A customer with an angry or condescending tone can turn the most experienced and professional customer service rep into a mass of negative emotions.
In the April edition of Customer Communicator, the training and motivation newsletter for frontline reps, consultant Natalie Wolfson shares four techniques reps can use to keep their cool with customers.
Recognizing your emotional triggers — things that result in losing control of your behavior — is the first step. When you hear a trigger (such as a condescending tone of voice), acknowledge it for what it is, pause for a moment, take a deep breath, and allow yourself to refocus on the customer and not on the trigger.
As you refocus, keep this thought in mind:
“My role is to help this person feel better in spite of how they are making me feel.”
More on controlling negative emotions appears in the April issue of Customer Communicator.