How do you talk to customers in an emergency?

It's important to remain calm. This gives clients confidence that you can help them and that you know what to do. Depending on the emergency, it can be helpful to practice using active listening and reflective listening skills. Active listening is making sure you are fully engaged with what the person is saying. This involves non-verbal cues, reflective listening, and open ended questions. Reflective listening involves skills such as restating, mirroring, paraphrasing, clarifying and summarizing. This helps you get as much information about the situation as possible while helping the customer feel heard and understood. If the emergency is more acute (such as in a natural disaster situation) make sure the customer is safe first.

Having a variety of ways to communicate is vital. For example, if you need to walk a customer through a technical and complex computer issue--a phone call would be preferable to a long and complex email. However, if the customer prefers an email due to limited time, be sure to accommodate their preference if possible.

While it is perfectly acceptable to admit that you do not know something, or have all the answers, it is key to pair that with the assurance that you will do whatever you can to find the answers that are needed. It can be as simple as a "I am not sure, but I can look into that for you." To " I can't answer that question, but I can direct you to resources that can help." The key, especially in an emergency, is an assurance that you are helping the person asking for help, however you can.

In my work with Victim's assistance, it's always been a good stance not to use the words "I understand how you feel." We cannot possibly understand how someone will react to an emergency, since we all respond differently. We encourage our agents to listen actively, and use phrases like "I can't imagine what you are going through."

Showing empathy and compassion is key to success when clients are going through scary situations. This is how you build trust and reassure them that you care and can help them. If a client does not trust you--they might simply hang up. Take the time to show empathy and compassion not only at the beginning of the call, but throughout the interaction.