CALMING THE STORM:

CUSTOMER
COMPLAINT
CONTACTS
How do you resolve an issue?
Here are seven-steps for an effective problem-solving process.
Identify the issues. Be clear about what the problem is. ...
Understand everyone's interests. ...
List the possible solutions (options) ...
Evaluate the options. ...
Select an option or options. ...
Document the agreement(s). ...
Agree on contingencies, monitoring, and evaluation
 They contact you and ask for
something impossible to do. Let’s say
that they were informed that your
company will be cutting their phone
1. Understanding the customer’s line for non-payment. Now this
So, here’s the customer.
point of view customer is asking you to credit the
last couple of invoices because they
don’t have money (this is a real
request I’ve got when I was working
in call center).

A regular person’s first thought would Maybe a customer is a fraud, but

be: “are they nuts?” But you are not a maybe they are in a very bad situation
regular person. You’re a Support Hero and desperately need help. You can’t
It’s not your job to judge their
 and it’s your job to save the tell what’s right and what’s wrong at
motives.
customer’s day. Negative thinking this stage, so you should assume that
won’t get you any closer to the the customer is not a fraud and you
solution. should assist them.

You need to listen actively to

understand the problem and find a
way you can help.
 Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a
purchase. The perception of success of such interactions is dependent on employees "who
can adjust themselves to the personality of the guest". [1] Customer service concerns the
CUSTOMER priority an organization assigns to customer service relative to components such as product
SERVICE innovation and pricing. In this sense, an organization that values good customer service
may spend more money in training employees than the average organization or may
proactively interview customers for feedback.
Identifying a problem

Sometimes customers are not able to clearly explain what is wrong and it’s completely normal. They don’t know your
processes or your jargon; they just know that they’ve had expectations towards your product or services and are
disappointed now.
It’s your job to restore their faith in your company, but first, you need to find out where the problem is.
Here are few questions that can help you troubleshoot. Sometimes thanks to
these simple questions you’re able to see that there is an outage or that a
faulty batch of products was sent out by a manufacturer!

Can you describe exactly the problem you’re having?

When did the problem begin?

Has the problem occurred before?

And now ask yourself:
Are all users affected or only one?
Has anyone had this problem before?
Once a customer replies to all your questions, summarize answers back to
them. It will let them know that you understand them and will help you to
verify the facts.
If you haven’t heard about such a Customers appreciate getting the correct But instead of saying an awful “sorry but We’re going to resolve this case for you. I
problem, or you’re not sure what to do, answer, even if it will take a bit longer. I’ll have to transfer you to the other will transfer you to a specialist who’s the
apologize briefly and inform that you department”, try to say: best person to answer your question.
need to discuss this case with your
colleague or supervisor. Try to sound self-
confident and don’t be afraid to ask a
customer to hold on a minute.
 Find a solution
 Make a good use of your analytical thinking and try to find out a solution
that will suit your customer the best.
 Here are a few questions that should help you to plan a solution:
 is there an adequate staff to carry it out,
 who will be involved in solution,
 how much time will a solution take (time frame),
 what is needed to make it happen,
 who should be informed about the planned solution,
 how will a customer be notified about the solution.
 Even if you’re dealing with a case that’s not going along
with your company’s policy, there is always something you
can suggest.
 Let’s take the example with a customer asking for a
refund.
 Even if your company’s policy won’t let you credit these
charges, there is still something you can do.
 you can inform the customer that you cannot credit the bill,
but you can split the payment into a couple of smaller
payments so that the customer could afford it,
 you can postpone the suspension of the account so the
client can use the phone,
 you can check the customer’s account and suggest
changing price plan to a cheaper one.
One unreasonable request and three possible solutions that
depend on your creativity!
But what will happen if you are not the one who can solve
the problem?
First of all, you might need to open a ticket.
You need to make sure that this ticket doesn’t get lost in
your CRM’s oblivion, so you need to assign it to yourself
and monitor if it’s resolved in time. If the problem is not
solved in 24 hours, you might want to contact the customer
and inform them that you’re still working on a problem.
Sometimes the problem cannot be solved at all. Your
company stopped selling the particular product, you don’t
have a gluten-free option in your restaurant’s menu, a
customer wants to use a feature that doesn’t exist…
 SOMETIMES THE IT DOESN’T MEAN THAT IF YOU’RE NOT SELLING MAKING AN EXTRA MILE HERE’S AN EXAMPLE
PROBLEM CANNOT BE YOU CAN’T STILL FIND A THESE GEAR BAGS, LET CAN TRANSLATE INTO FROM OUR EXPERIENCE.
SOLVED AT ALL. YOUR POSSIBLE SOLUTION! THE CUSTOMER KNOW CUSTOMER MY COLLEAGUE, JUSTYNA
COMPANY STOPPED WHO DOES IT. IF YOU HAPPINESS EVEN IF YOU , HAS RECEIVED A CHAT
SELLING THE PARTICULAR DON’T HAVE ANYTHING DON’T SOLVE THE FROM A CUSTOMER UPSET
PRODUCT, YOU DON’T GLUTEN-FREE IN YOUR PROBLEM THE WAY WITH THE FACT THAT OUR
HAVE A GLUTEN-FREE MENU, ASK THE CUSTOMER EXPECTED APPLICATION DOESN’T
OPTION IN YOUR CUSTOMER IF THEY WANT YOU TO DO. HAVE AN IN-BUILT
RESTAURANT’S MENU, A SOMETHING FROM THE SCREEN-SHARING AND
CUSTOMER WANTS TO USE NEAREST SHOP. SCREENSHOT-MAKING
A FEATURE THAT DOESN’T TOOL.
EXIST…
 Sometimes your solution
will not resolve the cause
of the problem. Let’s say
that customer had an issue
with the application and
At last! The customer has
you’ve suggested restarting
agreed on a solution.
the device. It is possible
Fix the problem and You’ve briefly apologized Unfortunately, it’s not that
that it will resolve the
follow up on the solution for the problem and now simple.
problem, but it’s more
you can fix it and close the
likely that this customer
case, right?
will come back to you. And
it’s more probable that
they’ll be upset that the
solution you gave them did
not work.
I know, when working in customer service, you hardly have time to go for a
break and I’m asking you to follow up your customer’s problems, right?
But there are positives of spending a bit of your time on contacting these
customers back.
you show that you really care about them and create an awesome
experience,
you make sure you won’t get a call or chat from a furious customer,
you check if your solution worked and will be sure of it next time.
And if you don’t have time to make any calls or send any emails, there are two
things you can do. The first thing is, some apps allow you to send automatic emails
after a ticket is solved (LiveChat does that, for example, you can test it and try).

But your team can also make use of an automatic survey that will tell you how
happy the customer was and if you’ve helped to solve his problem. You can use
SurveyMonkey, Typeform, or you can simply send a template of a message asking
two questions:

did we help you to solve your problem?

can you rate your overall experience (1-10)?

Customers will appreciate it!

Problem solving is a mindset, not an ability
If you’ve read my post about problem solving skills, you remember the
golden rule of customer service. Even when the problem does not concern
your product, you can still create an amazing customer experience by
suggesting a possible solution.
Because this is what is customer service for. For solving problems, not for
telling what customers want to hear.
So as long as you don’t give up, use the advice I’ve shared with you and
think positive – there will be no problem you can’t solve.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
SKILLS OF GREAT
CUSTOMER SERVICE
AGENTS
Smile, literally

Smiles translate through the phone but

should be used at appropriate times. You
don't want your customer service to come off
as inauthentic, but you should still always be
cordial during conversations. Smile as you
would in a face-to-face conversation while
responding to questions and conveying
necessary information.
Mirror a customer's’ Part of the job in customer
language and tone service is mirroring a
customer's language and
tone. Mirroring another
person’s language and tone
can help create a
connection. That said, if a
customer is angry, you don’t
want to copy their
frustration. Instead, you can
try increasing your volume
just a little and then quickly
work to bring the intensity
down a notch. Customers
respond well when the help
they're receiving is coming
from someone who's clearly
level-headed.
 LISTEN FIRST, THEN WHEN CUSTOMERS ARE
VALIDATE THE PROBLEM UPSET OR FRUSTRATED,
THEY MIGHT NOT BE ABLE
TO TAKE IN WHAT YOU
SAY—EVEN IF IT’S THE
RIGHT ANSWER. LISTEN
FIRST, LET THEM CALM
DOWN, AND THEN TRY TO
HELP SOLVE THEIR
PROBLEMS. EMPATHY IS A
CRUCIAL ABILITY IN
CUSTOMER SERVICE, SO
MAKE SURE YOU KNOW
EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE
SHOWING EMPATHY
TOWARDS.
. Acknowledge the Customers need to feel
customer heard, so tell them that you
understand the reason for
their call. They'll appreciate
the touch of empathy and
it'll go a long way towards
making an angry customer's
experience much better.
Customer service that
accurately recognizes what
ails the customer comes off
as more human and reflects
well on the company.
 Summarize your help

You’ve got to listen to a customer's

problems in order to repeat
information to them with supportive
language, and do so in a way that
summarizes the help that you’re
providing them. Being able to
adequately communicate all that
you’re doing to help is a top job skill
for customer service agents.
. COMMUNICATE HOLD EVEN IF YOU’VE JUST
TIMES HANDLED A CALL
REALLY WELL, YOU CAN
LOSE A CUSTOMER BY
LEAVING THEM ON
HOLD FOR TOO LONG.
THIS IS ESPECIALLY
TRUE IF YOU HAVEN’T
SET THEIR
EXPECTATIONS FIRST—
IT WILL MAKE THEM
FEEL LIKE THEIR
QUESTIONS DON'T
MATTER, AND
ULTIMATELY REFLECTS
POORLY ON YOUR
CUSTOMER SERVICE
AND YOUR COMPANY'S
REPUTATION.
Be considerate of timeframes

Emails, especially a first response, need to be

answered within a defined timeframe. A great email
support agent will prioritize their responses by
urgency and how long they’ve been sitting for. There's
a chance your customer was spoiled during the sales
process and expects similar treatment in customer
service—having a great customer service platform will
help make that responsibility easier.
 Determine if something
should be handled
Social media by
contacts
support or another
occasionally walk a line
department
between something that
should be handled by
support and something
that should be handled by
marketing. It's an
important skill that an
agent will know what
should be a ticket and
what should be forwarded
to another team.