Dealing with Upset Customers, The first step.

You are going to have to do this every once in a while. Hopefully, not everyday. When you are dealing with upset customers, remember that you are dealing with emotions. The first thing a customer wants, is to be heard. So listen. Encourage them to talk. Ask them for the whole story. Reality is not important yet. Perception, their perception is the most important element at this moment. So listen and listen good. Say things like, "wow", and "I can see why you are upset". DO NOT ARGUE. Take the time to understand their side of the story. This is the only way you can defuse the bomb. Let them get the emotions out. Understand them.

Now, I did not say, you need to agree with them. Somewhere somebody screwed up. Most likely it is some form of communication issue. But before you can find a way to fix the problem, you have to get rid of as much of the hostile emotion as possible. Then you can move to the next step, whatever that might be to resolve the problem.

And if you do a good job, than you might create an extremely loyal or passionate customer for the future. Because, if they had all that negative emotion, you can in a lot of cases, turn that around into positive emotion.