{"id":13182,"date":"2018-03-27T16:59:58","date_gmt":"2018-03-27T16:59:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/?p=13182"},"modified":"2022-10-05T16:06:47","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T16:06:47","slug":"10-words-and-phrases-customers-hate-to-hear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/10-words-and-phrases-customers-hate-to-hear\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Words and Phrases Customers Hate to Hear"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shep Hyken looks at some of the most common words and phrases that are guaranteed to get customers rattled.<\/strong><\/p>\n\"\"\n

You have a problem. You call the phone number listed on the company\u2019s website. You wait on hold for what seems much longer than the ten minutes they said you would be holding.<\/p>\n

You finally get to a customer service rep. You tell your story and the customer service rep responds, \u201cI\u2019m sorry, that\u2019s not my department.\u201d Then you\u2019re transferred to someone else and the \u201cgame\u201d of holding and telling your story starts all over again.<\/p>\n

This has happened to many of us, if not all of us – but I have good news! Since customer service has become a center of attention for most companies (even though some still don\u2019t get it right), \u201cThat\u2019s not my department\u201d is being heard less and less. That said, there are still plenty of other phrases and words we, as customers, hate to hear. Here\u2019s ten more:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cYou\u2019re wrong.\u201d Customers hate to be told they\u2019re wrong.<\/li>\n
  2. \u201cI wasn\u2019t here when that happened. It\u2019s not my fault.\u201d Customers don\u2019t care whose fault it is, they just want someone to help.<\/li>\n
  3. \u201cI\u2019ll get the manager, but he\u2019ll tell you the same thing.\u201d Why don\u2019t we wait and see?<\/li>\n
  4. \u201cWe\u2019re a little busy now.\u201d What, too busy to take care of your customer?<\/li>\n
  5. \u201cThe person you need to talk to is on vacation and won\u2019t be back for a week. Call back then.\u201d Customers hate to wait. Why isn\u2019t there someone to cover for a person who everyone probably knew was going to be on vacation?<\/li>\n
  6. \u201cWe can\u2019t do that.\u201d My dad always said, \u201cCan\u2019t means \u2018won\u2019t try.\u2019\u201d Customers want to see you at least make an attempt to help them.<\/li>\n
  7. \u201cWe won\u2019t do that.\u201d Almost the same as can\u2019t, but more emphatic. Still, make the attempt to find a solution.<\/li>\n
  8. \u201cYour call is very important to us. The wait time is 45 minutes.\u201d Apparently, the call is not really that important.<\/li>\n
  9. \u201cYou\u2019ll have to\u2026\u201d Customers hate being told \u201cyou have to\u2026\u201d Find a way to make it easy on them.<\/li>\n
  10. \u201cNo!\u201d Does anyone like to be told no?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This list is by no means complete. There are plenty of other words and phrases people say that upset customers, cause them to lose confidence, and may ultimately cause them to leave and never come back.<\/p>\n

    Take Action!<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Share this article with your team, then sit down and talk about which of these phrases might be in your vocabulary \u2013 and banish them. Develop better responses.<\/p>\n

    For example, what else could you say instead of \u201cIt\u2019s not my department\u201d that won\u2019t upset a customer? True, it may not be your department, but what you say and how you get that customer to the right person will make or break their confidence in you and your company.<\/p>\n

    Put yourself in the shoes of your customer to determine the best way to respond. A customer-friendly response will comply with a modified Golden Rule: Say unto customers as you would have customer service professionals say unto you.<\/p>\n

    About the Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Shep Hyken<\/a>\u00a0is the Chief Amazement Officer of Shepard Presentations. As a professional speaker and best-selling author, Shep helps companies develop loyal relationships with their customers and employees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Shep Hyken looks at some of the most common words and phrases that are guaranteed to get customers rattled..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[65,50],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13182"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13182"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13206,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13182\/revisions\/13206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}