Among a multitude of aspects that impact business reputation is the way, you handle complaints and angry clients. Customer service proves company’s money is well spent. And the development of customer loyalty to brands helps companies to thrive.
On the plus side: social media aspires to share experience and client easily becomes a brand advocate, business’ best advertisement. But if this is an angry client, you receive a detractor and negative reviews spread over the internet. Bad promotion is also a promotion. However, the way you respond to dissatisfied customers will impel them what to write.
Naturally, we want to increase the number of brand advocates. To make that happen, support managers should take the course of easy-to-say-hard-to-do steps to turn angry clients into brand supporters.
Who is a brand advocate?
On the whole, a brand advocate is a customer who speaks supportive about a product or service and passes along word of mouth comments and personal experience with the aim to convince others to become clients as well.
Usually, a famous person, retail store associate, a popular person on social media were chosen by vendors. Nowadays the best advocates are the loyal customers. Still, to support service help a lot of people and many companies develop strategies to turn angry, dissatisfied customers into happy, loyal brand advocates.
4 Types of Angry Clients
Working with customer issues daily, you notice that it is impossible to please every customer every time. Despite the quality of your service, clients may have heightened expectation or a rough day, and it becomes challenging to satisfy them. The point is to route situation in the way the angry client will be satisfied with the interaction and get the solution to a problem or question.
Here are four types of angry customers you may have to deal with and a couple of tips on providing them with a valid service:
#1 Aggressive
It doesn’t matter whose fault (yours or customer’s), but this emotional person isn’t ready to listen. Avoid the worsening of the situation and try to understand why this client is so frustrated. It is best to wait when composture comes back, and anger subsides, then apologize and provide the way to fix a problem.
#2 Impatient
Every client wants their issue to get resolved fast regardless of the difficulty. Yey, you shouldn’t set this angry client on the top of the queue because they lose their temper. Start with the explanation why it takes so long to fix the problem, thank for the patience, and try help as quickly as it is possible.
#3 Tongue-tied
This type of customer somewhat difficult than angry, yet you still may encounter them. Their requirements and explanations of a problem are too vague. You need to ask them a lot of questions to figure everything out. Otherwise, they will leave you unhappy, angry, and dissatisfied with the customer service.
#4 Complaining
To alleviate the situation, do your best to solve the problem with this angry client in a single transaction. This will save your time and allow to help other customers as well. However, if this complainer is still dissatisfied, apologize for the situation and offer a solution.
Understand why a client is angry
Before initiating the process of turning an angry client into a brand advocate, you need to find out the reason for the anger. Consider training your support team human psychology and anger management. When customers show their frustration, support agent should have an understanding why they do so.
More than often, anger comes from (a) poor communication and lack of understanding from customer service, and (b) people come to the support team already angry.
Your support staff should go beyond the personal insults and see the opportunity both in addressing customer needs and meeting their expectations. Also, ensure that the support team has adapted the way they interact with angry clients. By gaining the control over the conversation, you will create a win-win situation.
To save yourself a potential headache later, teach your team to:
- ask customers what has made them angry and figure out the previous events. Once you understand the problem, you can find a solution and improve the relationships with these customers.
- figure out what client is looking for: apology, refund, reassurance, etc.
- suggest customers offer their view on the outcome of the situation. The answer may be an adequate solution, or they might ask for the moon. Thus, it is worth to try.
The right ways to turn an angry client into a brand advocate
By crafting a sound customer service strategy, leave some place for developing a holistic approach to making brand advocates from loyal customers. Also, let’s not forget to take care and turn the angry ones into the loyal-promoters. Let’s check five steps to foster an intensely positive and friendly environment.
#1 Show customer that you actually listen to them
Here is the thing: all complaints are similar in one thing - clients’ expectations were not met, and they are upset. In this state of mind, customers are highly emotional, and your immediate way to resolve the issue may upset them even more. Case in point: try to route them into a more agreeable condition.
Dissatisfied customers often look for the understanding from the support manager, and they want to be heard. The fast solution offering will make them feel rather neglected than cared above.
Everyone likes to feel special. Once the client problem is a common one, use the time to make them feel heard. Ask about what had happened and how they feel about this. Either you a first defense or last line of concern escalating, the way you deal with the interaction from the very beginning can be the same for the whole situation.
Besides, you can get more of the complaint - no one will be more honest about the service than an angry client. Plus, there is an opportunity to turn a complainer into a brand advocate. Remember to take notes to analyze the internal processes and consider whether they require some improvement.
#2 Delight your unhappy customers
Sometimes causes for client’s complaints are inevitable and may be difficult to resolve. To convert your angry customer into a loyal one, you can always develop a solution to make a client happy. Addressing customer needs make them feel respected and important. Exceeding their expectations becomes a foundation for customer loyalty.
Turning angry clients into brand advocates will impact your business, and they will come back to you over again because of your way to address arising problems. So, your company will be distinguished among the market competition.
#3 Safeguard negative mentions about your brand
Before the digital era came to us, there was spread a so-called formula: a dissatisfied customer will share the poor experience with ten friends. Nowadays such a nasty experience can be shared instantly with literally thousands of people. To be honest, the negative comments get more viral than the positive ones.
Be sticky: delight unhappy customers and make them loyal. Don’t escalate unresolved complaints. If clients post the interaction details to social media, more unhappy customers join the conversation, and negative sentiment will grow. There is a clear takeaway here: provide an excellent customer experience and make your customer feel heard so that you will diminish the negative publicity.
#4 Establish a positive reputation
There is no easy way to gain a positive reputation. But think this way: if an angry client gets a satisfactory issue fixing, then they become even more loyal than customers who haven’t suffer any issue. Once transformed into brand advocates, they cast your brand in the favorable light.
Remember, your devotion to offering quality service and listening to clients will pay off in dividends: repeat customers and free advertising of your outstanding service.
#5 Grip the opportunities to become a better service
Your unhappy client has become loyal and satisfied. Good job! But it is not the end. The trick is in how you use notes and information about your business from this previously angry customer. Now in your hands pointing to potential problems other of your clients may suffer from, so you have an opportunity to address these weak spots before they become a mass issues.
Summarizing
Keep calm. This is the secret of the outstanding customer service with hundreds of brand advocates. Always show empathy and listen to client’s problem. Make every customer feel special and cared, and your efforts will pay off. So, the next time an angry client ‘knocks’ on your live chat, call or send email, you will say ‘Thank you for reaching out’ and really mean this.
