"Don't you take that tone with me, Mister..."

I can imagine that's what some customers think. A good, positive tone can really set a great customer service experience into motion. I know, it's hard to think about a positive tone (or a positive experience) when you have so much going on at home, so many other problems in the world, etc. We all have our different burdens to bear. It's just part of life. But once that beep tone goes off in your ear, you have a customer on the line with a problem that YOU alone can solve! That's an empowering statement - you can solve a problem for someone else! To me, that's an exciting thing.

A negative tone can (and often does) send the call on the path to destruction. A harsh or offensive tone can put the customer off, and make them adopt a harsh tone right back. If they think for one second that you don't want to solve their problem, or that you want to get them off the phone as fast as possible, they will let you know. Oh, it might not be directly, as in saying something during the call: but it may be indirectly, as in taking their business elsewhere.

Sounding bored on the phone can make the customer think that you just don't care, and are ambivalent about answering the phone at all. And it just might put your QA rep to sleep. That's never a good thing.

I think about the Apathy poster that can be found on despair.com - "If we don't take care of the customer, maybe they'll stop bugging us." Yes, they certainly will stop bugging you - by doing business with another company. There are lots out there, just waiting to pounce on dissatified customers. Your call could be the final nail in the coffin. The customer may have already been thinking about changing companies. Your tone could set a fantastic call into motion that will make the customer think twice about their decision, or it could set the call into motion that will make the customer contact your competitor right then and there.

Think about it.

QA Phrase of the Day!

(drumroll)

Oh, look! The drummer's back! :D

No problem.

(cymbal crash)

I hate this phrase. Hate it, hate it, hate it. Of course it's no problem. The customer is paying us to take care of them. "No problem" sounds to me like the customer has interrupted your manicure with a request.

I heard someone say "my pleasure" when a customer thanked them for something they did, and just adore it. Instead of feeling like I've interrupted your day by asking a question, I feel like you really enjoyed helping me.

Eliminate the "problem" and make it a "pleasure."

Tom Vander Well’s SQC tweet this morning got me thinking about my first call center job. Up until that point, I had so many different jobs, ranging from dishroom to fast food counter to newspaper delivery. I started down the call center path working at a hotel as a switchboard operator. That experience helped me land my first call center job, which was as a switchboard operator for GTE.

We were allowed to say very little to the caller. When the beep tone went off, the first thing we said was, “City and listing, please?” After they gave us the information, we looked it up, gave it to them, and the call was over. A call rarely lasted over one minute.

Dead air time? Not possible. We were required to say, “One moment,” every 10 seconds or less. We were counted off if it was 11 seconds. Somehow, we had to make sure the customer knew we hadn’t hung up. I think the tremendous amount of noise in the background would have given that away.

The funniest part happened when the beep tone occurred, we said the greeting, and there was silence on the other end. If that happened, we were to say, “City and listing, please” three times. If there was still silence, we would say, “Operator leaving the line,” and disconnect. This is a habit that has stuck with me to this day, and I kinda like it.

It’s amazing to me, the differences between call centers. Relationships are encouraged in some, discouraged in others: dress codes have varied from casual to business casual to uniform to business professional: some you can eat full meals on the floor, others you could only have water in a spill-proof container and maybe some hard candy. One you had to keep your candy in a metal container because of the rats. RATS. (cringe)

My current one is incredible. We have CSRs who have longstanding relationships with their customers, and I hear them talking about their families, ball games, just about anything. It’s great to hear an occasional call where the CSR says, “Hey! I haven’t talked to you in a long time! How are you?” That kind of reception really makes the customer feel welcome.

Dress code is business casual, jeans allowed on Fridays. I like that: casual is just too lax, and I can’t afford business professional. Besides, I don’t like heels. Food is allowed on the floor. I’ve only heard a few people in the last five years eating or chewing gum during a call. I’ve never had a repeater.

Of course, we have our problems: every call center does. But we are fortunate to have a management team who listens and are willing to take care of the customers and the employees. I have been in call centers now for about 16 years, and I have never encountered a better management team. And I think mine is the best one of all.

The one cool thing about it all: rules may change, systems may change, even business types may change: but good customer service transcends all of that. With good customer service skills, you can fit in and work anywhere. Customer service never changes.

And yet another horrible phrase. Since I have no drummer, I'll just have to pull out...

The TUBA!

(blaaaat!)

"How much you say they was?"

(blaaaaaablaaaablaaaat!)

Really? A customer looks for a product, and has a price point in mind, and this is how you ask her to repeat herself? Have you no shame?

QA Word of the Day!

(drumroll)

Well, it's not so much a word as it is a glaring grammatical error...

(Drummer packs up his kit and goes home)

Oh, well.

I just heard this phrase: "They is in Georgia." The customer needed to contact another department, and the CSR was explaining that this department may not be in because "they is in Georgia." What happened to the word are? Did it get left behind in the time difference? Did the CSR realize that she did not sound professional when she said that?

QA Word of the Day!

(drumroll)

Nuh-uh.

(cymbal crash)

Nuh-uh? On first glance, this may fall into the same category as uh-huh, yep, and nope. But there's something a little weird about nuh-uh. It sounds like you're starting to say no and then change your mind. The Urban Dictionary defines nuh-uh as someone wearing clothing not suited to their figure. I have no clue how that came about. The Online Slang Dictionary defines it as a term of disbelief.

If a word can be found in either of these dictionaries, then it is not suitable for a phone conversation with a customer. Keep it professional: stick with the tried and true "yes" and "no." At least your customers won't think that what they're wearing may be inappropriate.

What a day! Computer slowed to a crawl, so I had to virus scan, defrag, the whole 9 yards. Took a good bit of the afternoon. I don't know why my computer is slow. No viruses, 58 GB free... it's just weird!

Then again, it is MY computer... :D

It's a rough day in QA land. I'm finding myself thinking about everything except what I'm supposed to be doing. All I want to do is go for a long, relaxing walk. The calls have actually not been bad today, although I find myself scrutinizing them closer than normal. What do you do when, technically, a QA is perfect, but you just don't like it? Some of these calls, something is just rubbing me the wrong way. Is it the tone? Most of it is, but not quite bad enough to cross the line.

I sit here thinking, if I was the customer, would I want to talk to these people again?

For some, the answer is a very loud NO.

By special request... (Thanks, Tom!)

QA Phrase of the Day!

(drumroll)

"Anything else?"

(crash)

This is the one phrase that is annoying our management right now. The CCRs are simply ending with, "Anything else?" Not, "Is there anything else I can do for you," "Is there anything else you need," or a variant of those. Just, "Anything else?" It sounds like, "Okay, we're done. I'm finished with your original request. I'm hanging up now."

They don't realize how bad it sounds. It just sounds like they don't care. The customer has already taken enough of their time. Good grief. The customer is why we're here. Why do you have a job? Because the customer pays us. They pay us to take care of them. If we don't take care of them, they will pay someone else to do it. It honestly comes down to the point of, "How much do you want your job? If you don't want to be here, and don't want to take care of the customer, then step aside and let us get someone who will."