So nice to hear this was helpful. Best wishes, Steve

Hi which company you work for

@@mohammedabdulnayeem1633 It's not your bussiness Corp.

Nice

Thanks Sarah! Glad you liked it!

Absolutely my pleasure!

So glad you found value in the message. Best wishes!

Awesome! Glad to hear it helped!

My pleasure, Makita. Thank you for the kind words.

Good luck on the interview!

Outstanding! So glad I could help!

My pleasure, Hannah.

Truly my pleasure!

My pleasure, Ekyn!

My pleasure, Maria.

Just saw this - I am hopeful the interview went well!

If she had let you walk out without an explanation, she would have still lost your business. At least when you were turned away you know why. It was a lose, lose situation for her.

My pleasure - glad you found some value in it.

Thank you, Gidget. I'm glad you found it helpful. Best wishes!

Glad you enjoyed it

You're welcome, Alisa. Glad you found it useful. Best wishes, Steve

Thank you, Judy!

My pleasure and Congratulations on the new gig!

Good luck! You got this!

My pleasure!

Thank you so much for the kind words. Glad you found the video helpful.

Recently, our Reservation System PMS had a little glitch, it caused over-booking. So there were many bookings have to be cancelled. most of customers are easy to handle and they understood the situation, while few customers were questioning, and saying they were told lies. If you were me, how would you handle these angry customers and let them know we were really suffering technical issues.

While it's hard to answer with specifics without being involved directly, my basic approach would be the following: 1. I would start the conversation with an apology and fully take the blame: "My apologies, Mrs. Jones, but it looks like our reservation system malfunctioned last night and we overbooked you and many other valued customers." 2. Then, I would be sure to immediately provide the customers with their options or our solutions: "The good news is that we will be able to accommodate you and your party the following week ..." (Or whatever solution we can provide.) 3. Finally, I would thank them for their understanding: "Our technology team tells us the malfunction has been fixed and that it will not recur. That said, I am so grateful for your understanding; thank you." Moreover, I would try my best to get all 3 points made before the customer explodes. If they do explode, then I'm going to sit and wait patiently while they vent... then go back to my 3 points. I'm hopeful this helps - sorry to hear about the malfunction... Best wishes, Steve

Much appreciated Steve. eventually we accommodated the overbooked guests to partnership properties by paying extra costs. anyway, your tips are valuable to me, and I will try them one day probably. warm regards,

That's awesome! 😂

Nice

Excellent! Glad to hear that!

Glad you found the videos - best of luck in the new gig.

@@SalesTrainer thank you so much 😊

Good point. They can change the background so he's about to be eaten by a shark, that would be cool. Maybe the Hindenburg going down in flames.

Lol 😂 i didnt realize it 2 after i read your comment

My pleasure!

My pleasure!

Thank you. Glad you liked it!

Best wishes on the interview!

Glad you think so! And thank you!

Happy to help! Thank you for the kind words. Best wishes, Steve

You can do it!

Thank you, Mohamed, for the kind words! Best wishes!

Edit: Except 10:30 onwards, sorry.

This also sounds like poor management from the company. Not entirely your fault. It sucks that it’s not understood that way

Fadi A 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Lmaooo that’s the first thing I thought when he said that

Absolutely! Glad you like the material.

Glad this was helpful, Mohamed. When it comes to money (whether a refund, a return, product damage or simply a due bill), each business must decide for themselves what makes the most sense in the long run. This means you sometimes let a customer take advantage of you if it means keeping them as a paying customer in the future (and if the monetary loss is nominal). For example, if there is a past due balance of say 50 cents on an account and your system won't let your customers charge something new when they have a past due balance, but this customer swears they don't owe this 50 cents, then you would just write it off, correct? But, if they owed you $200 and your average profit from a sale was $2, then you could not write off this amount for an average customer, could you? I wish I could give you a more specific answer, but each situation like this is fluid - and having a flexible system that allows front-line employees and managers to use their judgement generally works out best for you and your customers.

Hi Mark. You surely can't please everyone - especially when it comes to medical services. The best you can do (IMO) is to stay positive, side with the customer (in spirit) and lament the policy that's tying your hands. For example: "Mrs. Jones, I completely agree that it seems ludicrous that the state would mandate that we give no more than one aspirin per person per day. But, you know California, right? I'd love to help you, but then I'd probably lose my job and you wouldn't want that, would you?" Additionally, whenever possible, frame "we can't" into "we could." For example: Instead of saying "we can't help you because..." say "we could certainly help you if..."

Yikes! I'm definitely not the one to ask about this. You may want to PRIVATELY consult a labor attorney in your area. If I were in this position, and assuming this is not the only place in town I could work, I would start looking for a better job. If I've told my employer about this abusive customer, and that I do not feel safe; and my employer still failed to take any action, I would secure other employment and then leave. (Depending on the seriousness of the abusive behavior, the police might even need to be called.) But, I would definitely contact a labor attorney in the area to understand my options.

Little Ewan That needs to be documented and REPORTED! And Change jobs if the manager does not address the situation/client !

I've worked in healthcare a very long time and receptionists take a lot of verbal abuse from patients and family members, too be blunt, the US is the worst. I see no reason that person should be sent a letter from the medical director stating the behavior that has been documented and if continues they will have to seek another medical provider. The hospitals in my community in Ontario Canada have a sign posted in medical offices and hospitals "Aggressive behavior and abusive language is not tolerated". I would have loved to have seen that sign in the places I worked in the US, there seems to be the idea that receptionists in healthcare should have to tolerate abuse from the public and my experience, they receive little to no support from these nurse managers. Patients can be fired too.

Great question, Prashant. First, it's important to remember that they are the ones with the problem, not you - and, their problem is they are an a-hole. This is something that you cannot fix; and that you should never allow to negatively impact you. While each a-hole is a little different, letting them vent and then asking them "what reasonable solution would you like to see?" to their issue will diffuse a great many of them. (Most often, people just want to be heard; and if they believe that you are listening and that you will push their solution up the chain, they can be satisfied.) For those that will continue to vent, you can play Steve's Angry Game or (if your company allows it) you can escalate to a manager. I'm hopeful this helps; though without knowing the industry or a specific instance, my advice should not be taken on face value. As the one closest to the customer, you likely have all the answers.

Apologize and walk away. You have others customers that need your attention

It's actually quite hilarious when you have a team of like 5-6 CSRs and they've all put money into a pot to see who can stay the most calm as their customer keeps getting angry. Eventually, even the most angry customer will calm down when you give them enough time to vent.

im actually going on an interview today and watching your videos! good luck to me! :)

Good luck! (But, don't mention making a game out of angry customers in the interview... )

This is a situation where I like to think "I don't get paid for this crap... let's pass this to those who make the big bucks." In other words, this is a situation for your manager to handle. This is what they are there for - to help you help the customer. In this case, your customer is being unreasonable and needs to be told by someone in authority that "This behavior will not be tolerated." (If your company does allow customers to "wear down" their employees, it might be time to look for a transfer to another department or to move on to a better job elsewhere.

i think ,you do your Job as per the right Procedure/by applying company standard operating Procedures of work, then your doing it rightly,Customers may confuse you mainly if they want things to work on their way,most especially in the sales Departments,Customers seeking for abnormal discounts not allowed by the company.if go against the company procedures then you loose your Job,remember No customer customer will employ you even that one seeking for favor/special treatment,Just don't be rude,listen,speak terms,act in a professional manner thanks

I probably don't say it enough... :)

Great idea - and glad you enjoyed the video. While we don't have subtitles yet, we did transcribe this video in English. Follow this link to follow along with the transcription: stevestauning.com/receptionist-training-how-to-handle-an-angry-customer/#.WqVyd-gbOMo

Steve Stauning thank you so much,you respond very quick

Hi Tary - Happy to; just give me a little more info or the actual situation.

Great question! And I wish there was a quick and easy answer to this. With any conflict, there are underlying issues that usually need to be explored. Without knowing these, I cannot begin to provide real assistance here. One possible thought - provided one of the two wants to resolve this - is to ask one of them to make the outward effort (even if on the inside they still hate the other person). It's something that helped me resolve a similar situation in my career. The actual steps I took and the outcome of that are documented on my blog: askthemanager.com/2015/03/how-to-get-ahead-while-winning-over-the-backstabbing-jerks-at-work/ Let me know if one of them is willing to try it and what results from this.

It happens... :)

All great choices! (Provided "taking it out on the cat" is merely a discussion about how little real work cats do around the house.) :)

I think I'll take that as a compliment.... :)

Hi Rachel, You make some great points that I should probably clarify better: 1. The Angry Game is meant to keep the Agent from taking a customer's verbal assault personally. Instead of trying to calm down an unreasonable jerk, the Agent is often better off allowing them to vent. By making this a game, there is never a desire to cut off these customers (which would make them even more angry). 2. It sounds like the center where you work uses the wrong metrics for judging performance. Outdated metrics like average length of call or number of callers assisted per hour are inadequate and off-target when our goal is to satisfy our customers in a way that makes them lifelong, raving fans. (Zappos customer service famously had a 10-hour call, I believe.) Better metrics would be something like Issues Solved Per 100 Calls Ratio (you solve X issues over every 100 calls). 3. Our goal should be to solve the issue on the first call, without having to transfer to anyone. This is something I will address in an upcoming video series entitled THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: HOW TO WOW EVERY SINGLE CUSTOMER EVERY SINGLE DAY!. (This session will be recorded live on December 21, 2016. Go to UndeniableAdvantage.com to register or go to SteveStauning.com if that date has passed.) 4. All of this said, if your customer service center is too set on the call metrics to allow you to adequately solve issues, then you need to resort to My Rule 1: FMF - Feed My Family. Do what is necessary to take care of your needs and the needs of your family first, then worry about the customer. In great organizations, FMF is aligned with the company's and the customers' needs. When these are not aligned, you need to be selfish... Hope this all helps! Best wishes, Steve

Best wishes on the interview!