Useful Phrases and Vocabulary for Customer Service

ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DA APRODAZ

Formador: Carlos Cunha Formanda: Maura Silva Curso: Técnico Comercial Ano formativo: 2011 ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DA APRODAZ Rua dos Mercadores nº 76, 9500-092 Ponta Delgada Telefone 296 285 461  Fax 296 285 463 E-mail: [email protected]

ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DA APRODAZ

INDEX Basic socializing on a meeting .......................................................................................... 3 Greetings and introductions ............................................................................................................ 3 Small talk questions ............................................................................................................................. 3 Offering hospitality ................................................................................................................................ 4 Customer meetings .............................................................................................................................. 4 Making or Responding to suggestions .............................................................................................. 5 Saying goodbye .................................................................................................................................... 5 Asking for clarification .......................................................................................................................... 5 Dealing with Complaints ..................................................................................................................... 6 Complaining........................................................................................................................................... 6 Identifying the problem ........................................................................................................................ 6 Talking about consequences .............................................................................................................. 6 Complaint Management ........................................................................................ 7 Confirming you have understood the client´s situation ................................................................... 7 Asking for the details of the problem ................................................................................................. 7 Clarify the information .......................................................................................................................... 7 Take responsibility for the problem .................................................................................................... 7 Say how and when the problem will be solved ................................................................................ 7 Summarize the discussion .................................................................................................................. 8 Referring to future action ..................................................................................................................... 8 Serving your client by suggesting solutions ..................................................................................... 8 Offer an alternative if the customer doesn´t accept the solution ................................................... 8 Helping your clients by confirming your commitments ................................................................... 9 Assure the client of the follow-up ....................................................................................................... 9 End with a friendly, helpful tone ......................................................................................................... 9 Offering apologies ................................................................................................................................ 9 Useful phrases to deal with angry customers ................................................................................ 10

ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DA APRODAZ Rua dos Mercadores nº 76, 9500-092 Ponta Delgada Telefone 296 285 461  Fax 296 285 463 E-mail: [email protected]

ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DA APRODAZ

Basic socializing on a meeting

Greetings and introductions Good Morning / Afternoon. Can I help you? May I introduce myself? I´m Julie Morris from DMT Company… Nice to meet you. I´m John Stone… It´s nice to meet you, too. You must be Mr. Smith. It´s nice to finally meet you face to face. It´s nice to meet you, too. I´d like to introduce you to… Peter, this is…

Small talk questions How was your trip/journey/flight? Did you find us OK? Did you have any trouble finding us? This is the first time in Ponta Delgada/ here? So, have you ever been to Lisbon before? So, how´s your hotel? Everything OK? Great weather, isn´t it? How was the weather in London? Are you interested in Tennis/ sports?

ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DA APRODAZ Rua dos Mercadores nº 76, 9500-092 Ponta Delgada Telefone 296 285 461  Fax 296 285 463 E-mail: [email protected]

ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DA APRODAZ

Offering hospitality May I take your coat? Let me help you with that. Oh, that’s very kind of you. So, if you want to take a seat. Please, take a seat. Thank you. Would you care for a coffee or tea? Yes, please. Coffee will be nice, without sugar. Can I get you some mineral water? Can I get you something else? Juice, perhaps? No, thank you.

Customer meetings Thanks for coming today. I´m glad to help you review your business needs. As I understand it, you´d like to discuss… I´ve done some research into your company. It seems you…Is that right? So, that was my suggestion. Is that suitable for you? I´d like to get your feedback. Let´s go over the action points once more. I want to be sure we agree. I´ll see what I/ we can do.

ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DA APRODAZ Rua dos Mercadores nº 76, 9500-092 Ponta Delgada Telefone 296 285 461  Fax 296 285 463 E-mail: [email protected]

ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DA APRODAZ

Making or Responding to suggestions Why don´t you/ we…? Don’t / Wouldn’t you agree that…? Isn´t it better idea to…? It makes a good/ bad impression if you… That´s right. I / We agree. I / we see your point. I / We disagree because… I / We don’t agree, so I / we would…

Saying goodbye Thanks for stopping by. Thanks for the meeting. It was great to meet (both of) you. Have a good trip/ journey. So long for now. Goodbye. / Bye.

Asking for clarification I´m sorry, but I didn´t (quite) catch that/ understand you exactly. Could you repeat that, please? Could you speak a bit slower/ more slowly, please? Could we go over that once more?

ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DA APRODAZ Rua dos Mercadores nº 76, 9500-092 Ponta Delgada Telefone 296 285 461  Fax 296 285 463 E-mail: [email protected]

ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DA APRODAZ

Dealing with Complaints Complaining Identifying the problem I´m afraid (that) there is a problem with … There appears/ seems to be a mistake/ mix-up with… Unfortunately, we have a slight problem with… One of the pieces had faults!

Talking about consequences We expect you to cover these costs. We expect compensation for the inconvenience caused. We cannot accept this and will have to cancel our contract if it happens again. If you do not comply with the delivery terms as agreed in our frame contract, we will be forced to contact our lawyers.

ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DA APRODAZ Rua dos Mercadores nº 76, 9500-092 Ponta Delgada Telefone 296 285 461  Fax 296 285 463 E-mail: [email protected]

ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DA APRODAZ

Complaint Management Confirming you have understood the client´s situation I´m sorry to hear that. I understand your situation. I realize this must be frustrating for you.

Asking for the details of the problem Could you tell me exactly which item was damaged? May I ask if you´ve tried to use the tracking facility on our website?

Clarify the information Could you tell me exactly what happened? Could you explain a bit more…? Do you mind if I just go over that again?

Take responsibility for the problem It looks like an oversight on our part. There seems to be a misunderstanding. It appears your order got overlooked. I´m afraid there has been some sort of mix-up.

Say how and when the problem will be solved I´ll care of this at once for you. I´m sure we can find the solution. I´d glad to offer you…to make up this inconvenience. This should be resolved by the end of today.

ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DA APRODAZ Rua dos Mercadores nº 76, 9500-092 Ponta Delgada Telefone 296 285 461  Fax 296 285 463 E-mail: [email protected]

ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DA APRODAZ

Summarize the discussion What we have decided is… Our action plan is… I´d like to go over this once more to make sure that we agree.

Referring to future action We will, of course, cover the extra costs/ reimburse you/ arrange for a new shipment… As a sign of goodwill, I would like to offer …

Serving your client by suggesting solutions You will get the missing shipment within 24 hours. I´ll get back to you first thing tomorrow morning about compensation.

Offer an alternative if the customer doesn´t accept the solution If this solution does not meet your needs, then I can suggest…as an alternative. I´ll look into other possibilities by… I´ll get back to you straight away. You´ll receive (a refund/ replacement) by tomorrow.

ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DA APRODAZ Rua dos Mercadores nº 76, 9500-092 Ponta Delgada Telefone 296 285 461  Fax 296 285 463 E-mail: [email protected]

ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DA APRODAZ

Helping your clients by confirming your commitments I´ll see to it immediately and personally make sure you get compensation. Are we agreed that you´ll fax me a copy of the invoice and I´ll send you the missing items today?

Assure the client of the follow-up I´ll get back to you… I´ll follow up to make sure that…

End with a friendly, helpful tone I hope you are satisfied with the outcome. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Is there anything else I can help you with today? Don´t hesitate to ring/ come again if there are any more problems.

Offering apologies Please accept my apologies for… Let me apologize for… Please accept my sincere and unreserved apology for any inconvenience this caused to you. First of all, I´m so/ terribly sorry about that. Please be assured that we are doing everything… I (very much) regret the inconvenience we have caused. ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DA APRODAZ Rua dos Mercadores nº 76, 9500-092 Ponta Delgada Telefone 296 285 461  Fax 296 285 463 E-mail: [email protected]

ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DA APRODAZ

Useful phrases to deal with angry customers

I´ll just make a few notes as you speak. I understand/ I see what you mean. I would feel the same way. What a difficult situation this puts you in. Clearly, we´ve upset you and I want you to know that getting to the bottom of this is just as important to me as it is to you. People get irritated when they don´t have immediately the help they need. Nothing is more distressing than feeling like you´re being passed around when all you want is help. Have I done something personally to upset you? I want to be part of the solution. That must have been very frustrating for you! I realize the wait you encountered was an inconvenience. If I were in your shoes, I´m sure I´d feel just as you do.

Tips: Listen carefully and show empathy. If you do that, your customers will be…

ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DA APRODAZ Rua dos Mercadores nº 76, 9500-092 Ponta Delgada Telefone 296 285 461  Fax 296 285 463 E-mail: [email protected]