Warning: The words you use to communicate with your customer can destroy the customer service experience.
On a recent business trip to San Diego, I was checking into a hotel. The girl working the front desk seemed very nice. She had to inform me that my room was not ready. She pleasantly offered to put me into a different room, however the words she used ruined the customer service experience.
She said, “I’m sorry the room we pre-assigned you is not ready, but we could downgrade you to a different room and get you in right away.”
The word “downgrade” grabbed my attention, so I asked her what “downgrade” meant. Apparently, they had me in a corner room with a king size bed. Those rooms are just a bit bigger (not much) than the other rooms. She was downgrading me to a “non-corner” room with a king-size bed.
All of the rooms in this hotel are very nice. What she could have said was, “I’m sorry the room we pre-assigned you is not ready. It was a corner room with a king size bed. You can wait until it is ready, or we can put you into another room with a king-size bed. It’s also a very nice room.”
By the way, I took the “downgraded” room, and it was perfectly fine.
What words are you using words that could destroy the customer service experience?
Shep, another simple and great post! Front-line associates should be trained to position their responses in a positive manner. Even if she had said, “I have great news the room we had originally assigned you is not available, but I have another fabulous room which also has a king bed, but it’s doesn’t have a corner view” would have made the entire experience so much better. Most customer experiences can be dramatically improved by companies training their associates to use customer-friendly words and phrases. Thanks for sharing! Richard Shapiro, The Center For Client Retention