How to “manage” angry customers in field service management

On-site maintenance technicians are regularly called upon to meet with extremely stressed customers. The key for technicians is to know which behaviors to adopt and how to manage crisis situations.

Customers may be stressed for any number of reasons — perhaps defective equipment stopped a production line and the revenue that goes with it. Maintenance technicians may receive an unfriendly welcome as customer anger is directed at them.

Maintenance technicians are the ambassadors for maintenance services so they must know how to manage these difficult situations. It’s all about customer satisfaction. It’s well known that dissatisfied customers share more about their experiences on social media than satisfied customers. That means technicians must have natural listening skills, empathy and kindness.

Technicians must combine these interpersonal skills with the ability to manage their own stress, which we know is transferable. There are plenty of sources of stress in this job, from being on the road all the time to working shifts, being on-call during nights and weekends, and performing maintenance in noisy and cramped environments.

In addition to their natural qualities, technicians must also be trained, or at least educated, in how to adopt the right behaviors when they have to manage difficult customers. The ISO 10002: 2004 quality standard is dedicated to handling customer complaints.

Why Customer Satisfaction is Important in Field Service

Customer satisfaction is one of the critical factors that determine success in the field of service management. It influences the company’s image and business development, client loyalty, and revenues. Here are key reasons why customer satisfaction is important for a business and should be a priority in field service:

• Positive Word-of-mouth and Referrals: Satisfied customers are more likely to refer other people to your business since they are happy with the service they have been given. Word-of-mouth in the present generation refers to word-of-mouth communication, online reviews, and social media presence. Customer satisfaction can bring positive feedback, increase brand recognition, and generate more business opportunities, proving the importance of customer satisfaction for the development of your brand.
• Improved Employee Morale: Technicians and field service teams are motivated when they can meet the customers’ needs. Employees who feel they positively impact the customers’ experiences will likely be motivated and remain committed to their duties. In return, high levels of employee satisfaction improve the quality of service delivery; therefore, there is a need to stress customer satisfaction to improve team performance.
• Stronger Client Relationships: Field service technicians are usually the company’s representatives and directly deal with the clients. Customer satisfaction is critical to developing better relations since clients feel well-understood. This can result in long-term business relations and contracts, thus establishing customer satisfaction as a long-term business strategy and showing customer satisfaction’s importance in business revenue.
• Competitive Advantage: In the field service industry, most firms offer related products or services, and therefore, the benefits of customer satisfaction can act as a competitive advantage. Firms that deliver high-quality service, handle complaints, and offer more than customers expect will be able to compete well. Customers will engage service providers they have confidence in to provide the best services.

How Field Service Software Can Help Manage Angry Customers

Field service management (FSM) software is a field service management tool that can help companies change how they approach customer complaints. FSM software assists field technicians in challenging situations by enhancing technology in processes and communication. Here’s how:

Access to Service History

With FSM software, technicians can view a customer’s service history with the company with a single click. This allows them to grasp the background of the present-day issue, whether it is a typical problem or a lack of service check-ups. This information assists the technicians in giving more informed responses, which may help prevent frustration from building up.

Real-Time Communication

FSM software also allows the technician to communicate with the office in real-time, as well as the technician and the customer. In case of any problem that needs to be solved or authorization to be sought, the technician can quickly call the supervisors or technical support. This way of sharing information also ensures that issues are solved faster and customers are informed.

Efficient Scheduling and Dispatching

Among the main reasons for customer complaints is the issue of time delays in service delivery. FSM software also improves field service scheduling and dispatching by providing the best routes for the technicians and minimizing time lost. This helps ensure that field workers get to the customer’s place on time and reduces customer complaints about delays.

Automated Updates and Notifications

It is essential to keep customers calm, and proactive communication is one way of doing this. FSM software enables firms to alert their clients about the arrival time of a technician, the fact that there has been a delay, or that the repair has been completed.

Maintaining transparency with customers allows firms to meet customers expectations and reduce the chances

Listen and keep your cool

It’s critical that technicians listen to customers, allowing them to explain the problem in detail without being interrupted, even if they understand the situation in the first few seconds. This allows the customer to offload their problem. Maintenance technicians can take notes to show they’re taking the complaint seriously and to document the issue.

Technicians must always retain their composure, even if customers hurl insults or issue threats. Solutions can only be found within the framework of respectful and reassuring conversation.

Take the opposite approach

Field Service technicians must react in the opposite way to customer anger. If the customer raises their voice, the technician must speak quietly. If the customer is insulting, they must maintain courteous language. At no point can technicians criticize customers. The phrases “no, it’s not true” or “you are wrong” should be avoided. There can be no value judgements; technicians must stick to the facts.

It’s also important for Field Service technicians to be aware of their non-verbal communications, as their body language can betray them. Even a small smile tells customers their problem is not being taken seriously, worsening the situation. The key is for technicians to maintain focus on their objective, which is to determine the real cause of the dissatisfaction.

Essential Training for Technicians to Handle Angry Customers Effectively

Stress Management Techniques

Technicians must be prepared with stress management techniques to avoid stress during confrontations. Techniques like deep breathing, mindfulness meditation, and positive visualization can reduce stress reactions and allow the technicians to act deliberately instead of emotionally.

Empathy Training

Empathy enables technicians to recognize and accept customers’ feelings. Simulating customer interactions during training sessions can assist technicians in enhancing their listening skills, identifying customers’ concerns, and building rapport with them.

Behavioral Skills Training

It is recommended that technicians be taught how to manage body language and de-escalate a situation. Understanding how to avoid aggressive body language, keep the voice moderate, and make eye contact can significantly decrease the chances of conflict with a customer.

Team Cohesion and Support

Promoting a culture of mutual support among field technicians and customer service reps ensures a unified approach to handling challenges. Regular team meetings and collaborative problem-solving exercises can build stronger relationships and collective competence.

Values and Culture

Embedding values like respect, patience, and customer-centric service in the company culture helps align individual behaviors with collective goals. Celebrating exceptional service and maintaining open lines of communication about challenging interactions reinforce these values.

Standard Operating Procedures

Developing clear protocols for handling customer complaints and conflicts can guide technicians through stressful situations. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) should outline steps for initial customer contact, escalation paths, and follow-up actions to ensure consistent and professional service.

Support Systems

Instituting robust support systems, such as access to a dedicated customer service hotline for on-the-spot advice and regular debriefings after challenging interactions, offers technical and emotional support to field technicians. Feedback loops where technicians share experiences can improve the system and individual performance.

Bring the customer back to rational thought

When the customer finishes presenting their situation, maintenance technicians can ask additional questions and rephrase the problem to ensure they understand it. It’s important to remember that angry people want to express their dissatisfaction and may forget about the factual aspects of the problem. It’s up to technicians to bring them back to a rational thought process.

The customer’s anger may be tied to rational or irrational factors that go beyond the stress of the current equipment breakdown. For example, it may be motivated by a contractual breach, such as non-compliance with response times, or by multiple failures on the same piece of equipment.

If field service technicians are part of the problem, they must make amends and explain themselves. Maybe their delayed arrival time was due to a traffic jam and they can prove it. If the problem is due to previous service — an incomplete maintenance operation, for example — technicians should not criticize their colleague, but apologize on behalf of the company.

Because the latest generation of field service management software provides details about all service carried out at a site, technicians can also use their smartphone or tablet to see the history of disputes related to the account.

Find a way out

Apologizing is good, but it’s not enough. Field service technicians must find a way out of the problem. To do this, technicians can be empathetic, explaining that they’re putting themselves in the customer’s shoes and that they understand their sentiments. They are reassuring without making false promises. Otherwise, their efforts could be counterproductive and amplify the customer’s anger. Technicians must speak in a transparent, sincere and honest way.

Determine the type of customer you’re dealing with

Field service technicians must also use a little psychology to determine the customer’s personality type. Although the vast majority of customers are justified in their anger, others have a bad habit of managing their providers through stress by creating a climate of permanent tension.

Other customers exaggerate the problem in a bid to seek financial compensation. In these cases, technicians must remind the customer they are not authorized to make these types of financial decisions, but can refer the case to the appropriate department.

If the conversation becomes circular with no possible outcome, technicians must find another contact. Using the grounds they need to get details about the breakdown, technicians can ask to speak to a more technical employee who is familiar with the problem from a maintenance perspective.

Conversely, technicians can involve an expert or team leader from their company in a phone or web conference with the customer. Introducing a third-party mediator very often lowers the tension. As if by magic, customers will reexplain the problem, but in a more concise and less heated manner.

Whatever path the discussion takes, maintenance technicians should, as much as possible, end on a positive note by reiterating the plan to resolve the problem. Once the tension is lowered, customers can put the situation into perspective and take the drama out of it. Technicians can use the field service management software to ask the customer relationship manager to call the customer back to check on the problem. And all is calm again.