Customer service is a key element of the user experience. If you don’t make your customers happy, they won’t come back. The importance of customer service has increased in recent years, thanks to social media and review sites like TripAdvisor. Anxious customers are not easy to handle. They tend to be nervous about the smallest things and create an awkward situation for you as an operator. Anxious customers can stress you out and test your patience, but with the right approach, you can manage them effectively without giving up on them completely. Let’s take a look at some ways to handle anxious customers effectively:
Build a good relationship and trust
The foundation of any effective customer service strategy is trust. If you want to handle anxious customers effectively, you need to build a strong relationship of trust with them. There are many ways to build a relationship of trust with your customers, with effective communication being one of the most important. If you’re able to communicate effectively with customers, you can put them at ease and reduce their anxiety. You can communicate a level of expertise and experience with your customers by asking open-ended questions. This lets them know that you’re interested in their needs, which can go a long way toward building trust. Be aware of the tone in your voice, too. If you sound flustered and rushed, it can make customers feel anxious. Calm, slow speech can help customers to feel less stressed.
Don’t take things personally
If a customer gets angry or frustrated, don’t take it personally. Most customers don’t intend to take their stress out on you, but sometimes it happens. When customers are stressed, they often take it out on you, hoping that it will make you more efficient or help you to solve their problem. Take a deep breath, smile and reassure the customer that everything is okay. Try to avoid the urge to get defensive or apologetic. When you take things personally, you can’t think objectively enough to come up with a solution. Remember that it isn’t your fault and take a step back from the situation. If you take things personally, it can lead to careless mistakes and bad decisions.
Stay calm and provide reassurance
If you notice that a customer is becoming anxious, take a step back and focus on reassuring them. Let them know that you’re there to help, even if they are rude or angry. Let them know that you’re aware of their concerns and that you’re working hard to solve them as quickly as possible. Calm customers down and let them know that everything is going to be okay. It can be difficult to stay calm in the middle of a stressful situation, but it’s important to maintain a level head. If you lose your cool, it could make the customer even more anxious and make the situation worse. Stay calm, breathe and use these moments to show customers that you care. Let them know that you’re there to help and that you’re competent and trustworthy.
Escalate only when necessary
If a customer begins to panic or become overly anxious, it might be time to escalate the situation. Escalating means that you are moving the customer to a more senior member of staff or a manager so that they can address the issues at a higher level. Before escalating, make sure that the problem can’t be resolved at a lower level. Your primary goal as a customer service representative must be to solve the problem. If a customer is panicking and not communicating effectively, it can be more difficult to resolve their issue. Escalate when a customer’s anxiety is affecting their ability to communicate clearly and confidently.
Provide a resolution with a follow-up
Make sure that your anxious customers feel reassured and safe with your resolution. Don’t just leave them with a promise that everything will be okay without giving them a way to understand how it will happen. Let them know when you expect the problem to be resolved and how it will be resolved. Follow up with customers afterwards to make sure that they were satisfied with your resolution. This can go a long way toward reassuring customers that your business is legitimate and worth coming back to.
Conclusion
Customer service is a key element of the user experience. If you don’t make your customers happy, they won’t come back. The importance of customer service has increased in recent years, thanks to social media and review sites like TripAdvisor. Anxious customers are not easy to handle. They tend to be nervous about the smallest things and create an awkward situation for you as an operator. Anxious customers can stress you out and test your patience, but with the right approach, you can manage them effectively without giving up on them completely. Follow these tips to handle anxious customers effectively: Build a good relationship and trust, don’t take things personally, stay calm and provide reassurance, and escalate only when necessary.
