May 05 2009
How To Avoid Negativity In Customer Service
To provide great service, avoid negativity in customer service. What exactly does this mean? It simply means to avoid focusing on negative outcomes and negative communications. In order to make this important process operate effective, customer representatives must be empowered to act on problems but it will create customer loyalty and repeat business for your organization.
When a client contacts your business, either by telephone or in person, the last thing they want to hear is, ‘I can’t do anything about this matter,’ or, ‘no, that is against company policy’. Of course, at times company policy has to come first but it is simply a matter of communicating in a non-negative way.
When the client initiates contact, the first statement that he or she should hear from a representative of the business is, "I can and will help you". From that point only, the resolution of the problem should be given priority and done in a positive, caring manner. No matter how frustrated the client may be with the situation, the problem will be diffused if everything that is communicated to them involves positive statements, positive actions and positive attention to their needs.
Words that need to be avoided to avoid negativity in customer service include: no, never, not, impossible, unlikely, not normally, unable, incapable, can’t, won’t, shouldn’t, not until, not at this time, not in my power, not permitted, out of scope, and anything else that sounds negative. Worlds like can, will, shall, immediate, right now, able to, within my responsibilities, normally, empowered, and other positive words must be used to communicate that something will be accomplished by the contact. Of course, there are times that the desired outcome is not within the empowerment of the employee, but even that can be communicated in a positive manner. "I will immediately contact the person that will determine the cause of the breakdown and will immediately rectify the situation," is a positive way of saying that a person simply doesn’t have the power to do what is needed. This statement leaves the customer with a good feeling, unlike a negative statement such as, "I am not authorized to do anything about this so I’ll try to see if anyone can make the time to fix this problem and maybe they’ll let you know."
Of course, positive customer service statements won’t work unless there is follow-through and the situation is truly rectified. You can avoid negativity in customer service but unless the problem is resolved, the customer won’t care how many positive words were used. The point, however, is to let the client know that the company cares and will do what is needed to make it right for the client if the company has failed to perform or provided a less than quality product.
If you train your staff to avoid negativity in customer service and train them to treat every person both inside and outside the organization with respect and good manner, you’ll be amazed at how painless many difficult situations can become. Speaking in a positive manner doesn’t cost a thing except a little empathy and caring and it does bring profits in terms of customers that respect your products and services and come back again and again.
By Business Editor
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