1Feb/12
Imagine the scene, it’s Wednesday afternoon and you are on the phones, a customer query comes in and you answer the query honestly and professionally, yet the customer is unhappy and you are not sure why. Here are some of the things you may have said that might aggravate the matter:
- “Sorry I cannot help you”
Put yourself in the customer’s shoes, they may have been passed around and told this all day and they may be losing their patience. If you think about most the queries you receive in customer services, although you may not be able to resolve the query yourself, I bet you know someone who can help the customer. If you know someone who can help then give the customer their contact details and explain how this person maybe be able to help them. Better yet, transfer them yourself and give them your name as a point of contact. So, instead of saying ‘I can’t help you’ say ‘These are the contact details of the person who can help you and if you need any other help here are my contact details.’ Although you haven’t resolved the customer’s query you have helped them get a step closer to resolving it. - “Don’t blame me”
You need to understand that taking calls in a call centre is a relatively anonymous job, a customer generally isn’t calling to shout at you they are calling to vent about an issue they are having. If a customer shouts, generally (depending on how you have handled the call) a customer is shouting at the company or the issue. The best action to take when a customer is venting like this is to let them say what they need to say, don’t interrupt. Once they have finished, clarify what you believe the issue to be, apologise that they are in this situation then explain the actions you will take to resolve the matter. - “Sorry but it is company policy to …..”
Reciting company policy will not help resolve a customer’s issue; this is just another way of saying ‘sorry I can’t help you’. Instead of focussing on what you can’t do for your customers, focus on what you can do. Present customers with options of what they can do in their situation and then let the customer control how to resolve the issue. - “Hold On”
Just putting a customer on hold can be annoying. Customers respond better to explanations of how you are trying to resolve their query, how long it will take and result they can expect from it. Putting people on hold is the same, explain to the customer why you are putting them on hold and how long they can expect to be on hold or offer a call back at a time convenient to the customer. - “I don’t know” These words should not be in a contact centre agent’s vocabulary. If you don’t know the answer to a question, find out the answer from a team leader or handbook or find out where the customer can find the answer. This saves the customer a lot of time and guess work on their behalf, they will be grateful for the help.
Remember, you can always help a customer in some way, you may not resolve their issue but you can put them on the path to a resolution. Don’t take calls personally remember that the customer is not angry at you but at the situation, I know it’s hard but try not to get emotional!
Carly Smith
New Business Specialist