It’s probably every contact center supervisor’s least favorite thing about their job: handling escalated calls. By their very nature, these calls are unpleasant at best, and day ruining at worst. Whether it’s the customer who’s demanding to speak to a supervisor, or the call center agent who has given up trying to solve the problem and is passing the call to you for help, it’s bound to be a challenging conversation. Luckily, there are ways to diffuse the situation and make that escalated call go as smoothly as possible.
Before you take the call, take a moment to prepare yourself mentally for it. If your first reaction to an escalated call is a feeling of dread or even anger about having to speak to this awful, rude person, your attitude will come through in the way you speak – and both you and your customer will get even more upset. Instead, take a deep breath, and realize that no matter how badly they’re behaving right now, the person on the other end of the phone line is just a human being, who has a problem that needs solving in order to feel better. Approaching the conversation in this way will allow you to take the call in problem-solving mode, instead of going on the defensive.
There’s nothing that makes an angry customer angrier than having to repeat their story over and over again to new people who haven’t been briefed on the situation. Make sure that you understand clearly what the problem is, as well as what the agent has already tried. Here as well, it is important to try to separate the person from their problem, and find out what the objective facts of the matter are. Another good idea is to find out what the customer’s mood and tone were at the beginning of the call, and what they are now, to see if you’ll need to do any damage control.
You should come up with two types of goals for this call – a customer satisfaction goal and a problem-solving goal. For the customer satisfaction goal, determine what emotional state the customer will need to be in to accept your offer of a solution. Also, decide how you want the customer to feel about you and your company after your call is over. Then use these goals to guide your words. For the problem-solving goal, decide what resolution you want to have achieved by the end of this call, and then act accordingly.
When you take the call, you should have two things in mind as to how you want to sound to the customer. First of all, you want to come across as positive and confident in your ability to solve this problem, so that the customer can trust you. Secondly, you want to show your concern for the customer, and empathize with their situation, so that they feel understood.
Chad Carden, president of the CardenGroup, a company that inspires effective communication, offers a step-by-step process on how to de-escalate a situation.
Carden’s steps are:
Using these tips and Carden’s process as a basis, you can craft your own de-escalation battle plan. When you get a particularly difficult call, you will have a guide you can follow. You are now ready for any escalated call that comes your way! With just a little preparation, these once dreaded calls can become just another call in your day. And who knows? After turning so many customer frowns upside down, you may just begin to enjoy them.
