Investors: Dealing With Angry Callers
By JD Esajian on March 10, 2014
Every time you do a mailing, you expose yourself to scrutiny. If your mailing is to distressed homeowners, you have to understand that you are reaching them at a low point in their lives. Additionally, depending on where they are with their delinquency they may have been received calls and letters for months almost every day. You never know if your letter or call is the one that puts them over the edge and causes them to react. If you are doing any type of mailing, you have to brace for the chance that not every reply will be a kind one.
The best way to handle angry callers is to be quiet and take it. Listen to what they have to say and don’t try to turn the tables back on them. You will find that if you let them vent for a few minutes, they will eventually run out of steam and you may still have a chance to find out if you can work together. Before you even mail, you should be prepared with answers for where you got their information from, how you differ from everyone else that has called them and what will they get out of working with you. Not everyone can take being screamed at or belittled but if you do a mailing you need to accept that it is part of the deal.
What you never want to do is match a caller’s anger. You have every right to attempt to reach out to them and in most cases you are throwing them a lifeline and trying to help. Your information is on any marketing or letter that you sent out so if you match their anger and use profanity or any other method of putting them down it is easy for them to find you online. A quick post on Facebook or any other social media outlet can do more damage to your business than any lost deal would. You need to show restraint and understand that not every call will lead to a deal. In order to get one deal you may have to talk to five angry callers first.
What you will find is that if you can get calmer when they are getting angrier you may actually be able to turn the tables. Most angry homeowners that will call you are looking for a reaction out of you. Once you exhibit that you will remain calm they will have played their hand and lost all their steam. It is not uncommon that once they are done yelling they will be easier to get information from. This all comes back to how you handle them initially and if you respond. There are some callers who are doing nothing more than trying to see how you are different from everyone else that has reached out to them. If you can manage to put yourself in their shoes and understand what they are going through you may actually be able to get a deal out of someone that just a few minutes earlier was screaming at you.
The more people you reach out to, the more likely you will come across a disgruntled person along the way. As hard as it may be never take anything personally. If you are in business long enough it will start to become part of the deal.