De-Escalation Academy

De-escalation Academy is the only training for customer service that not only shows your employees how to redirect verbal aggression and regain control of interactions - but how to get customers to accept their word as final. This comprehensive training will will prepare your employees to use empathy, psychology, and tactical maneuvers to get angry customers to back down.

Your employees will go from feeling overwhelmed and powerless when they have to give customers bad news, to feeling confident, firm, and in-control as they bring down the temperature in interactions and guide customers to next steps.

Note: Each pricing tier grants 12 months' access. The Delegate Site License accommodates 100 Learners and the Delegate Enterprise License accommodates 500 Learners.

What's Inside De-escalation Academy?

The course comprises four modules of hands-on training:

Module 1: Psychological Communication

When things escalate to supervisors, it usually isn't because employees don't have the answers or authority to resolve issues. The instructor's call center management and retail experience tells her it comes down to confidence or lack thereof!

Your employees start the Academy with confidence work to get completely comfortable talking assertively, saying, "Here's what I can do…" and standing firm to get customers to accept their word as final.

Next, the instructor shares her psychology background with your employees to help them confidently redirect interactions. (The instructor has a bachelor's degree in psychology, and taught college-level psych for years.) Inside module one, the instructor helps your employees get results with their words using psychological priming, tactical word choice, and using the customer's own words to redirect emotionally charged interactions.

Finally, your employees uncover what they fear about not giving the customer what they want and giving bad news. They identify a person they see as confident and firm when delivering bad news and de-escalating. They begin the work of overcoming personal pitfalls to navigating through challenging situations with customers.

Highlights:

• Break down the three reasons customers pushback or ask for a supervisor and map out how to use the customer's own words to quickly redirect the conversation, reframe the focus, and move to closure.
• Practice psychological priming, so they tactically influence customers to accept their word (even if the word is 'no' or a denial) as final.
• Strategically use vocal tone and downward inflection to control the conversation and move swiftly to closure.

Module 2: Tactical De-escalation Maneuvers

Inside Module 2, the instructor guides your employees to discover - and practice - six de-escalation techniques to position them to bring down the temperature in emotionally-charged interactions.

Your employees join the instructor in a front-row seat at an intense real-life situation that escalates quickly. They watch with her how an expert labels without judgment, uses the echo tactic, and creates a common ground.

Then, your employees practice each of the six powerful de-escalation tactics and learn how to keep their cool when customers get hot.

Finally, the instructor walks your employees through the S.M.A.R.T. goal-setting to make sure they capture their biggest takeaways and make a plan for taking specific action within seven days.

Highlights:

• See how police officers create common ground in potentially violent situations so your employees can apply the same tactic to getting angry customers to back down.
• Break down the boomerang tactic to pull the information they need out of customers without opening up the door to emotional venting.
• Discover the exact vocal tone employees need to use to assert their authority and redirect intense interactions.

Module 3: 4R De-escalation Method

In Module 3, the instructor gives your employees an easy-to-recall, easy-to-launch, four-step de-escalation method that brings together all of the tactics and confidence work covered so far.

In step one of the 4R Method, the instructor breaks down the power of empathy to link the communication chain, create calm and defuse anger, which slashes average handling time.

The instructor breaks down how to reframe intense interactions to get customers to stop talking and listen to the employee's solutions.

Next, the course covers powerful tactics to put employees in control - and maintain control of intense interactions.

Finally, the course explores how to offer solutions that contain the situation (particularly helpful when you can't give the customer what they want).

Highlights:

• Combine tactical empathy with de-escalation maneuvers to make customers feel understood and to control the interaction.
• Apply the reframing technique to positively position the response to customers, so employees can move to containing the situation and maintaining control of the conversation.
• Redirect interactions when customers are emotional or venting using the Topic Grab approach, so your employees are in the driver's seat.

Module 4: Significant Situations, Q & A + Graduation & Certificates

In the final module inside De-escalation Academy, the instructor sits down with the students to advise on some of their toughest challenges.

Everything from what to say to the customer who uses profanity or cuts you off, to how to handle the customer who immediately asks for a supervisor is discussed.

Highlights:

• The instructor's firm 3-step method for saying 'no' to a customer.
• What to do when you can't give the customer what they want.
• Q & A - The instructor answers all of the questions students submit through text and online form!
• Course Evaluation, Graduation & Certificates!

By the end of this training, your employees will have worked out:

• Exactly what they fear about issuing a denial, telling a customer what they don’t want to hear, or enforcing a contentious policy.
• Getting results with their words using psychological priming to significantly increase the rate of customers accepting their word as final.
• The role empathy plays in making customers feel understood and moving customers out of the emotional right-brain. (Conveying empathy early significantly reduces average handle time.)
• How to tactically use labeling to bring down the temperature in emotionally charged interactions.
• Positive positioning to reframe the customer’s perspective on the issue.
• Why customers pushback or ask for a supervisor.
• Two tools to remove themselves as a threat in the customer’s mind (if the customer sees you as a threat, no meaningful dialogue will take place).
• How to tactically use their voice tone and downward inflection to assert their authority and redirect interactions.
• Why they must link the communication chain to defuse anger and move the customer out of venting.
• Call control techniques that immediately get their average handle time down.

Please Note: The Delegate Enterprise License grants up to 60 employees access to the De-escalation Academy with unique logins.