By Sherrie Funk

Okay, okay, I know. I’m using one of those song title things again. This time it has to do with handling clients when they are angry or defensive. All of us have clients. All of us know that not all of them behave like angels. Clients are people, and from time to time they act like the north end of a southbound horse — especially when they are upset or angry. How do you handle an irate client and keep him?
A few weeks ago, my husband and business partner Charlie was out of the office one afternoon. Now, for those of you who don’t know my husband, he is a big guy, and acts as our front four in handling damage control for us. However, this particular afternoon he was away, and we had a client come by who demanded, not asked, but demanded to speak with the manager. Our agent who had been working with this lady came back into my office and explained the situation to me.
Basically, here’s what happened:
• This couple was scheduled to sail on the Pride of Aloha;
• They got on their flight with other passengers who had booked the same cruise through an Internet agency;
• We had booked NCL’s air for them;
• They were in the air headed for Honolulu when the flight had a mechanical malfunction and a forced landing in LAX;
• A supposed 30-minute delay turned into three hours;
• The next flight that the airline could have put them on had already departed;
• They had to be switched to another airline;
• Needless to say, they missed the ship and had to fly into Kauai to meet the ship the next day;
• They got to Kauai around midnight, and checked into the first hotel near the airport they could find with availability;
• The “new” airline they were put on would not pay for their room;
• They called us the following day to let us know what had happened;
• Our agent apologized for the inconvenience and asked that they send us a letter explaining everything in detail when they returned so we could send it along with a cover letter to NCL. She also told the client that she had trip cancellation/interruption insurance, and that her delay should be covered;
• On their return, the client called our office and demanded that our agent get the forms from the insurance company, fill them out for her and send them in. Of course, we can’t do this because our client knew exactly what had transpired in order to file the claim.
That’s the gist of what happened. Now, on the afternoon that I mentioned above, Charlie walked in as I was in the middle getting my backside chewed up one side and down the other. The client’s monologue — and I do call it that because there was no dialogue between us — started out by her saying, “I had never used your agency before, but saw your ad with prices that my ‘other’ travel agent couldn’t get. We decided to give you a try, but I can promise you that I will never book with you again and will tell all of my friends not to, either.”
WOW!! Why not just smack me in the face and throw cold water on me? It would have had the same impact. I didn’t know what to say. I was getting the brunt end of something over which our agency had no control. My first impulse was to fight back with all the excuses of why it wasn’t our fault. But, I decided to try something different.
I let the client talk — and talk — and talk — and talk.
After about 30 minutes of beating me up, she finally ended her conversation with, “Thank you for letting me vent.” And I hadn’t even said a word. Nothing. Nada. Nunca. Nil. I just let her talk.

Then, I pulled out my handy-dandy “feel, felt, found” pistol, and let her have it.
• I know how you feel.
• I have felt that way myself.
• However, I have found that.......
The problem with an irate client like I had is actually two problems in one. First, you have to deal with the customer’s feelings. Then you have to try as best you can to solve the problem that made her mad in the first place. If you solve the problem without making an effort to soothe her anger, she probably won’t be back. I think I did both, because she calmed down, and actually said that she knew we couldn’t help what happened with the airlines. Her vacation started off terribly, and yes, someone was at fault, but obviously, it wasn’t us.
If you’re right, there’s no reason to lose your temper. It would have been easy for me to jump in and interrupt this lady with all kinds of reasons why all of these things had happened to her. Never allow the client to put you on the defensive. Remember: “Feel, Felt, Found.” It’s only normal to want to defend yourself when a client verbally assaults you, but it only makes things worse. Lashing back, or saying, “Don’t blame our agency. We didn’t do it,” or making excuses will only make her angrier.
Take the offensive with a positive approach. Not one time did I allow the client to sit. I stood so she would have to stand and look me in the eye. I kept a comfortable distance from her, but looked into her eyes with concern and compassion while she was talking. I pulled out the old “Feel, Felt, Found” and offered suggestions on what we could do to help her solve the problem and make things “right” for her.
Now, I know you’re all wondering how this turned out. It’s still not over. At the end of her monologue when we actually had a conversation, I tried to bring the incident to a polite close by asking her to please send us a written document describing everything that happened so we could assist her in getting some type of compensation. Then I asked if there was any other way I could be of help that afternoon. Assuming that the answer was no, I thanked her for letting us know about her problem and that we would assist her any way we could in getting her travel insurance claim filed and in letting the supplier involved know about our displeasure in how things were handled.
As a last thought on handling irate clients, remember this client provided us with a lot of information that we passed along to our suppliers to prevent problems like this from happening in the future. A client with the passion to get angry also has the ability to be loyal. Remember, it’s the nice clients who quietly walk away and don’t come back who do the most damage. My key words to this lady were, “We can’t let our suppliers know about problems that their employees are creating if we don’t know about them.” And, then, I thanked her for the opportunity to be of service, because I knew how she was feeling. I had felt the same way myself. But, I found that if...

Sherrie Funk and husband Charlie own Just Cruisin! Plus, Nashville. They founded the Travel Agent Management Academy to educate owners and managers about the techniques that have been instrumental to their agency’s success.