I was talking with a friend about some of the big phrases to avoid when talking with customers. I’ve talked about mine before but wanted to include their big three never, ever, ever say these things to a customer. At least a customer that you want to stick around for a while.
“There’s nothing I can do.”
There’s always something. Even if it means helping your customer find another app that will help them do what they’re looking to do. By doing nothing, you’re just becoming the problem rather than helping to solve the problem.
“That’s just how our policy works.”
What you’re really saying is that you don’t care. Using this phrase permanently shuts down the conversation between you and the customer. When you say that, the customer just hears “I don’t care – deal with it.”
“I don’t know.”
Just because you don’t know doesn’t mean you can’t find out. You’re job is to help the customer. If that means you’ve got to do some digging to find out an answer, do it.
Remember, it’s always you and the customer versus the problem. Avoid these phrases like the plague if you want to keep it that way.
Do you have any other phrases you would add to these?
“It works fine for me.” 🙂
“Good luck with that”
I had a satellite company use that line with me the other day! I was shocked into silence for a few beats before saying, “Wait, what did you just say?”.