The goal in a customer service or support situation is to quickly form a collaborative working relationship and execute an action plan to resolve the situation and get the customer back on the road to success. The big barrier in the road is the heightened level of stress and/or loss created by the situation itself and the process of asking for help. When a customer contacts you move quickly to neutralize or reduce stress by empathizing and legitimizing their feelings. Use the a phrase like “I understand how you feel about . . . , I might feel the same way if I were in your shoes. Let’s get an action plan together and we can get you back up and running, does that work you?” Personalize as needed and use the words you are comfortable. Note we empathized with their situation and we asked permission to move onto getting the issue resolved. We neutralize and reduce the tension that could have blocked progress and ask to collaborate with the customer to get the situation resolved. The exhalation by the customer will be obvious. Thus we begin a conversation to understand the problem, listening carefully, asking questions to clarify, and asking for feedback on their understanding of what you are saying and the actions you are proposing.
Why not apologize? Apologizing for something you personally had no role in is an empty gesture and tells the customer not to expect quality, good support, or whatever the issue may be. This actually creates more tension and can further block your progress in solving the problem. Customers need an action plan and the confidence that you are working to right their situation and get them back on track.
