I am reading how one very mean call center agent handles his problems. Some agents are tired of dealing with rude clients. But, it seems to be a common theme that police officers, administrators and call center agents have unkind ways of dealing with people they are sick of.
1. If a customer is rude, the agent would soften his voice. The more rude the customer became, the softer the agent’s voice would become.
2. If the customer demands rush service, put them at the back of the line.
3. If they are complaining angrily about verification steps, he adds a few extra steps.
4. Regardless of how many times they have called in, he starts at the beginning of the troubleshooting process — is your computer turned on? Is the electricity working in your building? etc.
5. If the customer is screaming, that is an opportunity to unplug the connection and blame it on internet faliure — ooops!
6. A few good open ended technical questions will make an angry customer realize what an idiot they are without you having to tell them.
7. When they interrupt me, I stop speaking until they are forced to ask if I am still there.
As an admin person myself, I am tired of rude clients over the phone. I have several ways of penalizing bad customers on one of my directories. I keep track of their poor communication skills or anger in a database. I keep track of who asks me to repeat regularly, who cannot answer a question without telling me far too much inconsequential information, who argues, who doesn’t know what they are talking about and who gives roundabout vague answers. I also keep track of who refuses to talk to me and who refuses to answer simple questions.
We all have our ways of getting back at bad customers. But, as customer service people, we are in business to help customers and not help ourselves. So, try to be nice to people even if they aren’t willing to be nice to you.
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