There are tones that you can use that will make customers hate you. And, there are tones that will make customers sing your praises. Which tones are you using right now?
You probably don’t know for sure, and even more interesting is the fact that your tones are probably randomly selected, based on your mood, your customer’s tonal choices, the subject being discussed, and the like.
But why leave such an important determinant of customer satisfaction to chance? If you could learn a simple tonal formula for making customers sing, wouldn’t you use it, call after call?
But let me backtrack to what I just said. Tone is important.
Prove this to yourself.
The next time someone you know is fishing for a compliment about her clothing, say, “Sure, you look great,?but let your tone move downward with each word.
Make the phrase sound as if you’re walking down a tonal stairway.
Then monitor your friend’s reaction. I assure you she won’t be happy with what you said, despite the fact that each word was positive and above reproach.
She’ll hate your utterance, because you’re sounding sarcastic. Sarcasm is a tonal cue that says, don’t believe my words; believe the opposite. So, when I say you look great, I really mean you look awful!
Sarcasm teaches us that when tone and text collide, when they disagree, guess which one wins, when it comes to the message that’s sent and received.
That’s right, tone wins.
So, it is crucial to very carefully orchestrate our tones when speaking to customers. I’m going to give you a phrase, something that you probably use already in one form or another, and I want you to do a customer satisfaction experiment with it.
Say this phrase going down the stairs half of the time, and going up the stairs, sounding upbeat, the other half. I promise you that you’ll get dramatically different reactions.
When you “sing?the phrase, going up, your customers will sing right back to you, and when you go down in the dumps, they’ll also surely follow.
Here’s the situation. You’re finishing the call. Calmly append this phrase to the last thing you say:
“And is there anything else I can help you with??br />
I’m sure you’ll find the awesome power of tone will produce very different customer satisfaction outcomes.
Tell me how this works out for you!
Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone?and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.