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Transcript of Customer care workshop
TOM MBOYA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
A constituent College of
Maseno University
P.O Box 199 - 40300, Homa Bay.
Email: [email protected]
Workshop Theme:
CUSTOMER CARE
Ref: Workshop.sem/Staff/vol.3Motto: Never tell customers; it’s wrong! before exacerbating the situation.
PART ONE
Specific Workshop Objective:
Staff Interaction with Public, before, during & after
Professional service delivery within
TOM MBOYA UNIVERSITY.
What is Customer Care?
Customer care is the provision of service to
customers before, during and after the professional service delivery to the satisfaction of
the customers.
The perception of success of such interactions is
dependent on staffs "who can adjust themselves to the
personality of the guest".
@S O William defines;
Customer care as
"part of Top-down Management Care focused on
ascertaining confidence to Customers whose Needs &
Wants will be satisfied".
Yes! Safaricom customer care services is
always available 24/7, providing relentless service to public; without
a camouflage spirit . But no one ever go-back to say thank you for
such service.Why?
Participants to give their view!!!
The Customer Experience CX Value Equation:
Customer Experience (CX) is a complex practice area that
requires clear vision, the right tools, and great execution to
succeed.
According to Jeff Griebeler of Oracle White Paper (2012),
Customer Experience-CX focuses on three major areas:
1) Acquisition (A), 2) Retention (R), and 3) Efficiency (E).
These areas play a critical role in any learning institute, government, business
(public or private) and non-profit organizations.
CX VALUE EQUATION: CX = A + R + E
Acquisition refers to the ability of an Institution/organization to increase its
customer base; TOM MBOYA UNIVERSITY
Through her staff ’s customer care shall;• Generate more economic opportunities e.g.
Business Incubation Program• Increase TM University brand equity• Increase TM University Academic Market Share
CX VALUE EQUATION: CX = A + R + E
Retention is the ability of an Institution/organization to keep & grow
the customers it already has;TOM MBOYA UNIVERSITY
Through her staff ’s customer care shall;
• Increase share of wallet-improved economies of scale • Shall drive Loyalty of the public through high
admissions & Community development projects• Shall also drive strong academic Advocacy to the
public and Job creation activities.
CX VALUE EQUATION: CX = A + R + E
Efficiency allows an Institution to do more with less.
TOM MBOYA UNIVERSITY Through her staff ’s customer care shall;
• Improve on return-on-investment/capital for TM University, staff & public.
• Increase socio-economic productivity of every sector of economy within TM University reach.
• Reduce cost of economic operations, and increase revenue/income of stakeholders.
CX VALUE EQUATION: CX = A + R + E
The CX Value Equation effectively defines a mapping or translation layer between a Students/Public strategy and
Tom Mboya University Mission line.
PLEASE REMEMBER!!!The Customer Experience Value Equation consists of three main
practice areas: Acquisition, Retention, and Efficiency.
CX VALUE EQUATION: CX = A + R + E
CX VALUE EQUATION: CX = A + R + E
#1 Acquisition (short-notes)
Acquisition focuses on how an organization can increase its
customer base by gaining new or additional customers; Acquisition
can be decomposed into above three business challenges:
CX VALUE EQUATION: CX = A + R + E
#2 Retention (short-notes)
Retention focuses on how organizations keep their customers,
to reduce churn and to increase their life-time value. Above are three important business challenges
associated with Retention:
CX VALUE EQUATION: CX = A + R + E
#3 Efficiency (short-notes)
Efficiency focuses on doing the right operational activity to deliver the
desired results at a lower cost to the organization. Listed above are also
three important business challenges in this area:
When focusing on culture of the organization Customer service comes as a top priority, an organization that
values good customer service may spend more money in training
employees, since Customer serviceplays an important role in an
organization's ability to generate income and revenue.
Customer SupportCustomer support by TMUC
Staff to TMUC Customers (Students) is a range of
academic services to assist students in making cost
effective and correct use of our career options.
This include assistance in;• TMUC Academic Planning, • Knowledge & Skills Installation,• Academic & Professional Training, • Business Trouble shooting for SME’s, • Maintenance, • Upgrading, and disposal
of our courses.
Customer Support at TMUC is all about;Conviction, Trust, Satisfaction, Loyalty,
Goodwill, Commitment, Delight, & Experience as pictured below;
Instant feedbackRecently, many organizations have implemented feedback loops that
allow them to capture feedback at the point of experience. For example,
National Express has invited passengers to send text messages
whilst riding the bus.
Standardization:ISO and The International Customer Service Institute (TICSI)
have published the following ones:
1. ISO 9004:2000, on performance improvement2. ISO 10001:2007, on customer service conduct3. ISO 10002:2004, on quality management in handling
customer complaints4. ISO 10003:2007, on dispute resolution5. The International Customer Service Standard (TICSS)6. CCQA Customer Care Standard (Care Quality Alliance) 7. www.CCQA.org.uk
There is also an Information Technology service management standard: ISO/IEC 20000:2005. Its first part concerns specifications
and its second part the code of practice.
Tom Mboya UniversityTherefore needs the right set of
skills when hiring staffs both Academics and Non-academics for an all-important team who will be
taking care of their customers (students).
FIFTEEN CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS
EVERY EMPLOYEE NEEDS
Below are customer service skills that all employees of
TOM MBOYA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
Must master if they are forward-facing with students and public.
Without these skills; Tom Mboya University College
run the risk of finding our operations in an embarrassing customer service train-wreck,
or we'll simply lose students and public trust as our services continues
to let people down.
1. PatienceNot only is patience important to customers, who often reach out to support when they are confused and frustrated, but
it's also important to the business at large:
N/B: great service beats fast service every single time.
Yet patience shouldn't be used as an excuse for slothful service
either!Derek Sivers explained his view on "slower" service as being an
interaction where the time spent with the customer was used to
better understand their problems and needs from the Organization.
If you deal with customers on a daily basis, be sure to stay patientwhen they come to you stumped
and frustrated, but also be sure to take the time to truly figure out
what they want; they'd rather get competent service than be rushed
out the door!
2. AttentivenessThe ability to really listen to customers is so crucial for providing great service for a
number of reasons.Not only is it important to pay attention to individual customer interactions (watching
the language/terms that they use to describe their
challenges’), but it's also important to be mindful and attentive to the feedback that
you receive at large.What are your customers telling you without saying it?
3. Clear Communication SkillsMake sure you're getting to the problem
at hand quickly; customers don't need your life story or to hear about how your
day is going.More importantly, you need to be cautious about how some of your
communication habits translate to customers, and it's best to err on the side
of caution whenever you find yourself questioning a situation.
An example under Clear Communication Skills;The last time I went to get work done on my car, I
was told by an employee that if I wanted to get an oil change, it would be "included" in my final bill.
I thought that meant I'd be getting it for free, yet as it turns out, that wasn't the case. The employee
apologized and I truly believe it was an accident (they just worked there), but I haven't been back to
that garage since because of the miscommunication.When it comes to important points that you need to relay clearly to customers, keep it simple and leave
nothing to doubt.
4. Knowledge of TMUC Academic & Professional
ProgramsThe best forward-facing staffs in TMUC
will work on having a deep knowledge of how our University programs runs.
It's not that every staff to know all courses offered in every school from scratch, but rather they should know the ins and outs of University
programs, just like students and public who uses it every day would.
Without knowing your running programs from front-to-back, you
may not know how to assist students, parents, and the public who comes to
you, when they run into any challenge.
5. Ability to Use "Positive Language"
Sounds like fluffy nonsense, but your ability to make minor changes in your conversational patterns can truly go a long way in creating happy customers.Language is a very important part of
persuasion, and people (students) create perceptions about you and your
University based of the language that you use.
Here's an example: Let's say a customer contacts you with an interest in a particular product, but
that product happens to be backordered until next month.
Small changes that utilize "positive language" can greatly affect how the customer hears your
response...•Without positive language: "I can't get you that
product until next month; it is back-ordered and unavailable at this time."
•With positive language: "That product will be available next month. I can place the order for you
right now and make sure that it is sent to you as soon as it reaches our warehouse."
The first example isn't negative by any means, but the tone that it conveys feels abrupt and impersonal, and can be taken
the wrong way by customers.
Conversely,
The second example is stating the same thing (the item is unavailable), but instead focuses on when/how the
customer will get to their resolution rather than focusing on the negative.
6. Acting SkillsSometimes you're going to come across people that you'll never be able to make
happy.Situations outside of your control (they
had a terrible day, or they are just a natural-born complainer) will sometimes
creep into your usual support routine, and you'll be greeted with those "barnacle"
customers that seem to want nothing else but to pull you down.
Every great customer service representative will have those basic acting skills necessary to maintain
their usual cheery persona in spite of dealing with people who may be just
plain grumpy.
7. Time Management SkillsHey!, despite my many research-backed
on why you should spend more time with customers, the bottom line is that there is
a limit, and you need to be concerned with getting customers what they want
in an efficient manner.The trick here is that this should also be
applied when realizing when you simply cannot help a customer.
If you don't know the solution to a problem, please! please! the best kind of
support member will get a customer over to someone who does.
Don't waste time trying to go above and beyond for a customer in an area where
you will just end up wasting both of your time , Organization and customer’s! time
8. Ability to "Read" CustomersYou won't always be able to see
customers face-to-face, and in many instances (nowadays) you won't even
hear a customer's voice!That doesn't exempt you from
understanding some basic principles of behavioral psychology and being able to "read" the customer's current emotional
state.
This is an important part of the personalization process as well, because
it takes knowing your customers to create a personal experience for them.
More importantly though, this skill is essential because you don't want to
mis-read a customer and end up losing them due to miscommunication.
Look and listen for subtle clues about their current mood, patience level, personality, etc., and you'll go far in keeping your customer interactions positive.
9. A Calming PresenceThere are a lot of metaphors for
this type of personality: "keeps their
cool," "staying cool under pressure,"
etc., but it all represents the same thing: the ability that some people
have to stay calm and even influence others when things get a
little hectic.
I've had my fair share of hairy hosting situations, and I can tell you in all honesty that
the #1 reason I stick with certain hosting companies is due to the ability of their
customer support team to keep me from pulling my hair out.
The best customer service representative know that they cannot let a heated customer
force them to lose their cool; in fact it is their job to try to be the "rock" for a customer
who thinks the world is falling down due to their current problem.
10. Goal Oriented FocusThis may seem like a strange thing to list as a customer service skill, but I assure
you that it is vitally important.Relying on frameworks like the Net
Promoter Score can help businesses come up with guidelines for their employees that allow plenty of freedom to handle customers on a case-to-case basis, but also leave them priority solutions and
"go-to" fixes for common problems.
11. Ability to Handle SurprisesSometimes the customer support world
is going to throw you a curveball.Maybe the problem you encounter isn't
specifically covered in the Organization’s policy, or maybe the customer isn't
reacting how you thought they would.Whatever the case, it's best to be able to think on your feet, but it's even better to create guidelines for yourself in these
sorts of situations.
•Who?•One thing you can decide right off the
bat is who you should consider your "go-to" person when you don't know what to
do. The CEO might be able to help you, but you can't go to them with every
single question! Define a logical chain for yourself to use, then you won't be left
wondering who you should forward the problem too.
•What?•When the problem is noticeably out of your league, what are you going to send
to the people above? The full conversation, just the important parts, or maybe some highlights and an example
of a similar ticket?•How?
•When it comes time to get someone else involved, how are you going to
contact them?
12. Persuasion SkillsTo truly take your customer service skills to the next level, you need to
have some mastery of persuasion so that you can convince interested
customers that your services are right for them.
It's not about making a sales pitch, but it is about not letting potential customers slip away because
you couldn't create a compelling message that your company's product is worth purchasing!
13. TenacityA great work ethic and a willingness to do what
needs to be done (and not take shortcuts) is a key skill when providing the kind of service that people
talk about.Many memorable customer service stories out there were created by a single employee who
refused to just do the "status quo" when it came to helping someone out.
Remembering that your customers are people too, and knowing that putting in the extra effort will
come back to you ten-fold should be your driving motivation to never "cheat" your customers with
lazy service.
14. Closing AbilityBeing able to close with a customer means
being able to end the conversation with confirmed satisfaction and with the customer feeling that everything has been taken care of
(or will be).Getting booted after a customer service call or
before all of their problems have been addressed is the last thing that customers
want, so be sure to take the time to confirm with customers that each and every issue
they had on deck has been entirely resolved.
Your willingness to do this show the customer
Three very important things:• That you care about getting it right• That you're willing to keep going
until you get it right• That the customer is the one
who determines what "right" is.When you get a customer to,
"Yes, I'm all set!" is when you know the conversation is over.
15. Willingness to LearnThose who don't seek to improve
what they do, whether it's building products, marketing businesses, or
helping customers, will get left behind by the people willing to
invest in their skills.
Six keys to improving Customer service skills
How to make sure your service team is skilled, empathetic, and engaged
No matter how great your product is, or how talented your staff is, one of the
things that customers are most likely to remember is the direct interaction they
have with your Organization.
Bottom line: Your customer service team is often the face
of your company, and customers’ experiences will be defined by the skills and
quality of the support they receive.A strong company will always have great customer
relationships. But
A smart company will always be asking “What is good for customer service?”
If you are not constantly on the lookout for opportunities to improve your customer
service, then your relationships will stagnate.
Here are six customer service tips for identifying ways to better serve customers.
1.STRENGTHEN YOUR
CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLSFirst, it’s important to make sure that your
customer service team has the right skills for your managing customers’ needs.
Following are skills you should be looking for in a customer service representative?
•Empathy, patience and consistency. Some customers will be irate. Others will be full of questions. And others will just be chatty. You must know how to handle all of them and provide the same level of service every time.
• Adaptability. Every customer is different, andsome may even seem to change week-to-week. Youshould be able to handle surprises, sense thecustomer’s mood and adapt accordingly. This alsoincludes a willingness to learn– providing goodcustomer service is a continuous learning process.
•Work ethic. Customers appreciate arepresentative who will see their problem throughto its resolution. At the same time, you must havegood time management skills and not spend toomuch time handling one customer while others arewaiting.
• Knowledge. Ultimately your customers rely onyou for their knowledge of your product/services.
• Thick skin. The customer’s always right… right?The ability to swallow one’s pride and acceptblame or negative feedback is crucial. Whetheryour team works directly with customers orlooking for feedback on social media, they’ve
got to keep the customer’s happiness in mind.
• Clear communication. Ensure you convey tocustomers exactly what you mean.
2. LOOK AT EVERY TOUCH POINT
A bad customer experience at any point in the customer lifecycle can ruin your
relationship. In addition to making sure the right skills are demonstrated, you need to be
sure they’re being demonstrated consistently. Pay the most attention to key
touch points, but make sure you have a full view of the customer experience, or you risk
lapses in service that can really hurt business.
3.IMPROVE YOUR CUSTOMER
INTERACTIONSIf the staffs have the necessary skill set, that’s a good start.
But they still need to relate to customers.
Through;• Identifying a common ground–like shared
interest–with the public.• Practice active listening so your
customers feel heard. Clarify and rephrase whatthe customers say to ensure you understand them.Empathize with and reflect their feelings by sayingthings like, “That must have upset you” or “I can seewhy you feel slighted.”
•Admit your mistakes, even if you discoverthem before your customers do. This buildstrust and restores confidence. It also allows youto control the situation, re-focus the customer’sattention and resolve the issue.
•Follow-up after a problem is solved. Makesure the issue stays fixed and that yourcustomers were satisfied with the service.Sending an email or even a feedback survey isan excellent way to let the customer knowyou’re still on their side.
•Admit your mistakes, even if you discover them before your customers do.
This builds trust and restores confidence. Italso allows you to control the situation, re-focus the customer’s attention and resolve theissue.
•Follow-up after a problem is solved.Make sure the issue stays fixed and that your
customers were satisfied with the service. Sending an email or even a feedback survey is
an excellent way to let the customer know you’re still on their side.
4. ENHANCE YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE
STRATEGYYour staff may have the skills and know-how to interact with your customers. But what
organizational strategies can you employ to please customers? Practice proactive customer service by making your customers happy before they come to you with
problems. Here’s how:
•Get personal. Your customers want to feel like they have access to real people, not bots and FAQs. Offer more than
just automated email responses, and do not let your telephone prompts or website send them down a rabbit
hole. Take full advantage of social media (such as Face book, Twitter and Yelp) and write responses when your customers
post on your page. Post photos and bios on your website. This shows your customers that you are real people working
on their behalf.
•Be available: Part of the personal touch is making sure your customers can reach you.
For example if your business is primarily online, meet in person occasionally with local
customers and offer video calls (such as Skype) for those farther away. Work early and
late when needed, especially if your customers are in different time zones. Even
providing customers with your physical address helps build their trust and reminds
them that your company exists off the internet as well.
• Cater to your customers:Make sure you are fully meeting your customers’ needs. Consider assigning reps to specific customers so they can
build a relationship. Offer VIP treatment for your best customers to let them know
they are appreciated. What special services might your customers like? Set
up focus groups, interview customers, or run a survey to get ideas.
•Create communities.Your customers will feel even more valued if you treat them as important members of a
community. You can bring various customers together in numerous ways, including
webinars, interactive websites, social media, trade shows and conventions. And don’t
forget that while your customers come to these forums to learn from you, you can learn
as much–if not more–from them.
5. MAKE SURE YOUR
REPRESENTATIVES ARE ENGAGED
You can have the best customer service skills and the best training in the world, but if your representatives are checked out, it won’t matter at all. Improving
employee engagement is another way to make sure customers have a great
experience.
Dissatisfied employees are unlikely to come forward with their problems, so
consider an anonymous suggestion box or an employee engagement survey to see what makes your employees tick.
Since engagement can vary from industry to industry, you may also want to look at more specific data through a
service like;Survey Monkey Benchmarks.
6. GIVE YOUR CUSTOMERS
A WAY TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK
No matter how proactive you are, you’ll never be able to get in front of every
customer issue. To make sure you learn about the good, the bad, and the ugly
experience your customers have, create an easily accessible way for customers to
give feedback.
Whatever steps you choose to take, remember feedback is
importance to customer satisfaction. Unsure what your strengths and
weaknesses are? Don’t know why the numbers are
dipping? Make an effort to get closer both to your
customers and your representatives.
Factors to Successful Customer Service Care
Customer Communication, Love, Loyalty & Retention
Ask any consumer what their number one reason for shying away from buying
through a mobile app is, and they will tell you something along the lines of,
“If the purchase doesn’t go right, I’m not going to have any help!”
Asking a person to part with their hard-earned money is a struggle all businesses face, and
customers want to feel confident that if something goes wrong in their transaction, your company or
Organization will be there to make it right.
-1-LISTEN
Listening tops the list because it is the most important thing your brand can do. Let your customers talk and tell you what
happened, or how you can make it right.
Your brand shouldn’t assume anything. Are you making it easy to listen to your
customers?
Are you giving them obvious channels to communicate with you, inside your apps?
If you’re not actively investing in listening capabilities, you’re missing a lot
of easy wins with your best customers.
Listening to customers opens the door for changes that must be made across all
parts of your marketing, product, and business strategies.
-2-GET FEEDBACK
Collecting feedback doesn’t just mean you should send out surveys about your
service. What getting feedback really involves is
encouraging suggestions from your customers.
You have to be proactive about feedback; x
You must get feedback from customers by starting more conversations.
e.g. simple fill-in questionnaire
-3-ANTICIPATE NEEDS
Anticipating customer behavior is a skill for all customer success teams to master.
Spend time learning what your customers want and need before they tell you in
order to offer the best experience possible.
Mobile is ripe for opportunity in allowing brands to learn so much about what a customer has done and what they’re
currently doing,
But it’s up to the brand to use this data to build richer profiles
and understanding of its customers.
Any opportunity to demonstrate your brand actually
knows its customers is an opportunity to impress them and
delight them.
-4-BE FAIR WHEN SAYING NO
There are times when a customer wants you to do the impossible, and in those
moments, it’s easy to lose your cool and approach them in an unfair manner.
However, if you have been fair in your response, the customer will be more receptive to the things you can do for them to make their experience better.
Brands lean on different ways to say no: no with more detail, an explanation
around why the request isn’t possible at the time, or even an apology is much
better than a flat out “no.” When you involve the customer in the
process or the challenges you’re facing as a brand, you invite them to see you as
someone with a complex job working at a brand that cares, rather than as someone
who rejects them.
-5-KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS
If your customer base is not technologically savvy, you can’t talk to
them like they are Steve Wozniak. Alternatively, if you have a highly skilled
customer base, don’t talk to them like the just bought their first Smartphone.
It’s crucial to work to understand your customers by asking them more about their experience, what their names are, and what they’re trying to do with your app and your company to offer them the best
customer service experience possible. When you deeply understand where people are
coming from, you can help them figure out how to get where they need to go.
The first step to understanding your customers is through implementing app analytics to understand what they are doing, in addition to communicating
with individual customers to learn about why.
-6-TRUST YOUR CUSTOMERS
It’s an unfortunate fact that there are people out there trying to get something
for nothing, but if you assume this behavior of everyone; especially your
customers; then you are sure to anger a fair share of your customer base. If you’re focused on the long-term, you know that
customer trust is hugely important to loyalty.
-7-SAY “YES”
From a customer’s perspective, “yes” is the ultimate favor a brand can do for them.
Whenever a customer has a reasonable request, try as hard as possible to accommodate them. Saying yes a couple of times will go a long way with most people as it induces positive feelings
and a sense that the company is invested in helping them out. Whenever you’re about to
give a quick “no,” take another look and consider a simple “yes” an easy win.
-8-VALIDATE CUSTOMER CONCERNS
Never argue with your customer or put them on the defensive. When a disagreement arises,
do anything you can to understand their frustration before you figure out a way to help them. Validating their frustration and showing
that you see how they feel is the first start in fixing the problem. How each person feels is
their own emotion, and as a customer service provider, you can’t tell them that it’s wrong without likely exacerbating the situation.
-9-GIVE MORE THAN EXPECTED
Nordstrom Company in USA is a brand who always gives more to its customers than expected when a person returns a purchase or complains about a product,
and they have lifelong customers as a result. The ethos of the company gives
every employee the freedom to do what is right for the customer rather than
providing just the bare minimum.
Oftentimes, this model completely surprises and delights the
customer in a frustrated time, opening the door to build loyalty
and trust.
-10-MAKE YOUR CUSTOMER FEEL
APPRECIATEDLast but not least, making your customer feel appreciated is a point that’s implicit
in much of this advice. When you treat and every customer as a person, and when you appreciate their
feedback, their time, and their business, you’ll make different decisions.
If you truly focus on making your customers feel appreciated, you’ll be well on your way to delivering an experience
that is exceptional and, in mobile; we know that the experience matters more
than anything. Treat your customers with respect and
appreciation at every opportunity.
Establish a Consistent Style of SpeechNo brand is complete until a brand-appropriate style of speaking with
customers is in place at all levels of the enterprise. You should therefore work to achieve a consistent (although not stilted
or overly scripted-sounding) style of service speech.
Here, for example, are some good/bad language choices I use in my private Consultancy office.
I’ve prepared for my own businesses. It’s certainly not surgical rocketry to be good to your client or
business partner(s).
Bad: ‘‘You owe . . .’’Good: ‘‘Our records show a balance of . . .’’
Bad: ‘‘You need to . . .’’ (This makes some customers
think: ‘‘I don’t need to be your baby! - I’m your customer!’’)
Good: ‘‘We find it usually works best when . ..’’
Language is important not just to how we communicate with our customers
but to how we communicate with ourselves.
The right words can put an irritated customer at ease and help you
approach difficult situations with greater ease.
Effective customer service language can take a long time to master.
Give your communication repertoire a shot in the arm with these five quick
customer service language.
Use “We” sometimes and “I” sometimesAs explored below!!
Use the word “we”
to let the customer know you are on the same team and working towards
the same goal; use the word
“I” when you need to take accountability
for the situation or your company.
‘We’ and ‘I’ send different signals to the listener, and which signal you want to deliver
depends heavily on the message you want them to receive.
Use “I Apologize” Instead Of “I’m Sorry”There’s nothing wrong with “I’m sorry,” but “I apologize” is softer. “I apologize”
sends a better message to your own head as well.
Small business owner and Social Media Manager at CTS, Tricia Keels
began using “I apologize” in her customer interactions, and it made a large
impact. “It completely empowers me and” she says. “I become more focused on fixing the customer’s problem and less
on my mistake.”
Use “I Don’t” Instead Of “I Can’t”This language hack is used to shape
your own mindset within a conversation. “I don’t” empowers you
because it tells your brain that you have made a choice. “I can’t”
registers as something that is being forced on you.
Feeling empowered can keep you in control during a tough customer
call. Remember, you can almost always do something for a customer, even if it’s
finding someone else to resolve the issue.Focus On “Value”
“Value” is an extremely powerful word in customer-facing interactions.
Use phrases like the following:• I value your opinion• We want you to know we value you as a
customer, of course; don’t say it if you can’t prove it; even the best words are meaningless if they have no substance.
CUSTOMER SERVICE LANGUAGE
DON’T SAY DO SAY
1She’s not in. She is away from her desk. May I take a message?
2She already left. She is away from her desk. May I take a message?
3I don’t know. May I call you back in 15 minutes with the answer?
4We can’t do that. We can handle that. Here is the information I will need to help you.
5Who is this? May I have your name?
6Why do you want to talk to her? May I tell her who is calling?
7
She is not taking any calls.She is away from her desk. May I take a message or give you her voice mail?
8You did not pay your bill on time. I do not see your payment.
9You did not fill out the form right. I would be happy to help you complete the form.
10I can’t help you. Here is what I can do for you.
11It is against our policy. In order to be fair to everyone, our policy is…. The guidelines are …
12
You reached the wrong department. I will transfer you; here is the number in case you get disconnected.
You have reached XYZ. I need to connect you to ABC. For the future the phone number is…..
13That is not my job. I am not familiar with this but ____ is, let’s call him.
Words You Should Not Use Can’t Against Not Won’t Don’t Unable Always Never *Sorry But You have to….
*Do not ever say sorry to an irate customer. If you say sorry it opens you up
to a personal attack. You should say I apologize.