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(The following conversation is a portion of an actual call from a national long distance company telesales representative.)
Salesperson: I'm with (national long distance phone company) and I'm calling about your video, "Calming Upset Customers." Why don't you have an 800 number?
Rebecca: We do have one. Tell me, where did you hear about the video?
Salesperson: I have an ad you placed in a magazine.
Rebecca: Hm. I didn't place an ad. What magazine was it in?
Salesperson: I don't know. I'll ask my supervisor. (Turns away without covering phone or putting me on hold. Asks supervisor.) She thinks it was a telemarketing magazine.
Rebecca: Oh, probably the press release in Inbound/Outbound.
Salesperson: So, why don't you have an 800 number?
Rebecca: (Struggling to continue to be polite) As I told you, we do.
Salesperson: Well, it's not with us.
Rebecca: You're right. When we researched 800 numbers last summer we were told we couldn't get one from you on our type of line.
Salesperson: That's not right. Who told you that?
Rebecca: One of your representatives last July.
Salesperson: Well, it wasn't me. So why isn't your 800 number in this ad?
Rebecca: (Almost losing patience) Because we didn't place the ad...This conversation was not with a new salesperson. It was with an experienced salesperson who had no idea he was irritating me with his confrontational, accusatory tone and word choice. Most people would have hung up in annoyance, and thought "I'm never going to use that long distance company."
Are you irritating your customers without knowing it? When you get a crabby prospect or customer, do you hear yourself saying: "It's not my fault. That person is just a crab or just had a bad day. I didn't do anything to cause it."?
Well, you just may be doing something to irritate, or to escalate an annoyance into full scale anger. In researching my book, Calming Upset Customers, I discovered many situations where the customer's upset was caused directly by an unaware salesperson. Many of these salespeople were experienced, yet slipped into sloppy habits with their word choice and tone of voice. Since they had been on their jobs a while, they didn't focus on what they were saying as much as when they were fresh. They knew better, but they didn't apply what they know.
How can you avoid annoying your customers and prospects so they don't turn into upset customers? Let's analyze the conversation above and discuss five key areas.
1. Watch the words you use and how they can affect your customer. When the salesperson in the conversation above initially confronted me with "Why don't you have an 800 number?" I became annoyed. He could have said: "Congratulations on your new video on 'Calming Upset Customers.' This is Larry Smith from The Best Long Distance Telephone Company. I noticed there wasn't an 800 number listed in the announcement. I thought one would help increase your orders. Do you currently have an 800#?"2. Don't assume. He assumed I didn't have an 800 #. He assumed I had placed an ad, when really it was a press release that I had no control over.
When you need clarification, ask questions politely, and with sincere interest. Don't be confrontational with your questions. Modify blunt questions with "May I ask," Would you share with me," "By the way."
3. Don't be argumentative. He demanded to know who in his company had misinformed me even though I told him it had been over eight months since I'd received the information.
If you disagree with something, don't respond with "That's not true." Instead, try, "I don't understand how that could have happened. Tell me more."
4. Listen. Twice he didn't listen to the answers to his questions and asked them again. Few things annoy people more than repeating answers to the same questions. If you don't remember what they said, acknowledge it, "I'm sorry, I blanked out a moment. Would you tell me again why your 800 number isn't in this announcement?" That shows you're human and polite.
5. Monitor your tone of voice. He sounded impatient and frustrated at not making the sale. No wonder he was frustrated: since he wasn't listening to himself or me, he had no idea why he wasn't getting anywhere. If you're making outgoing calls, tape record at least your side of the conversation. Play it back and critique yourself or sit with a colleague or your boss to find out what you're doing well, and what you should improve. When you hear your-self sounding frustrated or curt, work to improve it with your next sentence.
The best method to calm upset customers is to realize what irritates them and eliminate that from your behavior. Avoiding the creation of upset customers is not just for the customer service department, but a primary responsibility of every salesperson. We all need to be aware of our influence on how a prospect or customer perceives our organization. This perception directly relates to their receptivity to our products and/or services.
© 1990 Morgan Seminar Group
_______________________Rebecca L. Morgan, CSP, is a dynamic speaker and seminarist. She is the author of four books, TurboTime: Maximizing Your Results Through Technology, Calming Upset Customers, Life's Lessons: Insights and Information for a Richer Life, and Professional Selling. For information on her speaking services, books, and tapes contact her at 1440 Newport Ave., San Jose, CA 95125, 408/998-7977, 800/247-9662, fax: 408/998-1742, rebecca@RebeccaMorgan.com, www.RebeccaMorgan.com. Please contact Rebecca for permission to reprint or repost this item.
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