One of our Shepard Letter subscribers, Tom Korff, wrote in with an important question: how should customer support agents handle callers who are threatening to harm themselves and/or others?
This is a serious topic. I will share my thoughts, but it’s important to note that the brevity of my answer does not diminish the importance of the question. If someone threatens to do harm to themselves or others, it cannot be taken lightly.
If you find yourself in this situation, the first step is to let the customer know that such statements are taken seriously and that you will notify the appropriate authorities. It’s crucial to express this with as much concern and empathy as possible. Following through is just as important, if not more so. You can’t make that statement without acting on it. Once any immediate danger has been addressed, take a moment to reflect. Figure out how to handle a situation like this and create a crisis management process. This process should include informing management and contacting the right authorities. Train everyone in your organization on how to respond using this process. Training is key to ensuring consistency.
While Tom’s question was focused on how to respond in a customer support center, this situation could happen to anyone in almost any department. The key is knowing what to do if and when it does. Again, everyone must know how to respond.
This brings us to a bigger question: What other situations require company-wide training? While not quite as extreme as a customer doing harm to themselves or others, your employees should know what to do during a power outage. Do you have a game plan for snow days? What if the air conditioning goes out on the hottest day of the summer? On a more serious note, does everyone know what to do when the fire alarm goes off? There are plenty of emergency situations where everyone should be trained on how to respond.
By the way, you’re not finished once everyone is properly trained. Repeat training is the only way to ensure everyone is ready to react. Fire drills and other role play should be done regularly to reinforce how to handle extreme issues. For some cases, you may consider repeating these training exercises and drills every six months.
So, make your list. Write out what needs to happen. Get the process on paper and train… and then train again. You never know when you might face one of these situations. When that does happen, you’ll want to be prepared!