Timeline for How to handle incompetent/aggressive customers incapable of describing a problem?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Feb 20, 2018 at 19:08 | comment | added | Dan Pichelman | @ToddWilcox - good point. I was assuming a paraphrase, but didn't specifically mention it. | |
| Feb 20, 2018 at 19:06 | history | edited | Dan Pichelman | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
clarified repeat back should be a paraphrase
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| Feb 20, 2018 at 19:05 | comment | added | Todd Wilcox | I think you have to be very careful about repeating back what the customer says. Obviously, you can't do that verbatim. During the initial phase, validating their emotions is a great way to show that you are listening and hearing them. Reading their emotions or their problem back to them after interpreting and rewording them really shows you are listening. So yes, reading back is good, but not verbatim. "I click on the thing and it goes black" followed by "Ok you click on the thing and it goes black" sounds more like condescension than anything else. | |
| Feb 20, 2018 at 19:02 | comment | added | Todd Wilcox | @Orphevs "how to save time and reduce friction" It's counter-intuitive that you have to burn time up front to reduce friction so that you can get things on the right track and then move forward much more quickly. Trying to move faster than the customer will increase friction and actually slow things way down. Your emotional state is not as important to the customer as their emotional state is. The only reason you want to stay calm is to help them become calm. But you being calm yourself isn't enough. | |
| Feb 20, 2018 at 15:16 | comment | added | Orphevs | Thank you for your answer Dan. Sadly, the conversations are way longer, and I can't let other customers wait that long. There also is no time to talk about personal matters. All of the problems my question is about are X-Ys, because the customers unintendedly obfuscate the real issue. My question is not about how to handle X-Ys, but how to save time and reduce friction when working with those customers. I do not take conversations at work personally, and can keep conversations regardless of my emotional state. Dismissing complaints is easy; fixing problems with that is not possible. | |
| Feb 20, 2018 at 14:51 | history | answered | Dan Pichelman | CC BY-SA 3.0 |