Interview Question: How Would You Deal With An Aggressive Customer?
Most interview questions are dicey and difficult because you have to understand them from the interviewer’s perspective. If not, you do not only fail but you also waste your time and energy. Anyhow, few questions are objective. These kinds of questions are quite indispensable in every interview as far as you are going to interact with clients/customers.
No matter how bad you are, if you can give good responses to these questions, you will increase your chances of getting the job. Remember that interviews are important because it is an opportunity to make a perfect impression on your future boss.
One of these interview questions is this, “How would you deal with an aggressive customer?”
To begin with, you have to understand why this question is very important to your interviewer.
Any company that meets clients/customers daily must meet different kinds of people. And each person is met with his own idiosyncrasies. It means that before the encounter, some are happy or calm while others are angry about the government or due to family problems.
These problems may affect their rate of understanding and to a larger extent, their friendliness. But whether they are angry or not, you have to interact with them because that is your job. Your boss will not like to lose anybody even if the person has a low emotional quotient provided that there will always be cash inflow at the end of each encounter.
And the company’s cash flow greatly affects your pay. Therefore, you have to know how best to deal with all manners of clients. Your boss wants to know how you would solve a client’s problem without drawing attention even when the client wants the hell to let loose.
Before I help you to sort out answers to this question, it is well reassuring that no personality trait or zodiac sign is against it. It is also not contrary to nature nor would you argue that it is difficult.
Assuming that you have an irate customer blabbing in front of you, what should you do? Now, this should be your answer,
(1) An aggressive customer actually lacks needed attention. Most times, they would think that nobody is interested in solving their problem. So they had to devise a means to attract attention to them, hence shouting at you or any other person. Therefore all you have to do is to abandon every other thing so that you will show undivided attention to him/her. This does not only help the client to get pacified, it also shows that you want to solve the problem.
(2) Listening does not solve the problem. It only allows you to understand what the problem is. But most times, we may ignore the fact that most problems are personalized. That may cause another agitation which is not healthy for customer relationships.
To avoid this, you need to rephrase what the client said. Repeat exactly what you think that the client said and expect a positive response from the client. If the client says otherwise, it means that you did not understand the problem. For example, if the client said, “My account was debited twice this month for one cable subscription.”
As simple as it sounds, it is more professional to respond like this, “Sir/Ma, if I understand what you mean, you have a subscription, and you were charged twice instead of one, right?” The customer will most likely tell you yes and may be open to tell you how he/she feels about it.
(3) Now, you are on the same page with the client and you plan to solve the problem but do not be too fast. Show that you are a human. You have to sympathize with the client. It is most probable that the second charge could have served as his/her monthly upkeep.
It will be very difficult for her to cope and therefore would need immediate attention. Telling in depth how much you understand how he/she feels will help her to reduce her anger.
(4) Furthermore, explain why such a thing happens in a non-defensive manner. Explaining this will help the client to relate to your explanation. For example, you can tell him/her that the debit was twice because it was initially done manually by personnel and the system also debited her.
Take responsibility for the mistake and tell the client how you will solve the problem. Always remind the client that you are devoted to solving his problem. Tell him/her how long it would take you to resolve the problem.
If it is possible, divert his attention from the present situation to other things. Perhaps you can ask him about his family, work, friends or hobby. Make him feel cared for.
(5) Keep your words by solving the problem as fast as possible so that you will leave a positive impression on the client. You may go to the extent of exchanging contact with the client so that his/her problem would be solved when he/she calls your office line. In summary, no human being would like to be seen as an aggressive person.
Consequently, the client is bound to mellow down because you treated him with respect and honor. You have been able to gain back your customer without exchanging words or blows. The result of this situation is usually a rippling effect because the aggressive client would go back and announce your company’s amiability. In the end, he/she will portray your company in good light.
Conclusion
A large customer base is the dream of every cooperation and it is saddening for the management if they realize that their own employee drives their existing customers away. On the other hand, they would not like to have an employee who displays ineptitude as a birthright. That is the reason for asking these types of practical questions. The way with which you answer this question will determine how proficient you are in relational management. To scale through interviews, you have to be ready to answer applied questions and this is one of them.