LEADER’S NOTE: Using your business as the background, create three or four scenarios in which irate customers can’t find what they want or don’t like what you have in stock. If available, use video clips that would fit this theme. Have the team practice responses, paying particular attention to their tone of voice, eye contact, and body language. Coach them on projecting the “Yes, I can help you” attitude.
5. Set Goals for the Week
LEADER’S NOTE: Tell members to find as many opportunities this week as possible to practice positioning statements with customers and one another. Ask peer leaders to role-play scenarios with each team member
and, if video equipment is available, to tape the role-plays. Videotape will allow members to check their tone of voice, eye contact, and body language.
6. Assign Accountability for Follow-Up
LEADER’S NOTE: All members are accountable for practicing. Ask them to be prepared to report their experiences at the next meeting. In addition to this (or optionally), select video clips of individual training sessions as examples of “dos and don’ts.”
7. Announce Contest and Prizes
LEADER’S NOTE: Determine whether a contest is applicable for this session.
Announce the Final Exam
After you have presented and reinforced the five-part “Handling Irate Customers” series, announce a “final exam.” Depending on the team’s size and the testing format you choose, the exam may fill one or more team
meetings. Here are some possibilities:
• Give a written test with questions such as:
— What are the four calming skills? Give examples of how you’ve used them this past month.
— How do you acknowledge a customer’s anger?
— Give examples of how to say no professionally. How have you used those examples during the past month?
— What are some of the “never says,” particularly when you’re dealing with an angry customer? What are some alternatives?
• Give an oral exam in which you ask members to respond to questions like those above in front of their peers.
• Engage each member in a role-play in front of the entire team.
— Ask peer leaders to prepare scripts and play irate customers with various complaints.
— Set up the scenarios in such a way that each member has an opportunity to practice several of the tactics they learned.
— Examples of scenarios: “A customer has just walked in, angry with a purchase he made. You’re the first one to approach him. What do you do? What do you say?” “Imagine you have already acknowledged the feelings of an irate customer who was given misinformation about a product or service. What do you do next? What do you say?”
— Allow 5 to 6 minutes per team member, videotape them, offer coaching on the spot, and use videos for follow-up coaching sessions.
Whatever method you choose, make final-exam time fun, upbeat, and meaningful. Also use it as an opportunity for recognition, rewards, and celebration.
Handling Irate Customers 105: Saying No Without Getting Punched Out
Option Skills
1. Alternatives
• What are the alternatives?
• How do we position them?
Remember: Assist. Don’t resist.
2. Positioning Statements
Always say:
• “We don’t want to make promises we can’t deliver. Here’s what we can do: ...”
• “Here is a possibility ...”
• “You can ...”
• “We do have ...”
• “I’ll check into this right now, and get back to you before ...”
• “There is an alternative: ...”
• “What options have you already considered that I may be able to assist you with?”
ASSIGNMENT OF THE WEEK
Practice the positioning statements with customers and one another this week. Be aware of your tone of voice, eye contact, and body language. Tape a role-playing session with your peer leader.
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