{"id":6091,"date":"2014-01-31T10:42:28","date_gmt":"2014-01-31T15:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com\/blog\/?p=6091"},"modified":"2026-06-12T07:19:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T11:19:24","slug":"handle-care-customers-blow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/handle-care-customers-blow\/","title":{"rendered":"Handle with care: when customers blow up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This post is part of a series celebrating SmartSign\u2019s 15th Anniversary. In 15 posts, we reflect on lessons learned, good experiences, and company-wide changes that brought us to this milestone of success. You can view the entire series\u00a0here.<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6096\" style=\"width: 212px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6096\" class=\" wp-image-6096 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Tahyna1.jpg\" alt=\"Tahyna Colon, our call center manager. \" width=\"202\" height=\"389\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Tahyna1.jpg 562w, https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Tahyna1-531x1024.jpg 531w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-6096\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tahyna Colon, our call center manager.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>As any customer service pro knows, one of the biggest challenges to the job is maintaining an unruffled, professional demeanor, even when you have someone on the phone\u00a0who might be abusive or difficult. Call Center Manager Tahyna Colon outlined five things to keep in mind when dealing with the occasional angry customer:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><b><\/b><b>Remind them that you\u2019re there to help them.<\/b> Tahyna says that simply reminding an upset customer that you <i>want<\/i> <i>them to get what they want <\/i>can go a long way. \u201cUsually their voice will soften and they\u2019ll apologize or say \u2018I\u2019m so sorry I yelled.\u2019\u201d<\/li>\n<li><b><\/b><b>\u201cThe customer is always right\u2026 for the most part.\u201d <\/b>Sometimes customers will have unmeetable expectations \u2013 it\u2019s just human nature. Emphasizing the effort you\u2019re undertaking to deliver even on those can improve a cranky client\u2019s disposition. Be careful to draw a sharp line socustomers know that even if you do have wiggle room, you still operate under constraints, like any other business. &#8220;I&#8217;ll cave on some things, but I won&#8217;t violate company [shipping] policies and there are times when I can&#8217;t deliver no matter what, so I just tell people that.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><b><\/b><b>Today, order size <i>truly<\/i> doesn\u2019t matter.<\/b> Tahyna says that since millions of orders have been processed on her watch, she\u2019s used to the occasional difficult interaction with customers, but that \u201cthese days, anyone can write a nasty review on Yelp that hurts your business, so you really do have to treat everyone fairly and equally.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><b><\/b><b>\u201cKill \u2019em with kindness.\u201d <\/b>If it\u2019s within your power to do so, throw in extras after a customer blows up. A customer who starts out with a low opinion of the business because something has gone wrong, but then has sees you make an extra effort to make certain they\u2019re happy, can be a huge coup \u2013 and a brand advocate.\u201cIt\u2019s about building relationships,\u201d Colon says. \u201cAfter a while, they\u2019ll remember you and start to call you back. I\u2019ve been doing this for a while, so I have my core of customers who will call and say, \u2018Hey, girl! I need some more tags.\u2019\u201d<\/li>\n<li><b><\/b><b>\u201cYou have to admit when you\u2019re wrong.\u201d<\/b> Nothing frustrates customers more than an opaque fulfillment process in which customers suspect that you\u2019re not giving them the best deal. Transparency is key. If you make a mistake, don\u2019t wait for the customer to figure it out \u2013 contact them, and say so.\u00a0<b><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This post is part of a series celebrating SmartSign\u2019s 15th Anniversary. In 15 posts, we reflect on lessons learned, good experiences, and company-wide changes that brought us to this milestone of success. You can view the entire series\u00a0here. As any customer service pro knows, one of the biggest challenges to the job is maintaining an [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"wpmdr_menu":1,"wpmdr_menu_extended":{"individualPostRemove":1,"individualPostRemoveDate":1,"individualPostRemoveAuthor":1,"individualPostYoastRemovePublished":1,"individualPostYoastRemoveModified":1},"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[270,271,280],"class_list":["post-6091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-15-years","tag-business-tips","tag-customer-service"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Handle with care: when customers blow up | SmartSign Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When customers are unhappy, keep these five pro tips in mind.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/handle-care-customers-blow\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Handle with care: when customers blow up | SmartSign Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When customers are unhappy, keep these five pro tips in mind.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smartsign.com/blog\/handle-care-customers-blow\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SmartSign Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/SmartSign\/220245064667579\" \/>\n<meta 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