Phrases to Avoid in Customer Service | Communication skills training

today we are going to learn about the
seven most common phrases that people
just throw around
that are sabotaging their customer
service success
this is from an upcoming course that's
coming out this fall on
danielleconnortraining.com here are the
top seven phrases to get you started you
ready number one
um if i could just get you to do this
for me
okay
when we are going into a business
it is because we are paying them to
serve us
and when we follow that protocol as
customer service agents and we make sure
that everything that we say is coming
from a place of i'm here to serve you
i'm here to serve i'm not here to give
you jobs i'm here to serve you
everything's good
we hear some people however
say things such as okay so if i could
just get you to sign here for me
and then we start saying that and then
other people start saying that and
before you know it
we're starting to boss our customers
around
and they feel like it they might not
even know it
but look at the difference between me
saying to a customer let's say that i'm
at a bank and i need them to sign a
simple form and then i'm gonna go get
them their
loan package
if i were to say to customer number one
all right we're almost done i just need
you to sign at the bottom here for me
all right okay i'll be right back
okay that's one way to do it but you
know what that's kind of like
the customer hears something like this
yeah i'm really busy
i do things like i eat at my desk i boss
people around and i'm about to boss you
around so i need to hey
pay attention i need you to sign here at
the bottom for me do that did you do
that okay and what i'm going to do is
take my pen and i'm going to go sign it
in the back and i will be back are you
paying attention you wait here i'm in
charge you listen goodbye
[Applause]
you know have you felt that way what is
this
you ever felt that way where you're at a
bank or you're at some place and it's as
if the person who's there to serve you
is bossing you around and giving you
orders
when you say to somebody if i can just
get you to blah blah blah for me you are
taking one
very dangerous step
and from that point forward it's a
slippery slope to bossy face town
don't do that
instead remember if i'm shifting the
protocol which is what that is doing
what i mean by that is the protocol is
i'm here to serve you i'm not here to
ask you to do things for me so if
an occasion arises where i need to ask
you to do something for me it's actually
for you
what i want to do is preface the request
with the benefit for the customer for
example
so that i can go get your loan package
for you all that's left to do is just
sign right here at the bottom
great let me go get that for you if
you're going to give somebody an order
if you're going to give someone a task a
request and they're your customer
that's not the regular protocol you have
to preface that with the benefit in it
for them even if it's something simple
like i'm asking you for your account
number when you come in if i'm asking
customer after customer after customer
for the same thing we can get into a
pattern where we'll just whip it out you
know somebody will call us on the phone
and we'll pick it up and be like hey
thanks for calling wells fargo this is
dan can i have your account number
please and we'll think that that's okay
because we hear people do that all the
time we hear bad customer service all
the time
instead if you're making any requests
remember hey thank you for calling wells
fargo retirement plan service is a sedan
so that i can get you started could i
have your account number please
now i'm telling you why i'm asking you
for that so that i can get you started
you're walking into my club
hey welcome to the xyz club so that i
can get you where you need to go as fast
as possible do you have your membership
card with you
simple if i'm a customer and i'm coming
here into your organization on my day
off i'm not doing it so that i can be
bossed around if i wanted to be bossed
around i would do that at home
with olga
let her boss me around
pay her
number two
sorry i'm sorry sorry about that
sorry is one of the phrases or words
that we have to be most cautious of
because it's
greatly overused i mean people overuse
i'm sorry or sorry or sorry about that
in some way
every day way too much and especially
when we get used to using a phrase like
sorry or sorry about that
not only does it hold almost no weight
with people the phrase for example sorry
about that
loosely translated is
up yours you know that's what it means
why would we want to say that to a
customer and let's say that a customer
comes in
they were waiting in line for half an
hour and it turns out that they were in
the wrong line so now they're coming to
you and they're upset about that and
they say something like i was waiting
out there for half an hour and then they
told me when i got to the front of the
line then now i'd come in here and see
you
we tend to say things if we're not
paying attention you know if we're not
in the moment we'll say things like oh
sorry about that can you tell me what
your account number is or we'll say
something like what happened oh sorry
it's very difficult to give a
disingenuous apology without giving the
body check you know ooh sorry about that
what happened
sorry if that's how you felt
right i'm sorry about that
when that happens i'm like what what
what what's what are you body checking
you know so instead
remember that to transform a simple
sorry or oh i'm sorry about that
into an authentic apology you want to
remember to do two different things
number one eliminate the i'm sorry and
replace it with an i apologize
we can say that whole phrase if somebody
deserves it we can say it and remember
to delete phrases such as i'm sorry if
because when we say i'm sorry if
you know
oh i'm sorry if they were rude to you
i'm sorry if that hurt your feelings
i'm sorry if that made you mad i'm sorry
if that was frustrating for you
the i'm sorry if is telling somebody not
only am i not sorry i'm also saying to
you in your face you're a liar that
didn't happen but you know if it did i'd
be sorry but i'm not
that's what we're saying so instead
replace the i'm sorry with an i
apologize and then add a
four and then tell people what you're
really apologizing for
don't be vague remember it's not oh i'm
sorry about that
and it's not
i apologize for that it's
let's say that you were waiting in line
in the wrong line for half an hour it's
not
oh i apologize that you waited in the
wrong line
it's more like
i apologize that you had to go through
that frustrating experience i apologize
for wasting a half an hour of your time
on this beautiful day where you could be
outside i get it so you're in luck now
that you're with me i'm gonna get you to
the finish line in warp speed you ready
so that i can do that for you what's
your account number now i'm
incorporating the first two remember
what a difference
already with just those two just those
two little examples now sorry by the way
that is a common danger phrase that we
can purge from our verbal repertoire
across the board so if that is something
that you
could say a little bit less if it's
something that you recognize you could
purge from your verbal repertoire i want
to know
i want to get an idea of what are the
things that people are going to say
right away i'll purge that in the
comment section jot the word sorry just
one word that will let me know based on
how many people are jotting it in there
if i'm going in the right direction okay
number three
who told you that
now many times
many times when we ask somebody
who told you that
what we mean to say is
who are you working with so that i can
more quickly get you the answer that you
want who are you working with so that i
don't have to waste your time asking you
questions that you've already answered
because i know how frustrating that
could be if we're asking something like
that remember again give the benefit
first so that i don't have to ask you a
bunch of questions you've already
answered could i ask who you're working
with so that i can save you a bunch of
time and frustration
could you let me know who you were
working with before that's very
different from
who told you that
if somebody comes in for example and
let's say that
they say they say to you
i was told that i could return this
within 90 days and your policy is really
within 30 days it's day number 91 anyway
but they think it's day number 89. so if
they come in and they say something like
well i was told that i could bring this
back within 90 days and here i am if
finding the person
who may or may not have told them that
it was 90 days erroneously
if that would make a difference i mean
if they actually could if they found out
that that person said that
change it to 90 days
there might be something to
investigating and finding out who that
person was
generally speaking though if we ask a
customer who told you that do you
remember who told you that
what we're trying to do is play a game
of ketchup you know we're trying to trip
them up and be like nobody told you that
nobody told you nobody here is that dumb
nobody told you that no they didn't
you're just making it up liar
that's what we're kind of saying to them
and that's what they feel that's what we
feel that's what i feel whenever
somebody says to me something like
oh who told you that
i want to say to them
why
what are you going to do something about
it you're going to find them are you
going to find josh anderson here in the
you know united airlines call center
yeah i don't think his name was really
josh anderson so it could have been any
one of your josh andersons does it
matter does it matter does it it doesn't
you know it doesn't matter
however if it does
and i want to find the person you are
working with again put the reason at the
beginning
so that i can get this cleared up for
you as quickly as possible do you happen
to remember the name of the person who
was helping you and then at the end if
you can possibly throw in a
if you don't remember it's okay i can
help you from this point forward
throw that in because nobody wants to be
told
who told you that
can you remember
i thought so
next one can't remember either come on
go on go on next that is what we're
saying to people don't say that unless
it is absolutely necessary to somehow
find the person and then
and then connect them with that customer
again
which is very rarely the case
it does not matter who they were talking
to so just forget about it
forget about it unless it makes a
difference which it probably doesn't
number four
[Music]
our computers are slow today it's coming
just a minute our computers are slow
this computer is so slow
why would we say that
here's what a customer hears when we say
that
[Music]
oh
no
although you're investing your time and
your money here with us we invest in
inferior business products so you're
going to have to wait especially because
there's
nothing
not a thing i could possibly want to
know coming from you
so i'm just going to ask you to sit here
in a moment of awkward silence and i'll
just complain about this
while i wait for the information to come
up i'm actually i'm actually playing
solitaire and i'm just finishing up the
game so if you could just hold your
horses for a minute this is important
unlike you and anything you have to give
me okay so just hold on a minute
why would we say that
time
our computers are giving us the gift of
an extra moment with our customers
think of how precious that is
think of how precious that is we have a
customer sitting in front of us who
almost every time
has spent or is spending money with us
and we could ask them because now we
have them as a captive audience they're
probably sitting down they're
comfortable they're on the phone
we've got them in our grasp they're not
going anywhere because whatever it is
that we're waiting for they're waiting
for it to
and so instead of
taking that opportunity
to say hey you know what well this
information is coming up tell me did you
see the new card offer that we had and
what did you think of it or say while
this information is coming up tell me
what you think of the new remodel did
you find everything that you were
looking for more easily the same what
did you think or
hey while this information is coming up
tell me the last time we spoke you told
me that your nephew was going into a
soccer tournament that's why you got him
those cleats remember that how did he do
in the soccer tournament
i mean
if i don't say something like that what
i'm saying is
you have nothing
nothing
to say that could possibly serve me or
this organization at all because here i
am with a captive audience we have time
i'm staring at you and instead of asking
you something that could benefit the
both of us
i'm going to tell you about our crummy
computer systems
because
that's
better
only a rube does that don't be a rube
instead
when you have that moment in time where
your computer is giving you the gift
of time with your customer
seize on that moment seize it and ask
your customers so that's that's the
starter phrase that you should use
instead of the danger phrase our
computers are slow
say something that begins with
so all this information is coming up
tell me and it's almost as if and it
will become the reality you're saying oh
good i have a minute to talk to you now
that's what it should be
good
while this is happening i'm gonna make
use of this you know 10 seconds five
seconds
and get so much value out of it my
boss's head will pop off when i report
on all the things that i learned during
this moment in time
that's what separates mediocre customer
service agents from customer service
agents who are top in their field
and companies no other companies that
are out there that need top quality
customer service agents they talk
recruiters they wait they talk they
stock and eventually the word gets out
if you are looking for a new job even if
you're not looking for a new job when
the word gets out the type of value that
you bring you start to write your own
ticket and choose where you work rather
than waiting around for someone to give
you a job or applying for jobs and
hoping that someone will give it you
have your choice of jobs because of the
value that you bring to every position
you've ever worked in so to learn more
specific advanced tactics like that that
you can bring with you every every place
i'm going to give you lots more tools
like this in my upcoming course which is
going to be coming out the end of
october so remember vip members if
you're going to take that course
tell me as soon as possible so that i
can get an accurate head count and if
you would like to take some of our
upcoming courses and you don't have your
vip pass yet
if you want one
ask gene for one and we'll make sure
that no matter what your budget is i
mean if you want to get the tools that
will make a difference in your life
and you just don't have the money let me
know and i will work something out so
that you get them because we are all in
this together and we all need every
voice we can possibly get to help
you know pull this global dialogue out
of the cosmic toilet that it tends to be
spiraling down and remember that
no matter what message you have to send
whether it's to your customers or to
your family
anything you have to say you can say it
in a loving way you can be loving with
your customers you can be loving with
your family you can be loving with total
strangers you can be loving with
yourself
i can help you do that if you have any
challenges so remember if you have any
questions or need some help being more
loving or saying things in a loving way
or if you're here to serve and you want
to have more of a service oriented
attitude let me know ask the questions i
will answer them in a video response
like this or
get in touch with me at dan
danoconotraining.com
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here at dan o'connor trading remember
say it in a loving way and for everyone
here i'm signing off
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]