Things Your Customer Does Not Want to Hear

1. “No problem” – The biggest street-slang terms used in every business today are the responses “no problem” or “not a problem.” By saying “no problem” the message is that what the Customer is asking of you is not a problem for you. However, when we are serving others, it is not about our convenience; it is about what the Customer wants. See past eService No problem is a big problem.

2. “No” – Eliminate the word “no” from your company’s vocabulary; no one should ever be allowed to use that word. You may not always be able to say yes, but offer alternatives and options and never allow anyone from your company to utter the word no. You will be amazed at how creative your team will get at satisfying Customers.

3. “I don’t know” – I am fine with someone saying “I don’t know” or “I am not sure about that,” as long as they follow up with “I would be happy to find out for you.”

Related: The Secret Service Summit is SOLD OUT!!!

4. “It’s not our policy” – As a Customer, I don’t want to hear “No, it is not our policy.” If you actually think about it, policy is the complete opposite of personalize. I don’t care about your policy; your policy is a blanket statement that was written for the masses. See past eService Policy is bad.

5. “I had no idea, they do that all the time” – Everyone loves to over share. Why? Because they want to make sure the Customer knows a problem wasn’t their fault. “I didn’t know you were here.” “The receptionist never informed me.” “If I would have known, I would have been out sooner.” Or “Shipping didn’t next day- air the package . . . I told them . . . I put it on the order . . .They do this type of stuff all the time.” Does the Customer really need to know who screwed up and why? All they need to know is how sorry we are about what happened, and here is what we are going to do about it. If we need to address something internally with other departments or coworkers, that’s our business. Our Customers do not need to know about our dirty laundry.

6. “That’s not my department/job” – Again Customers don’t care whose job or responsibility it is, they just care that what they want gets taken care of. While employees don’t actually say “it’s not my job,” they imply it when they say things like, “You can get that off our website” or “You need to call this person in this department.” Why are we making the Customer do the work? We can send them the link, and we can transfer them to the correct department.

7. “Can you explain to me what happened again?” Customers hate to repeat themselves, especially if it is about a negative experience. The more times they have to retell their story, the more upset they get. Create an “Ask Once Promise,” which is where the first employee to come in contact with the Customer owns it until it is resolved.

8. “Do you remember who you spoke with last time?” This is making the Customer do the work for us. Why are we asking the Customer this question? We need to know who the Customer saw or communicated with by our records.

9. “It’s not our fault” – While the Customer is not always right, they are NEVER wrong. It may not be our fault, but it is our problem and we need to own the problem; otherwise all they are going to remember is that we were the business where they had a crappy experience. See past eService It’s not our fault but still our problem.

The Secret Service Summit Audio – The 2014 Secret Service Summit is sold out with 500 attendees! America’s #1 Customer service conference is next week on November 5th & 6th in Cleveland, Ohio. However, in case you can’t attend it, we are making the audio of this year’s amazing presenters available to the public. You can preorder your 2014 Secret Service Summit Speakers Audio here.

Customer eXperience Executive Academy – As a result of our organization’s hiring and promoting a key executive to oversee their company’s Customer Experience, The DiJulius Group has launched the Customer eXperience Executive Academy so companies can send their Customer service leaders for comprehensive training and certification on all the facets and responsibilities that fall under Customer experience. If you or someone in your company is a fit for the Customer eXperience Executive Academy, give us a call today at 440-443-0023.