It was another day of sitting on hold for Jane. She had been waiting for an hour, listening to one boring song after the other. Finally, she hung up and tried again. Once more, there was a long wait before it could become her turn to speak with a customer service agent.

Jane was so frustrated she wanted to scream. She took a deep breath and started over by contacting her local store rather than the company’s toll-free customer service number.

“I’m sorry — for that issue you have to call our customer service line. Be prepared, it’s a long wait. We’re experiencing high call volume,” the local representative said when he answered.

This time Jane angrily hung up without waiting for him to finish his sentence. It didn’t matter that she’d waited all this time – even the local store couldn’t help her promptly and in the manner she had hoped.

For many of us, Jane’s story creates a “been there, done that” response. Just like Jane, you have likely had a similar scenario occur when you were the customer seeking help.

However, when was the last time that you asked yourself an important question: is this a similar experience to the one that your customers are receiving?

This should also lead us to seek additional insight: How do we deal with customer frustration? How can we make customers happy despite their frustrations and our shortcomings?

Our job is to help people. When they call us in a time of need, we must be there to serve them in the manner they have a right to expect. We cannot create distinction if we fail to deliver an Ultimate Customer Experience® to those who want us to be of service to them.

How do you deal with these challenges?

A few strategies:

• Recognize where customers might be coming from when their expectations aren’t met and how your organization may have failed them.
  • Obviously, not everything will go right every time but by displaying empathy to customers — even when their upset isn’t our fault — we can move them from frustrated to engaged.
• Listen to customers — sometimes the problem they first state (for example, an issue with a product) isn’t what really has them agitated.
  • Sometimes a customer’s first response will be frustration but if you listen closely enough, you’ll discover that underneath all that anger is the kernel of a real concern that needs addressing.
    • For example, it might be they felt disrespected by one of your team members. Don’t just hear the problem — listen for the root cause of the dissatisfaction.
  • Acknowledge they aren’t alone. When customers are upset, they often feel like no one cares about them or their problem.
    • One of the best ways to make someone feel better is by letting them know that what happened was an isolated incident, will be corrected, and is not something they should take personally.
    • Apologize to customers when they’re upset. “I’m sorry for the issue you’ve experienced. Is there anything we can do to make it right?” is always a good approach
  • Providing proactive, positive feedback to our customers as often as possible.
  • Act promptly: Follow up as soon as possible with any requests made during your conversation.

Frankly, there’s no excuse for a customer to be exasperated like Jane was from her dissatisfaction in attempting to obtain assistance. However, by taking the proper action, we can move customers from frustration to engagement. It’s an important step towards creating distinction.

If these insights resonated with you, please share it on your social media! And learn more about our Iconic Inner Circle membership program. (https://IconicInnerCircle.com) We’re ready to help you create a plan for success that will help drive you to meet your goals and dramatically increase the value of experiences that your customers receive!