One year old!

Greatest hits!

In honor of my one-year anniversary, I’d like to share some of my favorite posts with you:

• Why you should hire "hackers" to improve your NPS
• Taking your email advisories from zero to hero
• My most popular entry ever! 5 types of reps you need on your team
• What is "service heart" and why do you need it?
• Discover BranchTrack!

Beyond the phone: helping your front line employees grow

Working in a call center is one of the few jobs that employees with little or no formal secondary education can do, and expect to “rise in the ranks” to an “office job”.

There’s a few career paths your employees could take:

Operations:

The most likely path. From agent to team lead to supervisor, and up the ranks. I’ve seen agents go from answering phones to managing accounts in about 5 years or so. Not bad for those who started with very minimal English language skills and no college degree.

Training:

Another very easy path. Agent to SME to trainer to lead trainer, and up the ranks. For those that would like to expand their skill set, or maybe even travel, this is the way to go. This path could lead all the way up to office jobs such as Instructional Designer or Project Manager.

Specialist:

This is a shorter path, but is a good match for those that might want to leverage years in a certain specialized field into consultation one day.

There are some other paths, but those are the options that I’m most familiar with.

Now, how do you help your employees get there?

Talk to them about their goals

                Where do they see themselves in a year? Do they have any work heroes or people they look up to?

Encourage them to get certified, take classes, and continue their education in and out of work

                Many offices offer professional development classes of some kind or another—these can be valuable when applying for internal jobs.

Coach to their strengths

                Rather than hammering away on a skill set they may leave behind in a year or two, focus on how they can develop long term skills like problem solving, leadership, and innovation.

Develop a good relationship with Human Capital or HR/Recruitment

                Your word will count for something when you want to recommend an employee.

Make your employees aware of these paths

                It’s hard to keep people in your team when they feel the job is a dead end. Make sure they’re aware they have options.

Use these tips and resources to make sure your employees stay with you and stay engaged! 

Top 10 reasons your employees are failing at customer service

Top 10 reasons your employees are providing poor customer services

1: They don’t know how to fix the issue

                This is the number 1 reason issues don’t get fixed. Lack of training, constantly changing policies and offers, consistent turnover that means newbies on the floor every 10 days…and so on.

2: They don’t care about fixing the issue

                It may surprise you (it did me!) to learn that many people work for reasons unrelated to “I want to do a good job and achieve something”. Pocket money, meeting romantic partners, having fun, making friends, or just getting a line on a resume may all be the reason Tootums is more interested in taking long breaks than helping your customers.

3: They aren't empowered to fix the issue

                This really grinds my gears. The company breaths down the vendors’ necks to find out why their NPS score is so low…only to find out that there’s a mandatory 7 minute AHT, after which a manager *must* get on the line, no matter how the call is going. (True story!).

4: They are overwhelmed or intimidated by the customer

                Some customers come on the line like a charging rhino- swearing, yelling, threats, huffing and puffing. For many of your reps, who might be 18 year old-s at their first post school job, this can be very upsetting and scary.

5: They have decided that arguing with the customer is more satisfying than fixing the issue

                This is admittedly rare, but for about 5% of reps (usually those in collections, tech support, or sales), they seem to enjoy arguing with the customer more than fixing the problem. Maybe because it’s a change in their boring daily routine?

6: The client company policy is forcing their hand

                Mandatory Early Termination Fees. Low, low, low bandwidth caps. A limit to refunds. A Byzantine return policy. Why, MegaCorp, why?

7: The vendor company (you!) policy is forcing their hand

                Sometimes the policy of the company that handles the outsourcing is at fault. When you count seconds as “over break”, you tend to alienate your labor force.

8: They are distracted by personal issues

                Breakups, family problems, money issues…you know the drill.

9: They literally don’t have the ability

                Also rare, but sometimes a rep is just…wrong for the job. They’re shy, easily confused, not verbally inclined, or just…not over-blessed with brains.

10: The customer is in the wrong or the issue is un-fixable             

                We've all been there. Sometimes the situation doesn't require customer service, it requires triage and patience. And a coffee break. 

7 things you should NEVER accept as a customer---and how to eliminate them.

1: Paying a fee for being broke

                This is just so evil. Late fees above $50 dollars on rent. Bounced check fees resulting from “stacking”. Minimum balance charges. Interest rates that vary depending on your credit. These are the ways unethical companies make money. You shouldn't have to stand for it.

Your move(s): Work with a credit consular or money manager to get less broke, find less predatory companies to work with, publicize the nefarious practices of the Evil Ones, use a service like Manilla to track your bills and payments.

2: Impatient service providers rushing to the solution

                Everyone’s rushed and overworked, especially front line reps at a call center. But it’s their job to hear you out (within reason!)

Your move(s):Sympathy, with an iron edge. "I know you're eager to help me, but I actually need to explain my situation a little bit more before we move to the solution, okay? Thanks."

3: The blowback from the previous rude customer landing on you

                You’re not the a$$hole who just threw your organic coffee at your barista, right? So why are you the one trying to turn her frown upside down?

Your move(s): Sympathy, with a humorous edge. "Wow, that last guy was some piece of work, eh? Well, we're not all like that, I can tell you." If this doesn't work, try yoga breaths, remembering your first job, and just letting it go. 

4: Huge mergers with the potential to significantly lower your quality of life

                Why more people aren't in a froth about banks, cable companies, and tech companies taking over the earth is a mystery to me. It’s going to make your life really, really miserable when ComCast/Time Warner has the power to throttle content from other providers, yet…somehow it’s pushed through.

Your move(s): Short of slowly weaning yourself off cable and the internet over time, I honestly don't know. This is so scary, yet so real. Any ideas? 

5: The first (unreasonable) “no”

                Refunds, rebates, replacements---sometimes you need to push a *little*. 

Your move(s): Just do it calmly and politely, and use the “threat sandwich”. Compliment the product or service, threaten to take your business elsewhere, and then assure the rep that you’re positive something can be worked out…can’t it?

6: Purveyors or service providers who fail to hold up their end of the “bargain”--after you've invested your time or money with them (i.e. 24- hour plumbers not answering the phone after 9 PM to come back and repair the drip they missed the first time)

                You paid for a service or good, not a marker at a blackjack game. Reliable, honest, and consistent service shouldn't be a gamble.

Your move(s): Ask for a recompense for the miss, and failing that, get on Yelp or Twitter and detail your disappointment. 

7: Consistently poor service, performance, or longevity of the product

                One or two incidents in the lifetime of a relationship is no big deal. Monthly or weekly screw-ups, multiple disappointments from the same company, and Houston, we've got a problem. 

Your move(s): Time to change your provider or brand. If you're stuck with a dud product or service (contracts, cable company monopoly), try to work with the company and see if you can improve the problems. If that fails...channel your righteous rage into inventing an alternative. 

Use these 13 expert tips to improve YOUR teams' customer service performance

1: Track numbers

                Telling someone that they’ve improved by 5% since last week is more powerful than a simple “Good Job, keep it up.” Especially for teams with commissions or bonuses at play.

2: Single people out, but list as many names as you can in your reports and emails.

                Everyone likes to read their name. List the top ten, the best in different categories, the most improved, best newbie—don’t list everyone, but give people a reason to scan your email blasts and reports.

3: “Rip” scripts from the floor and distribute them to your team for use.

                When you hear a great phrase—“I wish I could tell you differently, but unfortunately, that’s the case”—a phrase I heard 3 years ago that I can still remember comes to mind—jot it down and use it!

4: Use pop culture

                Whatever your agents are talking about or enjoying on their breaks—from Candy Crush to Breaking Bad—try to incorporate elements of into your reports, emails, and notes.

5: Talk to your people every day

                Things on the production floor change every day. Attrition, personal dramas, updates and upgrades—your agents often know more than you about the rapidly changing face of C/X in a call center.

6: Know your tech

                Technical issues with tools can be the Moby Dick of your C/X scores and results. Know what tools are helping, which are hindering, and the work-around-s.

7: Understand what customer feedback should be ignored

                Be familiar with the issues of policy or product that cause customers to complain. These are generally unrelated to the quality of service being given. Don’t get caught up in giving a low quality or customer service score to an agent simply because the customer complained. Know why they complained.

8: Give your team the benefit of the doubt

                When you first hear some of the things agents say you’ll want to shake them. Over time, however, when you get to know your team, you’ll understand that most of the time they’re really doing their best—they just don’t have the skills or tools to do so. They’ll respond much better to your advice and coaching if you come from a place of generosity.

9: Customize training and feedback

                Use the agent’s name in your comments, track their progress, and give them tips based on their particular strengths and weaknesses. Avoid using empty slogans and ‘value statements’.

10: Offer tips and tricks every day

                Agents often get bombarded with updates from corporate and other emails. Keep a file of quick and easy tips to share every day to stay current and to avoid having your emails pushed to the bottom of the stack by a ton of “Organizational Announcements.”

11: Use SharePoint, Chatter, Yammer, or other enterprise social media

                The fun (sort of) of Facebook or other collaborative sites,  in a contained environment.

12: Use data to find your bell curve of performance

                Know your team. Who’s performing where? Who should you focus on? Who’s your priority?

13: Catch people doing it right

                This is one of the most powerful pieces of advice I was ever given. A thumbs up, a literal pat on the back, a piece of candy slipped onto a desk with a whispered “Great Job”, an extended break after a big sale or extra hard call—all these go a long way to getting the performance you want. Remember: what you focus on, you get more of. 

Are you getting the most out of your up-sell efforts? How to up-grade the up-sell!

While I have you on the phone….A few quick upgrades to help your reps up-sell.

The temperature of the phone call should be warm, not hot.

It seems to be just common sense that your reps shouldn’t be trying to sell upgrades to irate customers, especially those whose issue did not get resolved. However, some companies, for reasons lost to time, have policies in place that require an up-sell attempt on every phone call. If this is the case, we’ll give you a few tips to handle that.

If your reps are allowed to make a judgment call as to who they offer up-sold products to, advise them to offer to neutral customers, customers whose issue was resolved during the call, or happy customers.

The up-sell should match a stated or implied need.

These needs could be in the form of a comment about the product, issues the customer is trying to resolve unrelated to the product (for example, the fact that the cable company won’t string cable to their location could be an opening to up-sell a satellite TV package), or connections you build with the customer (for example, you and the customer commiserate over high interest rates on your car note. Wouldn’t it be nice to get an annotated credit report every month showing you any risk areas?)

The up-sell should (ideally) seem like a friend offering advice or suggestions.

“You know what, Mr. Smith? While I have you on the line, I’d like to let you know about our MaxBuster 2000. You mentioned at the start of this call that rats have chewed through your phone line and you’ve had to call the exterminator 3 times this year. We actually have a subsidiary line of pest control products, and for a small extra charge we’ll have one of our Ratz-no-more professionals come to your house and deploy the product. No muss, no fuss! So, shall we get that set up for you today?”

The up-sell should be part of the *entire* phone call, not Frankenstein-ed on at the very end.

Have your reps build rapport, take note of stated and implied needs, and maybe even hint or allude to the up-sell product before the big end of chat alter call. One of the biggest challenges to overcome with customers is that the up-sell seems so different in tone and delivery than the rest of the call. Your reps are setting themselves up for a “no” when they switch from light and friendly “service consultants” to bitter robots determined to get through the “no” and onto the next failure. Make sure that the set-up moments are sprinkled evenly through the call.

What if your client requires an up-sell attempt on every phone call? (Or has other shot-in-the-foot restrictions?)

If it’s possible, write the reps a script that alludes to this. “Before I finish up today, we’re offering all of our customers our new MegaTornado Insurance Coverage. I know things didn’t go quite as planned on our call, but since this is a great deal, I wanted to make sure you had a chance to take advantage of it.”

Acknowledge that the call wasn’t ideal, that “all” of the customers are getting the offer, and that you’re offering them a deal/value/exciting product. Explain in a few words why you’re making the offer, perhaps even saying something like “Our company wants to ensure all of our customers get a chance to take advantage of this one time opportunity to get 2 Exercise Chairs for the price of 1. Is that something you might be interested in?”

With these few tips, your reps could be well on their way to more effective up-selling in no time.

This one amazing tool will completely change the way you train!

Change up your game! Using branching scenario games to add engaging challenges to your training curriculum.

Branching scenarios are a great way to teach thought processes, behavior, or communication skills, and to show the consequences of choices, all while playing an immersive, challenging, and realistic game.

In order to be successful, the scenario should be realistic and complex, should have a series of cascading choices, and should support two or more choices that appear equally valid for each scene.

Branching Scenarios are so much fun to make and so exciting for the learner that you’ll want to immediately convert all your existing topics into the format.

 The only bad news about Branching Scenarios is that they aren’t a good match for all topics. Like aged cheese, the films of Quentin Tarantino, and opera, they are only for certain audiences.

They work very well for nuanced situations like cultural integration, ethical choices, conversations where word choices are key (such a sales and performance coaching) and customer service interactions that are “off-script”.

I have found through experimentation that this game doesn’t really work to teach fact-based topics, such as “how-to” or “tips”. The end result is very flat with the choices being very obviously right or wrong—no real challenge for the player.

The best fit for Branching Scenarios is a very specific situation where a series of decisions must be made, and these decisions lead to consequences.

You need:

1: A situation that is real, complex, detailed, and specific.

“An irate customer” is the right direction, but we need the same level of detail an associate faces on the floor– account history, product specs, scripting, and tools.

2.  The common mistakes or errors made during the process, and the consequences of same.

If we are teaching our learners to make nuanced choices about sharing confidential documents, get your SME to tell you what happens when an internal power point is leaked, and then write that into your scenario.

3.   A clear, actionable goal.

 “Awareness” or “compliance” is simply not enough.

What specific steps, behaviors, scripts, or actions does the employee need to demonstrate, and how will we know they are being done? Drill down deep to get the real performance objective to build a successful scenario game.

Resource Guide for Branching Scenarios

http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/

This blog is an incredible warehouse of gems on e-learning, instructional design, graphic design, and how to use PowerPoint and Articulate to your best advantage.

http://blog.cathy-moore.com/

This blog will change the way you think about creating training materials. Highly recommended!!

http://www.worldwarfighter.com/hajikamal/activity/

Cathy Moore’s exceptional game. Use as inspiration for where we can go with our Branching Scenario Games!

http://www.branchtrack.com/

Branching Scenario Game tool.

So get out there and start branchin'!!

Blitzed! 5 top tips for offshore employees dealing with US Holiday season.

It's coming....something twinkly this way walks!

They're running on the fumes of a candy cane frappachino.  They're trying to talk over the shrieks of visiting nieces and nephews,  and juggling tape, scissors, catalogs, and ornaments with one hand while writing their Christmas letter with the other: this customer is fragile. Handle with care!

Here's a few tips to help them handle the madness.

1: Tailor your materials to the "high middle" level of rep awareness.

My previous company put out company- wide communiques about Christmas, New Years, and Thanksgiving (yes, they missed a few holidays, but hey, they tried!). They included background, traditions, and greetings, as well as fun trivia.

They were geared towards the "intermediate" level, which I think was the right choice. Most agents are familiar with the basic idea of US Holidays-- they may have seen music videos, movies, or read magazines and books with these holidays featured. Some countries either celebrate the same holiday or have a version of it, so this raises awareness as well. Don't bore your audience with basic stuff-- at the risk of having them ignore it!

2: Give your reps an idea of what the customer (probably) loves about the holiday.

For Thanksgiving, it's all about the food and the football game. For Christmas, it's all about the big family gathering, the "loot" and the lights. New Year's is all about a resolution that everyone knows you'll break. If you give your reps a few quick talking points and sound bites, they'll make a much stronger connection to your holiday-season callers than with a tepid "Happy Holidays".

3: Go beyond the warnings about stress to the reason that the stress is happening.

Explain the pressures of travel, the expectations that those [expletive deleted] commercials set, the stress of seeing family members that were otherwise avoided all year, and so on. Try to bridge these to common experiences in your reps' lives, if you can.

4: Anticipate and adjust your top call drivers, and create training around these.

Quality and Operations may have done this already, but it's up to you to make sure your reps are prepped for the onslaught of returns, lost packages, and frantic orders that they'll face, especially if they're seasonal ramp employees.

5: Create a  training package for each holiday, with top call drivers, information about the holiday, sound bites, etc.

If you're off duty, traveling, handling the 50- people- just- quit -crisis, or just otherwise engaged, it's a smart move to have a place where you employees can go to get the information they need about the holiday. SharePoint, Chatter, Yammer, or other Enterprise Social Media/LMS is a great place to store this stuff.

And don't forget the reason for the season... Sharing photos, foods, or stories with your reps can help them "get it" much quicker and bettter than any Power Point presentation, no matter how awesome the graphic are.

Now get out there and start spreading some holiday cheer!

These guys are good! Check out the Part II of the Buffer saga!

Socks remain blown off! These guys are so good.

 

I have already shared the very well written email I got from Buffer with you. Now for Part II, in which I evaluate their follow up email.
And class, I don’t even use Buffer! I signed up but quickly realized that I don’t cache enough content or have enough tweets to make it worthwhile…at this time. But you bet your bippy when I do I’ll not only use it but recommend it to friends!

The email:

Hi there,
I wanted to follow up with you after yesterday's hacking incident. For many of you this has seriously disrupted your weekend - I'm sorry we caused that awful experience. The Buffer team has been working around the clock and I'm glad to say we're back up and running. We have also spent all of today adding several security measures.
There's one key step to using Buffer again: You will have to reconnect all your Twitter accounts, even if you've already done so. Go to the Buffer web dashboard to reconnect.
Other important things for you to know:

·  Reconnecting won't work in mobile apps, all Twitter accounts will have to be reconnected on the web dashboard.

·  Your Facebook posting will have resumed normally, there is nothing you need to do.

·  Signing in with or connecting a new Twitter account in the iPhone app won't work until our new update is approved by Apple.

I want to apologize again and say that I'm incredibly sorry this has affected you and in many cases also your company. We've written a blog post with ongoing updates as we uncover the full details.

What is left for us right now is to complete our technical analysis and take further security measures. We will follow up with another update on this soon.
I want to invite you again to hit reply to this email or post a comment on our blog post. We will be sure to respond to you as fast as we can.

- Joel and the Buffer team

I’ll once again quickly detail the things the team has done right:

1: Writing a follow up email at all! This shows they are serious, they care, and they’ve taken the time to communicate with their customers.
 
2: Empathy with a specific understanding of what it may have cost the customer—time, convenience, trust in the company. Understanding what you have cost the customer is key in crafting a sincere, believable and effective apology.

3: concrete steps showing what you’re now doing differently, in this case “adding several security measures”

4: Using formatting to emphasize points- bolding, spacing and bullets are all used very well here

5: Again, the apology “sandwich”—apology, steps taken, apology. Good move.

6: What’s next/ what can the customer expect? After something goes wrong and you’ve fixed it, there is still a dangling thread that some companies miss- what’s next. It’s also smart to move the customer “past” the unfortunate event and to looking to the future. These guys are good!

7: Offers (with links!) to communicate. So many times I’ve searched in vain on a bill for a web address, phone number, or any way to get in touch with the behemoth company who’s issuing commands at me. It’s nice to see a sincere attempt to communicate.

 

All around good show!

 

Wanna see how to blow your customers’ minds? Check out this amazing email from Buffer!

My socks are blown off. My chest hair is curled. There might be some people enjoying ice skating in what’s normally a very hot location. Someone somewhere stepped up to the plate and created a no B.S. apology email that is a thing of beauty and a joy forever! Go Buffer!

(I asked Buffer if I could feature their emails in a blog post and they said sure—another example of great customer experience!) Here’s the whole email.

Hi there,

I wanted to get in touch to apologize for the awful experience we've caused many of you on your weekend. Buffer was hacked around 1 hour ago, and many of you may have experienced spam posts sent from you via Buffer. I can only understand how angry and disappointed you must be right now.

Not everyone who has signed up for Buffer has been affected, but you may want to check on your accounts. We're working hard to fix this problem right now and we're expecting to have everything back to normal shortly.

We're posting continual updates on the Buffer Facebook page and the Buffer Twitter page to keep you in the loop on everything.
The best steps for you to take right now and important information for you:

• Remove any postings from your Facebook page or Twitter page that look like spam
• Keep an eye on Buffer's Twitter page and Facebook page
• Your Buffer passwords are not affected
• No billing or payment information was affected or exposed
• All Facebook posts sent via Buffer have been temporarily hidden and will reappear once we've resolved this situation

I am incredibly sorry this has happened and affected you and your company. We're working around the clock right now to get this resolved and we'll continue to post updates on Facebook and Twitter.
If you have any questions at all, please respond to this email. Understandably, a lot of people have emailed us, so we might take a short while to get back to everyone, but we will respond to every single email.

- Joel and the Buffer team

From the informal but still respectful tone to the bullet pointed list for ease of reading, this email just does so much right. Let’s go through it part by part:

1: A name- Joel.

Putting a name on the customer service engine of your product or services might not be a perfect move for every organization, but for Buffer, it works really well. It seems more human, and much more approachable than ‘Thanks, The Management”.

2: An informal, yet respectful greeting:

Hi there, I wanted to get in touch to apologize for the awful experience we've caused many of you on your weekend.

To the point, personal, and direct. No business fluffery or jargon here. Love it!

3: After a brief recap of what he’s apologizing for, he uses a sincere, simple empathy statement:

I can only understand how angry and disappointed you must be right now.

His grammar is a bit wobbly on “I can only understand” (he’s missing a key word here “I can only BEGIN to understand”) but I chalk that up to time pressure and just good old human error.

4: Letting the customers know they are working on it up front, rather than using a vague, cliché-filled fluff bomb to explain away the poor service:

We're working hard to fix this problem right now and we're expecting to have everything back to normal shortly.

5: Probably the best thing about this letter: a concrete list of steps you can take in bullet point form. God Bless Joel. He thought about the needs of his audience, rather than the need to cover his fanny.

The best steps for you to take right now and important information for you:

• Remove any postings from your Facebook page or Twitter page that look like spam
• Keep an eye on Buffer's Twitter page and Facebook page
• Your Buffer passwords are not affected
• No billing or payment information was affected or exposed
• All Facebook posts sent via Buffer have been temporarily hidden and will reappear once we've resolved this situation

6: Always a good move: reiterate your apology and remind people that you are taking steps to resolve it, fix it, or change it.

I am incredibly sorry this has happened and affected you and your company. We're working around the clock right now to get this resolved and we'll continue to post updates on Facebook and Twitter.

7: Offer to answer questions, with a very nice setting of expectations upfront:

If you have any questions at all, please respond to this email. Understandably, a lot of people have emailed us, so we might take a short while to get back to everyone, but we will respond to every single email.

Well done Buffer Team!

There’s also going to be a Part II to this blog entry, since I received an equally wonderful follow up email.

 

 

Unfixable: the most challenging obstacle I ever encountered in my call center days

If you’ve ever called an offshore call center that sounds like a busy street market, ringing with the sounds of a foreign language, you can bet your Tuesday lunch there is a tight lipped ex-pat in the background, making throat-slashing gestures at the offenders in vain.

3 and a half years ago, I landed in the Philippines in a semi-provincial area to work in a call center creating training materials, coaching, and training front line reps on communications, soft skills, and language. The job was extremely challenging, the support pretty nonexistent, and the hours were hell. My desk was in the middle of the production floor, an area we semi-affectionately called “the Dungeon”. All of these challenges paled in comparison to the looming obelisk that blotted out the sun: EOP.

EOP was the acronym for “English Only Policy”. It makes sense to ask and require reps to speak only English at work and on the production floor. What was next to impossible was getting them to do it.

I tried email reminders. I tried bribes. I tried “catching people doing the right thing.” We created slogans and had a contest. We printed tee shirts. I created a campaign of emails with illustrations (beloved, yet completely lacking in impact) called “EOP Stars” which featured people of Filipino extraction or origin who made their careers on English—people like Bruno Mars, Apple d.App, and Josie Natori.

 The communications team as a whole tried meetings -one of which was held with the entire 200 person production team- where I held up ominous bar graphs showing a decline in our customer satisfaction score with an increase in our floor size (meaning our floor walkers couldn’t physically get to all of our agents and remind them to zip it). We tried threats, keeping score, and as a last resort, embarrassing the offenders in front of everyone.  We created reminders called “Background noise K.O.” that explained we would grade any call in which background noise was captured a “0” in Quality. We wrote people up and reported offenders to the powers that be.

Nothing could budge people from their desire to speak in what we (wrongly) called “vernacular” no. matter.what.

I spent a HUGE amount of time trying to understand this. English is the accepted language of worldwide business, most likely closely followed by French, Chinese languages, Hindi, and Arabic. Filipino (and the local dialects) doesn’t even make the top ten! For ambitious young professionals, accent- free or “neutral” English was a marker of success and class. So why were our reps so resistant to speaking in English?

After more than 3 years living with and working with Filipinos, I have only guesses.

 My first guess would be the intense, almost maniacal national pride that Filipinos have for their people and heritage. With few natural resources, a history of occupation and struggles, and widespread poverty, national pride in the people themselves as a kind of living museum is a must. Tee shirts with the slogan “The Filipino is worth dying for”/ “100% Filipino” and other such lines that celebrate the people of the islands (rather than, say amber waves of grain, or purple mountains majesty) were very popular. Language is a part of culture and heritage, which I (humbly) submit was ignored or bulldozed for many years (first by the Spanish, then by the Americans, now by the business world at large).

My second guess is that it’s a combination of a) never really finding the right motivator and b) the transient nature of front line call center work means that the talent pool tends to be young, carefree, and not super serious. Having fun with friends and finding romance were reasons people came to work, rather than “career advancement” or “financial independence.”

My third guess hinges on something that I will most likely never understand fully: culture. The bonds of interdependence and connection between family and friends are so tightly woven that for some, speaking English instead of the local dialect feels like a kind of betrayal, a kind of show of arrogance. And when it came time to choose between a seatmate who loaned them money, showed them sympathy when they were down, hooked them up with a cutie they knew, and was just generally there for them and speaking English: no contest. Speaking English could at best mark you as an upstart, at worst get you a freeze out. The “cool kids” in the account actually put on a heavy accent to speak English, and you can imagine the trickle-down effect this kind of thing had!

I left that town never really knowing what I could have done to make a lasting difference, and wondering if maybe the initiative itself was somehow beside the point. Was EOP just another misguided effort to standardize something that should not be standardized—akin to what happened to the U.S’s indigenous peoples in the 1800’s? Or was it really ‘for their own good’?

I leave it to you to ponder.

 

Tutorial: PhraseHacking!

Many articles and tutorials offer lists of helpful phrases and magic words that can turn a call around. I say that’s only half the story. You need the recipe, not just the finished product. You need to know how to construct your own magic phrases—not just parrot the ones you found on in a listicle somewhere.

I’ve performed word-by word “autopsies” on some effective phrases I’ve used or heard used in my call center days, for your own coroner’s report!

The four phrases:

“Hi, I hope you can help me.”

“Okay, we are at $87.52 today.”

“So, I see by the notes that you’re considering closing out the account today.”

“Oh, I wish I didn’t have to say that it’s the case, but unfortunately, that’s what we’re looking at right now.”

 1.       For collections: (For requesting contact information from a third party)

“Hi, I hope you can help me.”

This phrase was extremely effective. Why?

1.       “Hi” (Informal greeting, sets a friendly tone)

2.       “I hope” (no one wants to dash your hopes)

3.       “you can help me” (a request for help is actually a more powerful psychological bonding tool than doing a favor, studies show. Use this to “bond” your listener to you.)

Overall, this phrase gives your listener a direction, and something to do, to get you off the phone graciously—i.e., give you the contact information. It also puts you in this position (see below article), ‘the powerful supplicant’.

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2013/08/the_kindly_brontosaurus_the_amazing_prehistoric_posture_that_will_get_you.html

Frankenstein’s monster: making a similar sentence using the knowledge you gained from your autopsy

“Hello there¹, I’m hoping you might be able to² help me out here³.”

2.       For retail or other sales: (Giving tally)

“Okay, we are at $87.52 today.”

1.       “Okay” (casual usage, indicates wrap- up of job duties, sounds brisk yet friendly)

2.       “we” (magic word cubed. “We” creates a sense of teamwork, unity, and the subtle indication that you’ve been working with the customer this whole time.)

3.       “are at” (Some people don’t like roundabout ways of referring to dollar amounts- those numbers with no currency indicator you see on menus, or the like. I personally think it’s situational. When you’re the IRS, you don’t say “We’re at $15,528.53 today”. There are times to be exact, and there are times to draw the veil of subtly over what you’re doing. Shopping for pleasure is one of those times to blur the lines of harsh reality as much as possible.

4.       “today.” (You’ll be back! Or conversely “Hey, it’s just one day, tomorrow you can go on a budget! But YOLO!”)

There is something offhand, casual, and even at bit international about this phrase. Heard it at the H&M in Denver Pavilions shopping center and was so struck with it I decided to write this article.

Frankenstein’s monster: making a similar sentence using the knowledge you gained from your autopsy

“Alright¹, we’re² looking at³ 57.92 for you this time⁴.”

3.       For retention: (Upon opening up the case)

“So, I see by the notes [or “my other customer service agent told me” if you have a retention queue that is separate] that you’re considering closing out the account today.”

1.       “So” (this is the opening shot of a longer conversation, inviting explanations, which means you can give counteroffers.)

2.       “I see by the notes” (I pay attention and I care)

3.       “you’re considering” (You haven’t done it yet, but I am deferential to your wants)

4.       “closing out” (or some other delicate euphemism like “changing the status of”/ ‘discontinuing”)

5.       “today” (What happened in the recent past that dramatically changed your service so that TODAY you called us? Oh my gosh!)

I had to train my retention reps out of saying “You want to terminate your account, is that correct?” (So many things wrong with that, I don’t even know where to start!)

Frankenstein’s monster: making a similar sentence using the knowledge you gained from your autopsy:

 So¹, I can see that² you’re thinking about³ discontinuing⁴ your services with us today⁵.”

 4.       For all customer support bad-news situations:

“Oh, I wish I didn’t have to say that it’s the case, but unfortunately, that’s what we’re looking at right now.”

1.       “Oh” (universal signal for regret)

2.       “I wish” (further signaling that you care, and you regret having to give bad news)

3.       “have to say it’s the case” (firm yet polite way of setting expectations and boundaries)

4.       “unfortunately” (signally that you understand the frustrations/situation of the customer

5.       “that’s what we’re looking at” (I particularly like “what we’re looking at”- it orients the “team” to the mindset of problem solving and looking forward to solutions, rather than digging in and arguing about the policy or situation)

6.       “right now” (this signals that the situation is not ‘set in stone’, and the customer doesn’t have to contact the BBB or the Attorney General to file a complaint, things might change in the future)

Frankenstein’s monster: making a similar sentence using the knowledge you gained from your autopsy:

“Oh, gosh, what a tough situation¹. I wish I didn’t have to tell you this², but⁴ where we are5 right now⁶ is…”

I heard this phrase from a recorded call from India. I was tasked to find out why certain Indian reps were getting such high scores from our customers (answer: partly their Anglo-Indian accent, which sounded extremely high class and credible, partly their delivery—sweet and helpful.)

Well, you heard the medical examiner! Now you know why these types of phrases are so effective. Go forth and use your knowledge!