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king questions is one of the most frequently used forms of communication, especially in customer service. “How can I help you?” or “What can I do for you?” are two of the most useful questions in customer service history, but how much thought do you put into the rest of your responses?
Building a sentence and choosing your words carefully can have a great impact on how you come across to customers.
For example, imagine you are a customer who needs to make a call to speak to a customer service advisor and make an enquiry. There are multiple ways the advisor could ask how they can assist you, ways in which can affect the feeling of comfort you receive from the help being offered.
They could simply answer “Can I have your name and reason for call?”, which can come across as quite rushed, blunt and on the verge of being offensive. It may even make the caller think that their enquiry isn’t important to the company.
Adding a simple “Hello, please can I have your name and reason for the call?”, can soften the edges of the question. However, compare that with “hello, thank you for calling today. Who am I speaking to and how can I help?” The change of tone is incredibly polite and helpful.
Regardless of service, asking the right questions to your customers will make them feel like you genuinely want to help them, rather than you’re perhaps hinting that they’re wasting your time.
“We hope you are continuing to enjoy the service we provide?”, “If you would like, we would be more than happy to update that for you?”, “Is there anything we can do to make your experience even better?”. These are all extremely polite questions that could only delight your customers.
If you focus on being helpful, happy and like you have all the time in the world for the customer who is currently talking to you, then your questions will come across in exactly the same way. No matter how busy you are, or your phones are, take the time to ask the right questions and your customers will remember the fantastic experience.
For more tips on customer service or call centre advice, please call us on 0800 0931 830 and we’ll be happy to help.