How to Hop Off the Emotional Roller-Coaster with Upset Customers
Imagine this is you… It’s 3 A.M. You’re laying in bed, wide awake, as your mind replays a stressful customer blow-up from the day before. Things went from bad to worse and your nerves are jangled. It’s mind-dizzying to keep calm and composed when your emotions get triggered. Ready to get off the emotional roller coaster? Try these three success strategies to stop blow-ups before they happen.
Challenge your expectations
Expecting things to go smoothly all the time is unrealistic and makes challenging moments more stressful than it needs to be. What sets you apart and puts you at the top of your game is your ability to see stress as a challenge you can win. Challenges create champions. View pressure as an opportunity to sharpening your skills while strengthening customer bonds. Customers are more likely to trust you and become even more loyal after you resolve a problem in a way that shows you have their best interests in mind.
Manage your customer expectations
Being the best feels great. But how does it feel to deal with customers who have super high expectations? Instead of being annoyed, consider this message that Singapore Airlines gives their staff: “High expectations are the price we pay for being known as the best.” To manage those high expectations, communicate, and clarify understanding. A customer’s perception may be different than yours, so confirm understanding. Track repeated breakdowns in customer expectations and put processes in place to manage them. It can be as simple as a follow-up email spelling out the next agreed-upon steps.
Use creative problem solving
As the saying goes – “Worry is a form of negative goal setting.” Instead of using your imagination to “dress rehearse your next emotional breakdown,” use it to ideate solutions to actual pressing problems. One way to do that is to look for outlets that generate more creative thinking.
Today’s action
Anytime you can have fun, relieve stress, and help your team behave in ways that strengthen customer loyalty … do it!
What else?
To increase customer and employee engagement, give yourself and your team copies of COLOR THEIR WORLD: The Art of Creating Strong Customer Loyalty. It’s an innovative customer service activity/coloring book filled with disruptive, thought-provoking sentence stems for creating strong team relationships and even stronger customer loyalty written by Marilyn Suttle, co-author of the bestselling book Who’s Your Gladys? How to Turn Even the Most Difficult Customer Into Your Biggest Fan?”
Marilyn Suttle is a customer service expert/coach, international conference speaker, and bestselling author. She works with organizations to ensure a strong customer focus and successful teams. Find her on LinkedIn.