Click âsubscribeâ in the bottom right of the player to listen or download from Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and Amazon Music.
The twenty-fifth episode of Support Heroes by Kaizo featured Jaya Sardjoe- a customer support associate at Zevij-Necomij B.V..
In this episode, Jaya shares her experiences and lessons from her first two years working in customer support. At Zevij-Necomij, a dutch wholesale company, Jayaâs been guided and advised on how to succeed as an agent. She now shares these actionable and effective tips to help new customer support agents.
Donât expect to satisfy every customer. Just do what you can.
- When Jaya first started, she would always be nervous for client calls. She would worry about how clients would react to her. Especially if the customerâs issue couldnât be solved. She was able to overcome this by changing her expectations of client calls.
âI was told to go in blank because you never know how [customers] will respondâ
- If there is a solution, great! If there isnât, all Jaya can do is look for the best alternative and offer that to the customer. Regardless, the customer may be happy or unhappy. Jaya found success in focusing on how to solve problems and communicate effectively, rather than looking to always have a positive result.
Dealing with angry customers- let them talk. Make them feel heard.
âI was always scared of the mad customers to be honestâŠâ
- To conquer this fear, Jayaâs supervisor gave her some easy steps to handle these difficult calls.
- First, let the customer talk. Let them get all their anger and frustration out. While they do so, write down exactly what they say and let them know youâre listening carefully. Jaya asks clarifying questions or quickly says âYes. I get you.â to let the customer know sheâs following them.
- Second, read back to the customer what you wrote down. This will make the customer feel heard and make sure that you understood exactly what the customer said.
â[Customers] react differently if they have the feeling they have been heard. If you actually listen to them, understand their problem and show you want to solve itâ
- Third, you donât need to always need to give the customer the answer. If you need some support and donât have the solution, simply say, âI will get back to you on thatâ. Itâs easier to figure things out when not on the phone to an angry customer and angry customers prefer not to wait on the phone. Itâs a win-win.
Especially on rough days, speak to colleagues and seek advice.
âIt was hard [to talk to my colleagues about my day] because I keep things to myself and normally when it keep things for myself I can explodeâ
- Everyone in support has rough days. Itâs just part of the job. Jayaâs top strategy for staying positive on those rough days is speaking to her colleagues. Keeping things to oneself can be a natural habit but despite that, itâs still important to share.
âMaybe your colleagues will say, âYeah, I have a tip for youâ or âLet it be. You donât know what kind of day theyâve had. Itâs not right what theyâve done but itâs not personal. Youâre doing a great jobâ. Then I think âAh, itâs okayââ
- Regardless of working from home or being in the office, Jaya will reach out to colleagues if sheâs having a rough day. She also advises trying to make (at least) one close friend in your workplace so you can talk to someone on a more personal level.
Take responsibility over conversations but donât take bad interactions personally
- Thereâs a fine line between taking enough responsibility over conversations to improve communication skills and taking so much responsibility that bad conversations get you down.
- When looking back over a negative interaction, perhaps think about how to make the customer feel more heard but also remember that customers have bad days too. Sometimes, an agent can do a perfect job and the customer still wonât be happy. Thatâs okay!
âSometimes [customers] shout at you or have their voice higher than you expect. But 9/10 times when you call them back they say, âSorry, that wasnât meant for you but Iâm a bit frustrated.â So they apologiseâ
- Just remember the customer is frustrated about their issue or about other things happening in their day that you cannot control. An agent can only be helpful and polite, they canât do anything about the other factors making customers unhappy.