Telephone Techniques - Anger Management - How to Prevent or Process an Angry Caller

Telephone Techniques

ANGER MANAGEMENT

How to
Prevent or Process
an
Angry Caller

© 2012 Dexcomm
All Rights Reserved

TELEPHONE TECHNIQUES ANGER MANAGEMENT How to Prevent or Process an Angry Caller 2

PREFACE:

Our passion is properly serving customers. Operating as a
24/7/365 Telephone Answering Service and Medical
Exchange since November of 1954 we have developed skills
and techniques that allow us to delight a wide range of
clients. As we have grown and prospered for over 50 years
we feel now is a great time to give something back to our
customers, prospective customers and anyone seeking to
improve their business success. Included in this book are tips
and tools that we hope will make your job a bit easier each
day. One of the great learning tools we have employed is the
willingness to learn from our mistakes. Please take
advantage of our many years of experience and avoid some
of the pitfalls that we have learned to overcome. Our hope is
JAMEY HOPPER that you and your office can adopt some of these tools to
make your life a bit less complicated and allow you a bit
PRESIDENT
more uninterrupted leisure time.
“Our passion is properly
serving customers.” Thanks for Listening!

PLEASE NOTE:
Our e-books are designed to provide information about the subject matter covered. It is distributed with the
understanding that the authors and the publisher are not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other
professional services. If legal advice or other professional assistance is required, the services of a competent
professional person should be sought.

AsktheExpert@dexcomm.com • dexcomm.com
CORPORATE: 518 Patin Rd. Carencro, LA 70520 • (877) DEXCOMM (339.2666)

Helping the world connect, one message at a time. Share this e-book!


TABLE OF CONTENTS

MEET OUR EXPERTS  How to Handle

KARL
 Preventative Measures
OPERATIONS
SUPERVISOR  Toolbox

DANA
TRAINING
SUPERVISOR

Our Dexcomm Customer Service Experts
would like to share with you some tips for
bringing top notch telephone techniques
into your business by sharing this
information with you.




How to Handle

IN THIS SECTION

 Situational Awareness
 Methods to the Madness

Have you ever been caught in a customer service
situation where you end up with a shouting,
angry and frustrated caller on the line?
KARL SCHOTT

OPERATIONS SUPERVISOR




Situational Awareness

Reasons that callers become angry
 Language/communication barriers
 Industry terminology that the layperson may not understand
(i.e. medical)
 Your office made a mistake
 Caller is impatient
 The time it takes to resolve the issue

Possible outcomes of an angry caller
 HIPAA and privacy issues
 Your own frustration when the caller gets the best of you
 Other patients or customers within ear shot of the situation
 Threats being made, shouting, cursing or other abusive behavior

Ideally, having preventative measures in place could help to avoid these situations before they even start. But first, we must
resolve the immediate issue of the angry, frustrated and threatening caller on the line.

Tips and Techniques for Positive Communication Phrasing

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Methods to the Madness

If a real threat exists, hang up and call the police or other authorities immediately

Be polite, remain professional and never let your frustration get the best of you

 If you must contain yourself, put the caller on hold and take a breather.
 Set some ground rules for the call if necessary.
 Ask the caller to remain calm.
 Communicate that you understand and want to help them, but that you need them to stop yelling and
using profanity.
 If you cannot stay calm enough to handle the call, ask for a name and number and call them back when
you are ready.

Put your active listening skills to good use

 Let the client speak and don’t interrupt.
 Help them feel heard.

Improving Customer Service ● Listening

Admit any mistakes your office may have made and take responsibility

 Be apologetic and empathetic.
 Ask what you can do to resolve the issue, or communicate what you can do to resolve the issue.
 Ask questions that will help to resolve the issue.
 Be upfront with what you can provide now, and what you will have to do later—manage the caller’s ex-
pectations.
If communication barriers exist:

 Slow down
 Rephrase
 Speak on the caller’s level
 Don’t insult or speak above them
 Explain terminology
 Be patient

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Do what you say you will do and follow through

How To Do What You Say You Will Do

Document the caller’s information and their behavior

 Include information that is pertinent to resolving the issue.
 Include information for police or authorities if necessary.

Avoid using speaker phone

 The caller will know they are on speaker and this will add to their frustration and serve as another com-
munication barrier.
 Others may be able to hear the conversation which can be a HIPAA violation.
 Transfer caller to a more private phone area if necessary to maintain professionalism in your office.

Ensure there is no dead air on the call

 If you need time to resolve the issue by checking files, etc. let
the caller know they will be placed on hold.

HIPAA Concerns

 Refer to your office’s HIPAA Handbook.

End the call with an action statement regarding what you are going to do to resolve the issue.

Improve Your Office’s Communication Through Better Messaging

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Preventative Measures

IN THIS SECTION

 Tips & Techniques

Dexcomm specializes in valuable customer service
techniques that may help you to cope when
these types of situations occur
DANA LEWIS

TRAINING SUPERVISOR




As we mentioned before, preventative measures are always important to have in
place so that angry caller situations can be avoided altogether.

Coach your staff

Telephone operators and other customer service staff members should be trained
according to the methods state above. They need to know what to do in cases
involving angry callers.

Hold “Lessons Learned” meetings

Following the resolution of angry caller situations, explore what could have been done differently to avoid this
situation. What did you do well? What could you have done better? Communicate this information to your staff so
that everyone can learn from the situation.

Develop a shift change process to avoid client communication issues

Were there any problems on the previous shift? Should the next operator be made aware of anything?

Create standards in message taking

What information do you need in order to better serve your clients? Ensure that phone operators are capturing
pertinent information.

Taking a Perfect Phone Message

Develop a process for handling repetitive issues

For example, are we having the same customer service issues? If so, how can we create a process to eliminate
failures?

Create your own checklist for phone operators to deal with angry customers

Consider keeping checklist near phone to ensure operators have it handy.

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Develop specialist

Assign a go-to-person that can coach staff on handling angry
callers. The opportunity to put the caller on hold and ask for help to
resolve an issue is vital for the development and growth of the
phone operator.

Consider designating a person on duty for handling angry callers if
you do not feel that your phone operators are equipped to handle
the call.

Forward calls to your answering service if you cannot give full attention to callers

We all know that when we are busy and distracted, we cannot give our full attention to callers, which can lead to
angry clients.

Practicing these methods and role-playing ensure that your staff is ready to handle angry caller situations

Use examples from previous situations or use your imagination to create role-playing
scenarios.

Remember…Practice makes perfect!!

Provide staff with emergency contact information for the police department, fire
department, suicide hotline

Post this information near the phones for easy access!

Looking for More?

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Toolbox
Toolbox
 Quality Assurance Evaluation
 Voicemail Samples - Medical
 Voicemail Samples - Non Medical
 Message Template Samples

Ensuring your patients or clients are receiving excellent customer service is vital to the success of your
practice.

 Evaluate phone traffic by reviewing recorded calls or by performing live quality assurance checks of your
staff’s performance
 Train receptionists and/or healthcare workers on customer service skills
 Consider contacting an expert, like Dexcomm, for answering and messaging solutions

Other Options

Running a medical practice or another business doesn’t always leave time for managing
the customer service side of your company. That’s when businesses like ours can help you
out!




Our Dedication to Development, Training and Compliance

All new hires are put through an extensive application process
involving several interviews with multiple company executives.
We insist upon the successful completion of a full background
check and drug screen. Additionally, the operator must sign a
confidentiality agreement. We ensure that potential employees
exemplify our core values, fit within our company culture and
have the skills needed to serve our customers. Upon hire, we
enter them into an extensive classroom-based training setting
where they are educated on our operating system and our focus
on customer service under the supervision of a dedicated and
experienced training department.
During the classroom-based training period, potential operators
are educated on phone etiquette, customer service, how to
handle a variety of situations, and are equipped with an industry
-leading training manual. Additionally, operators are provided
one-on-one training with management, exposed to live calls in
peer-to-peer training, and are supported by floor managers
during independent live calls.
To produce “best-practice” telephone techniques, our Training
Department developed a thorough closed-loop system. Calls
are reviewed by a dedicated Quality Assurance Department, a
division of the Training Department, who listen and score the
operator’s calls in real-time and for review. The department
meets regularly to calibrate their scoring and provide feedback
to the Training Department. Operators are given monthly,
sometimes weekly, reviews on their performance.

A SPECIAL THANKS TO
Our Dexcomm Contributors

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