How to handle irate customer conversations

I have a desire to share what I’ve learned from people who have passed away. I feel a sense of duty to keep their legacy alive, because they can no longer do it themselves. My first tribute, is to my beloved father, Arindam Gupta (Ari for short). He created an effective mnemonic device to handle irate customer conversations. Now, I see it as a way to achieve conversational balance in any type of relationship.

My dad lived a very humble life. He was a successful businessman. He believed in and lived the life of a servant leader. He taught his children well, particularly in the field of customer service. He created a simple mnemonic device, L.A.S.E.R. This approach was taught to me for the purpose of gaining control of a conversation, where you could help someone in distress. In such cases, this is a way to achieve conversational balance. I’ll attempt to explain this acronym in the context of a client conversation over the phone.

L — Listen

There can be a lot of emotion conveyed in a conversation with a client who is dissatisfied with something related to the service received. It is important to be present and attentive during the conversation. This is what listening means. Contrary to social media posts, phone conversations give us the benefit of being able to pick up on volume, tone, pitch in addition to the context with which it’s conveyed.

A — Acknowledge

Once you’ve given the customer the opportunity and space to share their grievance, you have the ability to disarm your customer. Simply play back what you’ve heard. It’s a sign of respect towards your customer that you have understood what was just said. In other words, empathize.

S — Sympathize

After demonstrating that you understand the reason for your customer’s call, show your appreciation of the situation. Especially in conversations with irate customers, there is a place to take part in their feelings of misfortune.

E — Educate

As part of any company, your job is to create awareness of what you can do for your customer. It’s time to talk about options. Based on the customer, circumstances, and service agreement, inform your customer of the options that will satisfy their needs. If the options available don’t completely satisfy your customer’s needs, be upfront about that. Then, follow it up with alternatives that offer maximum value, based on your customer’s needs. Give your customer the opportunity to ask questions by checking in with them about the options so that they know you’re on their side.

R — Recommend

Finally, if your customer is having difficulty making a choice, show how much you’re invested in making things right, by making a suggestion that satisfies your customer’s need. This is your recommendation. Building your recommendation makes it easy to then lead with a close-ended question to proceed or not. If your customer still isn’t satisfied with how you’re offering to solve their problem, you can proceed with the customer’s choice, which is still from the list of options you presented.

That’s it! A simple way of gaining control of a conversation with an irate customer. The actions and behaviours described in this acronym are not extraordinary. However they have the power to make your conversations extraordinary.

Do you have words of wisdom shared by someone who passed away?

Share it with everyone, so that we can stay connected through knowledge and find a way to balance each other.