What is a service emergency? It occurs when a customer becomes angry, aggressive or abusive. Whether you're front line, or support staff, in customer service or on the production line, you will inevitably have to deal with this type of behavior.

When someone is screaming at you, it is natural to want to scream back at them, especially if you're not responsible for their gripes. But this is likely to make them even more upset. What is better is to follow these six guidelines.

1. Stay Calm and Confident.
Realize you can have negative feelings while choosing not to take negative actions, like screaming back, getting angry, or rolling one's eyes, etc. Rather, take a few deep breaths, show patience and maintain a friendly tone of voice. It also helps to smile (even if you don't really feel like smiling)

2. Avoid Defensiveness.
Your job is to serve customers --- not to defend yourself against them. If a customer makes a disparaging remark or blames you for the problem, don't take it personally. Rather, start taking positive action.

3. Listen To the "Story".
Don't try to cut the person short or begin a "yes-but" response. The customer may have a legitimate reason for her anger no matter how poorly she's expressing it.

4. Show You Care.
Empathize. ("Yes, I can understand how that could be frustrating."). Acknowledge: (Yes, Mrs. Smith, the computers were down yesterday." Paraphrase: ("You're angry because you expected....and....").

5. Start Asking Questions.
Now that you have defused the customer's emotions, move into gathering information about the situation --- the "who, what, when, where, why" and other details. Some questions for fact finding are:
   - Could you tell me...?
   - What specifically?
   - Are you referring to or ...?
   - Can you give me an example?

6. Move Into Problem Solving.
In most cases, once you move the focus from the problem to the solution, the customer will follow your lead. State what you can and will do and check with the customer if that action is acceptable.
   - Check understanding: "So what you need is ...Is that right?"
   - Offer choices: "Do you want...or shall we....?"
   - Take action: "I'll talk to Pat, get it done and call you back this afternoon."

Many service professionals find responding to a customer's anger and frustration to be one of the most difficult communication situations. Remember, if you stay in control of yourself by following the six guidelines, you will remain in control of any service emergency.

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