How to Deal with an Angry Caller

 It’s inevitable, eventually, you’ll find yourself dealing with someone who is angry. It comes out of the blue, and you are just not ready to have someone begin ranting at you right after you’ve politely asked, “How may I help you?” Take a deep breath; see if you can turn this around.

First, empathize in your mind. “POOR GUY, something has happened to make him miserable!” Your job is to help him. Now, listen without judgment until the story is out. There are a lot of things that can cause out-of-control anger, and you must remember the anger isn’t personal. You are just caught in the crosshairs.

Never admit fault, when everything is out in the open, it may not have been the fault of the answering service or your client. So, you can’t say, “I’m sorry we did that.” But you can say, “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” “I’m sorry that happened.” “I would be unhappy too if that happened to me.” Establish that you care how he feels.

Anger is an emotion; so, the incident itself might not be the only problem. In our business, it’s often the fear of what might happen, the fear of losing a client, a job, or money, which is driving the anger. Fear makes us lose control. There are two things at work, anger at the incident that caused the problem and emotional anger at the result. While we often try to explain why something happened, it is wise to try to deal with the emotional anger first.

Next, let him know that you will try to help him. Say, “Let me help you, sir” and follow through right away by asking a question, repeating the answer as you type it into the message template. Ask the next question. You are quietly taking control. Be matter of fact but speak in a soft voice. Never raise your voice when someone is yelling at you; lower it to almost a whisper, it has a calming influence.

Never interrupt. That’s like pouring gasoline on a fire, it’s sure to flare up even more. People become calm and then rant again. Wait patiently, knowing that anger sometimes comes in waves. When it’s your turn to speak, let the caller know exactly what you will do to help before you hang up.

Callers, especially our own customers, don’t want to hear a long explanation of what happened. That just sounds like excuses to them at this point. They want you to fix their problem. Be as efficient as you can, get all the facts, and then tell the caller you need to do some research. Give him a time that you, or your supervisor, will get back to him. Many times, an angry caller becomes much more rational when their call is escalated to a supervisor. When people know you care, they eventually come around.