Fear not the angry customer. He is not the enemy! Quite to the contrary, he is possibly one of the best friends your business has!

Every business has had to deal with angry customers. Even the best-trained, most conscientious customer-centric businesses have occasional lapses where they do not measure up to their customer’s expectations. But if you get past the anger, tone of voice, occasional insult or invective, you realize that the customer is speaking to you because, although he feels that he has been wronged, he also feels that you can help remedy the situation. This is a golden opportunity to win and solidify your customer’s loyalty.

A study by Technical Assistance Research Programs (TARP) shows that customers who have had a problem resolved successfully and amicably tend to be more loyal than customers who have never experienced a problem with a particular business. When that situation arises where things do not go the way the customer had hoped, smart businesses use that opportunity to fix the error quickly and happily. You learn from the error to ensure that it does not occur again. And this is where the angry customer helps you.

Here’s how successful companies turn angry customers into loyal customers.

Step One: Be a Smart Listener

As all customer-focused businesses know, the world revolves around the customer, not the business. So when the angry customer calls, it is really your boss calling. Would you interrupt the boss when he or she is angry? Not if you want to stay employed. Therefore, it is imperative to let the customer say his piece. Do not try to resolve his issue before he’s had a chance to explain not only the nature of his problem, but also the ramifications it has had on his life. The urge to fix a problem before acknowledging the pain is often where service calls go awry.

Many businesses place a high value on resolving calls quickly; they measure average length of call or interaction, and reward their reps for lowering the amount of time spent per incident. While this particular metric seems important to the internal operations of many businesses, we have never heard a customer say that the most important aspect of their call was to get off the phone quickly as possible. Frankly, if a customer is concerned enough about an issue to call or visit a business, then he wants that business to know the exact nature of that problem, and why that problem is bothering him.

While it is not a pleasant experience, this is exactly the kind of information that businesses need to hear in order to hone their operations. Unfortunately, if service reps are trained and rewarded for quickly ending calls, or worse yet, not trained on how to deal with customer anger, then an opportunity to collect valuable knowledge on serving your company’s audience is lost. Also lost is any hope of a repeat sale, because that customer’s next purchase is going to your competitor.

Step Two: Be Empathetic

When your organization makes an error, or offends a customer in some way, the first order of business is an apology. If you want to successfully recover from this mishap, you need to know the best way to apologize. The first thing is to shut up and listen – do not try addressing the problem or the solution until the customer is done saying what he wants to say. Apologizing too soon reeks of insincerity. Making excuses for the problem is simply inappropriate. A thick skin is necessary. Other than asking questions to clarify the problem, your initial response should be empathetic: “Oh that is not good! I can understand why that would be upsetting to you.”

Step Three: Be Thankful

It is imperative that the next words out of your mouth are, “Thank you for telling me about this issue.” Thanking a customer for complaining not only disarms some of the anger, but it also sets the expectation for the resolution of the issue. This should be followed immediately by sincerely saying, “I apologize for the inconvenience you have experienced.”

Step Four: Be Resolute

Only after Step Three are you ready to discuss the explanation–and resolution--of the problem.

Resolution time is not the time for lame excuses. Never place the blame for your customer’s problem on another employee / department / vendor, or, heaven forbid, on the customer himself! Remember the goal is to resolve the issue to the customer’s satisfaction, not to take the heat off of you.

Step Five: Be Forthcoming

Most importantly, do not EVER use the dreaded phrase “Company Policy.” Why? Company policies are written with the company in mind, not the customers. Most people know this, so you end up alienating more good customers than you will foil conniving ones.

Even when your policies are in place for good reasons, do not use the phrase “Company Policy.” It is fraught with negativity. Instead, simply explain WHY the policy is in place. If there is a good reason, share it! If not, then re-examine it – it may be causing customer unrest!


Armed with new knowledge from their angry customers, smart businesses work to prevent similar problems from recurring. Getting on the same side of the issues with your angry customers drives repeat business and referrals – major contributors to profitability.


-- © 2006 Charles Dennis, Knowledgence Associates