Workforce Management Featured Article
Eliminating Negative Language from the Contact Center Vocabulary
When training new contact center agents (or improving the skills of existing agents), most companies today spend a lot of time on helping them learn about the products or services they support and spend any leftover time helping them improve their knowledge of the contact center’s technologies. Very few organizations today have the time to instill selling skills, patience and the other soft skills that are so important in building a great customer support agent. For the companies that do, however, the payoff is immense. Workers who have mastered their jobs are more likely to remain engaged with them and stick with the company for longer.
An important part of helping workers to learn soft skills is getting them to understand how language can affect the customer relationship. Using “please” and “thank you” are the most basic issues, but there is also evidence that customers’ reactions to an interaction can vary depending on a number of things: whether an active or passive voice is being used, for example, or whether the agent uses an encouraging or sympathetic tone of voice. According to Micah Solomon writing for Forbes, many companies need to evaluate how agents are responding to customer thanks. The ubiquitous “no problem,” which is almost a reflex for many Americans today (as is “no worries” to Australians) should be avoided at all costs.
“So what makes ‘no problem’ such a problem–if, in fact, it is one? My opinion is that the literal meaning of ‘no problem’ poses a risk that customers will wonder whether they are causing problems at your establishment, and whether they’ll be causing even bigger problems if they are brash enough to make yet another request after the one you just no-problemed,” wrote Solomon. “In other words, you can’t ask people to not think about a pink elephant without making them picture such an elephant immediately. The ‘no’ in the phrase ‘no problem’ has zero evocative power. The ‘problem’ has plenty.”
Getting a group of people to eliminate such a reflexive phrase and replace it with “You’re welcome,” or “My pleasure” may be an uphill battle. It might help to put it into scripts, print it on signs distributed throughout the contact center and popping it as a message onto agent desktops every morning along with their schedules or other news and updates for the day.
Rupesh Patel, CEO of SmartGuests.com, told Solomon that negative words or phrases can sometime be interpreted as a pending issue or friction.
“I suggest replacing ‘No Problem’ with ‘I Would Be Happy To…,’ ‘It’s My Pleasure,’ ‘I’m Delighted To,’ or ‘Absolutely,’” said Patel. “However, you may hear me exclaiming ‘no problem’ when speaking in slang terms with friends or family. Because they know my demeanor and behavior, they understand what I’m talking about. We know exactly what Bob Marley means when he says, ‘No, Problem Mon.’ Just know when to say it.”
Your agents might think, “What’s the big deal? People know what we mean when we say it.” The truth is that language can push a lot of buttons in our subconscious minds. Even if customers aren’t actively registering that it’s being suggested that they’re causing a problem, the use of negative language can set the tone for a conversation, and even discourage customers from seeking assistance in the future.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi
