If you don't genuinely care about your customer and have an actual interest in what they're saying, no matter how good your words are they won't have a positive affect. Combining genuine care and interest with the proper verbiage is essential to high level communication with customers.
I came across this article I want to share with you: 8 Things You Should Never Say to Customers
At WAC we train and coach quite a bit on verbiage, especially with the front desk, to be sure the right message is coming across.
Using words like "right away" or "immediately" help show what they said was important and that you're going to handle it. For example -"I'll get that handled for you" vs "I'll get that handled for you right away".
Customers also want you to take responsibility, whether or not their request is in your job description. So instead of telling them "what you should do is..." - take care of it! If you absolutely cannot do it for them then let them know "I'll get somebody that can take care of that for you right away".
Here are some examples of word choices we train on at WAC:
Verbiage
- What you say is important, but being GENUINE is more important
- We say “yes” whenever possible
- Say “please”, “thank-you”, and “you’re welcome”
- Do NOT use:
- No
- Policy or guideline
- I don’t know
- Hold on
- Sorry about that
- DO use:
- Yes
- In order to be fair to all members…
- Let me find out for you
- One moment please
- I’m sorry/I apologize
Simple word choices can help defuse an upset member or help them keep from getting upset in the first place. Again, no matter what words you use, if they're not genuine the customer won't buy it. You're better off hiring genuine, service minded people and training/coaching on verbiage than hiring robots that use the right words. You can't train caring (that's a product of upbringing), but you can train verbiage.
Scripting the proper verbiage for front line staff to respond is a great way to begin the customer feedback process. A systematic means of following-up to resolve the issue and communicating back to the member is even more important. Any great tools being used out there to create a resolution process?
ReplyDeleteBob -
ReplyDeleteI agree! We train our staff to get it solved for the member and see it through to the end. Typically (based on the scenario)the information is handed off from the desk to whatever department director it involves and that director follows up with a resolution within 48 hours. We've found this to work out very well and members are happy we follow up so quickly and add the "plus 1" at the end (always a little extra).
I agree with you, as well. I try to take it further with my teams and ask them to smile while answering the phone. The act of smiling puts you and your customer in a better position for a successful call resolution.
ReplyDeleteDani -
ReplyDeleteGreat input on the smile! That's part of our phone service training for the front desk too.
I just read an article by Noah Rikum, who is a Gitomer Certified Speaker, about smiling on the phone. He talked about a study that was recently done using science to prove the affects smiling has on the voice.
I'm looking at the print out taped to the top of my computer as I type this: :) SMILE :). It's amazing how one tiny facial expression can alter how what you say is interpreted.
Thank you, Alan. I will look for Noah Rikum. Found your blog on LinkedIn and am enjoying the read. Hope to comment more in the future.
ReplyDelete