How to deal with difficult customers

Dealing with difficult customers is a part of every contact centre agents day. Difficult customers can be defined by their tone, their language or the problem.

What has surprised us through our research is the lack of training agents and team leaders receive on how to deal with difficult customers to ensure there is a satisfactory resolution for all parties involved.

The cost to a business in unresolved customer disputes can be huge. We have all heard the "multiply it by 11" scenario. Those of us in business just can't afford to get a bad reputation, especially when the solution is tangible. Just what are your agents telling your customers and how do they placate a customer or prospect without giving away hard earned company revenue.

Some might say the answer is just plain common sense and in some cases they would be right. But aren't most things common sense? If that was true then a lot of training companies would go out of business. Sales Managers wouldn't have a job, there would be no need for coaching, mentoring and who would need the reports based on productivity - surely then it isn't just common sense.

E-learning is the perfect platform to deliver soft-skill training within contact centres and one of many modules to be developed by CallCentre People is "Dealing with difficult customers". This was selected by numerous callcentres in a recent poll taken by CallCentre People Ltd as an essential skill needed by agents and team leaders that could potentially save the company thousands of dollars.

I'm sure you are providing training to your agents on how to work the CRM Systems and product information but are you equipping them with all the skills and information to truly represent your company professionally. Do you provide this type of training in an agents first week or two of working with you and then never again. This e-learning module can be used as a total training solution for this subject or as a refresher for existing agents.

Check it out at www.callcentrepeople.co.nz and select the e-learning page for more information. If you like what you see why not register for the training, or if you would like to set up training for more than 5 agents in your organisation please contact CallCentre People who can set up group pricing and invoicing for you.