“Yes we can”—not just the slogan of a former U.S. President—should be the positive mindset of every sales and customer service associate you employ. How important is this notion? U.S. News and World Report once found that nearly 70% of all customers who cancelled their relationship with a business did so because of indifference, because of bad customer service. Don’t send your customers fleeing to your competition!
Shep Hyken for RunningRestaurants.com shares an anecdote from his own life about a restaurant employee who used the dreaded “we can’t do that” in response to a special request. Despite making this special request many times before, the employee was new and assumed it couldn’t be done. Rather than say something like, “let me check with the chef”, he created a negative experience by defaulting to “no”.
Negative phrases like “we can’t do that” or “unfortunately, no…” will sour conversations like this. Carly Stec, writing for Hubspot, has a list of eleven such phrases to avoid, and alternatives associates should use instead. Careful language will enable the employee to project a helpful, caring attitude—which is usually more effective than anything else. Creating the right experience speaks to a concept called “framing”, which we’ll unpack below.
The idea of framing is to set the tone and to control the tenor of a conversation—the flow itself. There’s a key moment in many customer service interactions when the employee will have the opportunity to take this control: after a customer explains what’s needed, the power dynamic shifts entirely to your employee because he or she is the one in a position to help or to shut down that request. This is the time to frame the conversation in a positive way.
If the customer is interested in purchasing a product, the employee should learn about his or her needs and then “accentuate the positives” and “anticipate the negatives” as Megan Totka explains at allBusiness.com. Doing so keeps the employee in control of the conversation and allows him or her to aim the discussion towards the products or services you’re trying to sell.
But framing is even more important in the customer service side of the business, as it allows you to keep the tone pleasant, which is far more likely to ensure a loyal and evangelistic customer. Going back to Hyken’s example above, he explains that business owners must train employees on how to remain positive even when the answer is no: “And if an employee truly can’t do something, teach him or her how to properly break the news to the customer.” As Stec lays out under what to say instead of, unfortunately, no, “Turns out, there are ways to soften the blow and provide a better experience for the customer, even when you can’t accommodate their request entirely. Instead of leading with the negative, try offering up the best possible alternative first—it may end up being just what they need.”
Whether the interaction is about sales or customer service, remember that, according to Totka, “When you control how people view a situation, you can more easily lead them to make the decision you want them to make.” In a sales scenario, your employee can help a customer arrive at the best, most equitable product or service; in a customer service situation, the employee can make sure the customer knows your business cares. After all, there will always be competitors ready and willing to take care of your customer when you can’t or won’t.
There’s a lot we can help with, here at The Brandt Group. Staff development and monitoring are our bread-and-butter, and our mystery shopping services will help ensure your employees retain that “yes we can” mentality. We can even uncover intelligence on your competition, keeping you up-to-date on how your business measures up. To learn more, schedule a free consultation today.
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