Every hour your business is open, well-meaning employees sabotage your customer service experience and drive customers away. And they do it without any inkling that they’re doing anything wrong.
The culprit isn't "entitlement," tattoos, piercings or creativity with facial hair.
It’s much simpler and more insidious than any of that.
It’s language: the thoughtless use of words and phrases that leave a bad taste in customer mouths.
Which is why, in setting up customer service systems and designing customer experience frameworks for consulting clients, I work so hard to shape the words and turns of phrase that employees deploy in the course of doing business with the customers they serve.
There can be hundreds of interactions between a single customer and the employees who serve her in a service-intensive business (for example, a full-service hotel, a hospital, an outpatient clinic, a restaurant, a financial services institution, a law firm). So many of these language and interaction guidelines I set up for a client business are situation- and industry-specific.
However, some of the most important language guidelines apply across the board, regardless of industry. Here are five of the most persistently problematic from my hall of shame, along with an alternative for each of them that is more effective and less offensive.
1 “You need to _____” [fill out the application form, show your ID, whatever it is].
(A better alternative:‘‘We find it works best when you...’’)
When you tell a customer “You need to…” it makes customers resentful, thinking ‘‘I don’t need to do jack, buddy—I’m your customer!’’) Of course, customers do need to do things (pay their bills, show proper ID when required, and so forth). But there are many other ways to get this point across without baldly ordering a customer around.
2 “Like I said,” (Also: “Again”)
(A better alternative: Simply repeat what you said or find a better way to explain it.)
When you tell a customer, “Like I said, Mrs. Smith, we will be closed on alternate Thursdays from noon to 3 PM,” it conveys to Mrs. Smith that she’s not listening up to your standards! Ditto if you say “Again, Mrs. Smith, ….” As a professional serving customers, it’s your job to convey information, not to judge the attentiveness and comprehension skills of your customers.
3 "To be honest with you,” (Also: "To be perfectly frank,")
(A better alternative: “In my judgment,”)
Think about what this conveys to a customer: If you say “To be honest with you, Mr. Johnson,” what were you doing before that moment with Mr. Johnson—lying to him through your teeth?
4 “You owe us $____’’
(A better alternative: ‘‘Our records show a balance of . . .’’)
Absolutely, customers are going to owe you money–at least I hope they will–and you’ll want to get paid. But it’s generally better to talk euphemistically about moneys owed. “Your balance is,” “Our records indicate a balance,” etc.–the proper wording is often industry-specific, but a blunt “You owe us____” is never going to work. It may get you paid, but it ain’t going to get your customer to return.
5 “Please hold.”
(A better alternative: “May I place you on a brief hold?“)
Now, my mom is a retired English teacher and would probably tell you that the “May I” (vs. “Can I”) is what's important here, but that's not the point I'm trying to make here. While it does sound better to my ear if you say the correct “May I” instead of “Can I,” what’s most important to the customer who’s calling is that he has a choice as to whether to hold or not. Because almost all customers, if given a choice, will happily agree to a brief hold, but only if they know that the choice is theirs. This way they feel confident that the one hypothetical time they may call in the future when they really can’t hold (their kid is having a seizure or whatever), you aren’t going to force them to do so.
Micah Solomon is a customer service consultant, customer experience speaker and bestselling business author, most recently of High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service
