Handling Challenging Customers: 1 or 2 Day Programme

Handling Challenging customers.

Who this course is aimed at

Telephone centre staff who interact with customers over the telephone.

Course aim

To provide delegates with vital tools and techniques to effectively handle challenging callers i.e. aggressive, upset, and demanding callers who are potentially in a vulnerable situation and require immediate action.

By the end of the training event, delegates will have:

  1. Identified their own personality type, their strengths and possible weakness in handling challenging customers.
  2. Examined people’s rights and agreed on the fact that customers have a right to be upset and angry; it’s their job to handle it well.
  3. Identified different customer emotions through their words, voice and behaviour towards us.
  4. Agreed on ways to defuse customer emotion and take control of the call.
  5. Identified the behaviours in us which antagonise callers and escalate customer emotion to greater levels.
  6. Examined and practised steps to reassure and build trust in the customer through:
    – Showing empathy and understanding, calming the customer, and letting them know they are in safe hands.
    – Using the caller’s name, and giving their own.
    – Certainly phrases to build trust.
    – Verbal signposting to manage expectations and take control.
  7. Practised using power words and positive language to maintain customer emotion and boost confidence in the caller.
  8. Explored and practised ways of saying no assertively, utilising the broken record technique and empathy where necessary.
  9. Explored and practised ways of improving how they sound over the telephone.
  10. Agreed on ways of staying confident and motivated to helping callers, manage their own stress to a healthy level.

Pre course activity

To achieve maximum payback from this learning event, participants will be asked to complete a self-assessment questionnaire around how they naturally handle confrontation and challenging situations. This will help delegates understand how they may naturally react in challenging situations versus how they should react to control the situation.

Key areas covered

  • Analysis of pre-course work, and identification of personality types.
  • The impact of different personality types on customer situations.
  • Individual trigger points – acceptable and unacceptable tolerance levels.
  • Human Rights.
  • The OK Corrale: Behaving assertively to influence the customer.
  • Identifying different customer emotions through their words, voice and behaviour.
  • Signs of aggression/mental illness/vulnerability in customers.
  • Taking control of the interaction through:
    – The use of emotional intelligence to empathise with the customer to show understanding & defuse emotion.
    – The use of ‘certainly phrases’ to reassure and build confidence in the customer.
    – The use of ‘verbal signposting’ to manage customer expectations & build trust.
  • How the Customer’s Impression of us is formed through our words and voice.
  • Strong and positive voice skills to show assertion and control.
  • Calming the customer down and responding to their mood:
    – Letting them let off steam.
    – Empathising and showing understanding.
    – Reassuring the customer you are there to help.
  • Using Power Words to boost trust & confidence.
  • Positive language in place of negative to manage the customer’s self-esteem.
  • Saying ‘no’ positively / without saying ‘no’.
  • Best practice steps on terminating a telephone call.
  • Staying confident, managing your stress and not taking it personally.
  • Role play, exercises and case scenarios.
  • Personal action planning.

WHAT TO DO NEXT

This course will be tailored to suit the needs of your people and your own in-house standards
will be included and reinforced during the training.

Please contact find out how this course can help your organisation.

Contact: Neville Beardsmore

Tel: 0121 247 5736 / 07984 030 180

E-mail: neville@cfatraining.co.uk

We look forward to hearing from you.