Top Five Conflict Resolution Tips For Customer Service Calls

Customer service jobs can be quite challenging. There are scripts to remember, tools to navigate, and processes to follow. The multitasking alone can be a lot to deal with.

But more importantly, you deal with customer issues, confusing questions, and urgent requests that often require effective conflict resolution skills. And while managing all that, the customer’s needs have to be the focal point of your efforts.

These situations can get difficult and at times a bit tense. And we’ve heard plenty of guidelines on how to be a good customer service representative during tough calls. Maintain a calm tone. Always practice patience. Active listening is the key.

But there are more specific conflict resolution tips for customer service that can help you become an ace at ensuring an excellent customer experience, even in the most challenging situations.

Create a positive collaboration

During challenging calls, customers are often experiencing confusion, frustration, and maybe even anger. When these emotions are present, the path to a resolution can be filled with obstacles and roadblocks.

You have to acknowledge that there are two people taking the journey on that path – you and the customer. And both need each other to win.

So, you have to accept and understand that you need good collaboration with customers to solve issues. Show you’re on their side and try to get them on your side too.

Having a positive energy and engaging in respectful dialogue with the customer go a long way in moving that process forward.

When customers feel like you care about coming to a solution as much as they do, they will be more than willing to help you help them!

Manage emotions during a call

Communicating back and forth clearly and collaborating positively are key skills in customer service. So is handling emotions.

Being able to understand and manage other people’s feelings (and your own too!) is a superpower in the customer experience industry and one of the most effective conflict resolution skills.

Customer calls can sometimes be filled with negative emotions from touch situations: important errors in a customer’s bill, uncertainty about insurance coverage, problems with product delivery, and more.

Problematic experiences can bring negativity. The ability to identify such emotions and adapt to them can help create a clearer, less tense path for both you and the customer. This allows you to think creatively, logically, and collaboratively about a solution.

A big aspect of emotional intelligence is to also not take anything that happens in these calls personally. You should realize that these calls are about the customer’s issues and nothing more.

As long as you do your best, these interactions say little about you, your work, and your value. Remembering that can help you accept and flow through any negative sentiments from the customer.

Stay present and let go of the past

Agents take dozens and dozens of calls a day. Sometimes, the stress from these interactions can build up and weigh you down. It may even affect your next calls.

That’s why it’s so important to let go of each customer interaction once it’s finished. One of the best tips for managing challenging customer interactions as an employee is to disconnect from them. Avoid carrying that weight with you past the actual calls.

Treat each call as a separate situation. Never bring the rest of your calls into a new one. If you do, it’ll get hard to separate the problems and stresses of one call from another.

Your focus shouldn’t be on the past. It should only be on the current customer issue and finding the right solution.

Focus on the importance of the customer

Often, you start the call with a customer as strangers. You’ve been brought together by their problem and need for assistance. The situation has lots of potential for conflict or negativity, especially between two people who have no real knowledge about each other.

One of the most important things to do is to remind yourself of how important the customer is to you, your client, your client’s business, and therefore your own company’s business. The customer is the lifeblood of the contact center industry.

It can be difficult to remember that while you’re in the middle of a challenging call. But the ability to look beyond the short term (the current customer service interaction) and to remember the long term (the business success and growth from providing quality customer experience) is an important skill to have.

Speak clearly and truthfully

Building trust in a short time – like in customer service calls – can be difficult. The key is to be straightforward and transparent (but polite, of course!) to be able to create a genuine connection with customers.

In a call, a few new issues or problems can come up during the process of trying to resolve the original concern. What can minimize customer frustration during this call is being very honest about how you’re going to handle their issue, any mistakes you might have made, and what they can expect from you.

This creates reasonable expectations, trust, and understanding. Establishing these in a call with a customer you don’t really know is essential. Open communication is the foundation for all these.

Conflicts during calls can be managed positively

Like in any job, conflicts can happen in contact center work. Customer calls can be challenging and tense sometimes.

But as long as you use positive collaboration with customers to solve issues, approach the interaction with understanding and kindness (for the customer and yourself), stay transparent, and value the customer, you’ll do just fine.

These conflict resolution tips for customer service can help you improve your performance and also manage your own stress levels. TTEC values both the customer experience and the employee experience. The customer and the employee are the key parts of TTEC’s success after all.

Hopefully, these tips for managing challenging customer interactions can help those in the contact center industry manage (and enjoy) their work better.

Want to learn more about TTEC’s supportive work culture? Check out our Talent Blog and read more stories about employee successes, our company culture, and more.