By Shep Hyken
āIām sorry.ā Customers love to hear those important words, especially when they are calling about a problem or have a complaint. I briefly covered this in a recent article (The Five Best Things to Say to an Angry or Upset Customer), but I want to dive into the āIām sorryā comment a little deeper.Ā
Not long ago I called a customer support center and early in the conversation the agent said, āIām sorry you are experiencing this problem.ā I appreciated those words. I felt that I was being heard and even understood. That was until a minute later when the agent once again said, āIām sorry.āĀ
That second apology almost went unnoticed. That was until she said it for the third time. And then there were the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh times. In four short minutes, she apologized seven times. I admit that I may have made statements to see how many times she would apologize. I realized after the third one that she was trained to say, āIām sorry,ā but she wasnāt trained on when or how often to say it.Ā Ā
There will be times that you feel you have to repeat yourself throughout the conversation. Iām not saying youĀ have toĀ only say, āIām sorry,ā one time. Itās okay,Ā as long asĀ you are aware and using that important phrase at the right times. Using it because you have nothing else to say can come off as insincere. It can seem as if youāre workingĀ off ofĀ a script, which is okay as long as the customer doesnāt get the sense that youāre working off of a script.Ā Ā
Obviously, you want to apologize for any problems toward the beginning of the conversation. You could make a statement such as, āIām sorry for the problem youāre having. I can understand why you are frustrated. I would be too if that happened to me.ā In just three short sentences, just 23 words, you have apologized for the problem, youāve acknowledged your genuine concern and you have even shown empathy with the last statement about how you would be frustrated if it happened to you. Not a bad way to start a conversation with an angry customer.Ā
And as a final gesture of proving you care, you may want to end the conversation with something like, āOnce again, Iām sorry for the problem. Iām glad we were able to resolve it. Let me know if I can be of further assistance. Thank you for the call and thank you for your business.āĀ Ā
