Customer Service
There's almost no better place to see self-directedness vs. other-directedness (and its natural result, poor listening) than in customer service. A person's customer service attitude is most clearly perceived by the words he or she uses. Here is a list of phrases we've all heard way too many times and what's going through our minds when we hear them:
"Calm down!" (Does this ever work?)
"I'm busy right now." (Who isn't?)
"Let me see if I got this straight." (It isn't rocket science.)
"Next." (Oh, I get it. I've just been renamed "Next.")
"Sorry about that." (Are you really?)
"That's not my job." (Whose, then?)
"Sorry, we're closed." (Again, are you really?)
"We did the best we could." (Try stretching a bit!)
"We're understaffed." (I should care?)
"What do you expect me to do?" (Your job!)
"What seems to be the problem?" (Maybe you?)
"You just have to wait." (Is that as in death and taxes?)
And finally the two meanest ones:
1. "It's not our policy to…" (The American Revolution was about a country that said to us "It's not our policy to…")
2. O.K., as in "My call has been dropped for the tenth time." "O.K." (It's NOT O.K.!)
At CEI, we have an expression that goes "All customer service is trained. It is never instinctive." When customer service is trained, you're more likely to hear these other-directed phrases:
"Here's what I can do."
"How does that sound to you?"
"I don't blame you for feeling frustrated by that."
"Please help me understand."
"Sure. Let's see what we can do for you."
"Thank you for letting us know about that."
"That must be problematic for you."
"We want to be responsive to your needs."
"We'll handle this right away."
And then the best of the best:
"I'm sorry you were inconvenienced."
"I apologize for the difficulty you've been having."
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