Angry Customers

Dealing with angry or upset customers can be challenging for even the most experienced employee. The good news is, with the right strategies and skills, you can become more effective in defusing angry customers in the workplace.

As I begin to write this article, I can’t help but reflect on my own 20 years of work experience, all of which started as a check-out chic I remember some grumpy clientele in that role and thinking, what on earth did these customers expect? Valet service?

Rude and irate customers can ruin the moods of many hard-working frontline employees, regardless of whether it’s over the phone or face-to-face Luckily, there are steps that any employee can take to deal with angry customers, clients, or patients

A useful tool that employees can use is the Behaviour Curve from Behavioural Psychology, which looks at understanding when to intervene during people’s challenging behaviour

The behaviour curve looks at seven specific phases: calm, trigger, agitation, acceleration, peak, de-escalation, and recovery

If we think of a rude customer, they may be having a bad day before they turned up in front of you, or something you said or did may have triggered them That's the first phase

Then there is the agitation, and then the acceleration of rude, obnoxious, inconsiderate, or just inpatient behaviour. Then we arrive at the peak – this is the explosion or the worst of it Once they have got that out of their system, the customer will wind down, and go through the de-escalation and (hopefully) recovery phases.

What you do and say will affect the customer’s progression through each phase it can impact whether there is a full 'explosion' that escalates to the peak phase, or whether you managed to de-escalate the situation by responding early

If you fail to take positive action, the customer might end up 'exploding'. This could be potentially quite upsetting for you or even dangerous The person may get personal and attack you, either verbally, emotionally, or even physically.

So, it's in your best interest to learn how to deal with an irate or just displeased customer before they get to this point.

The key to maintaining calm (in the face of another’s bad behaviour) is what you are thinking at the moment Maintaining your own calm is essential to managing the situation well

Avoid taking the customer’s bad behaviour personally. This can lead to you emotionally unravelling and handling the situation in a less-than-ideal way Just think to yourself, ‘they are in a bad mood’, breathe, and psychologically brace yourself for the ride Imagine them going up the behaviour curve and try to work out where they are. You may be able to get in early enough to avoid the explosion

Put on your customer service charm, and ask questions such as “Oh sorry, is there any way I can help?” Be curious and ask what is bothering them These questions help you identify the person’s apparent grievance Quickly problem-solve if you can potentially appease your customer in some simple way, to improve their mood or demeanour

Watch for their body language and listen to their voice, both their rate, pitch, and tone You can probably tell if they are escalating or calming down If it’s too late to intervene or the customer is not responding to your customer service charm, it may be best to let the customer ride out the behaviour curve, as intervening during the peak phase may be dangerous

Think of your own safety Are you close to an exit? Can you discretely obtain some assistance from a senior colleague?

Just the presence of such a team member (proximity) and the fact the customer may now be outnumbered (or what I like to call social capital), may be enough for the customer to back down, and, hopefully, go away and let you get on with the rest of the day

Another point to remember is that the person’s bad behaviour may have nothing to do with you.

Anger is associated with blaming others (such as you, in the customer service role), and often under the circumstances, blaming yourself is the customer being completely unreasonable.

Avoid arguing with an unreasonable person, as you could get hurt or scarred Instead, use those customer service charms to avoid conflict.

We hope this little thought bubble is food for thought and will assist you to get through those tricky interactions at work unscathed. Remember to enjoy your work, do it well, and get home in one piece

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