Transcription
Hi everybody!
In this lesson, I'm going to show you 36 really great English phrases for professional customer service. The lesson is perfect for you if you work in a call center or if you ever need to deal with customers on the phone. Some of the most useful phrases you'll learn in this lesson will help you to deal with complaints and angry customers.
But first, we look at answering the call and greeting the customer. One of the simplest and most professional ways to answer the phone is to say "hello" followed by your company name. This is followed by your name from customer service. For example:
"Hello, English for Professionals. This is Derek from customer service. How can I help you today?"
Or:
"Hello, thank you for calling English for Professionals. This is Derek from customer service speaking. What can I help you with today?"
Now, we don't always get a positive response when we answer the call and greet the customer. Sometimes they have a problem that they want to tell us about. Here's what we can say:
"I'm very sorry to hear that. I'll do my best to resolve this for you now."
Or:
"I'm so sorry to hear that. If you could give me your name and order number, I'll start looking into this immediately."
But what if you're not the right person to help the customer? You may need to transfer them to a different person or department. You could say:
"I understand. I'm going to transfer you to our finance/sales/shipping department. They'll be able to help you with this request/matter/issue. Please hold for a moment."
Or:
"I understand. I'm going to put you through to our [name of department] so they can help resolve this issue. Is it okay if I put you on hold for a moment?"
Or:
"I see. Let me transfer you to [name of responsible person]. He or she is the right person to talk to, and I'm sure he or she will be able to help you with this. Would you mind being on hold while I get in touch with him or her for you?"
If you are the right person to help the customer, you'll probably need to get some customer information from them. For example:
"Absolutely, could I please get your full name to check that order for you?"
Or:
"Great! Could you please give me your customer or your account number?"
"No problem. Do you happen to have the order number so I can bring it up?"
"Do you happen to have" is just slightly more friendly and polite than saying "do you have," and "to bring something up" means to bring it up on the screen in front of you.
"I see. Could you please give me the account number listed on the invoice?"
You might also need to ask the customer for billing or credit card information. You could say:
"Could you please provide your current billing address?"
Or:
"Could you please verify your address?"
"Could I please have your credit card number, CVV code, and expiration date?"
The CVV code is a three-digit number that you should find on the back of your card.
When dealing with customer requests or questions, we often need a few minutes to check or find other information. Here's what we can say in this situation:
"I see. I'm going to need a moment to check that for you. Can I put you on hold?"
Or:
"I understand. Please give me a minute while I pull up that information. Would you mind being on hold while I do that?"
"To pull up information" is very similar to "bring up" — to pull it up on the screen in front of you.
If we ask the customer to hold, it's very important to thank the customer for holding once we're back on the call with them after checking the information. It's very common to say the customer's name like a question to make sure they're still on the line, then say, "Thank you for holding. I have that information for you now."
For example:
"Mr. Callum, thank you for holding. I have that information for you now."
Or:
"Mr. Callum, thank you for holding. I'm sorry it took a little longer than expected."
Or:
"Mr. Callum, thank you for being so patient. I have all the details here now."
Now it's time to move on to the unpleasant part: dealing with problems, complaints, and issues. Here's a tip for you: if there is a problem or issue of any kind, it doesn't matter whose fault it is, always show understanding for the customer's situation.
Our first example is an incorrect shipping address:
"It looks like your order was shipped to the wrong address. I'm very sorry about that. I'll correct that and organize a new order right now. It will leave our warehouse today and should arrive within [give the time period]."
Example two: the delivery never arrives.
"I'm so sorry to hear that [customer's name]. Let me bring up your order so we can see what happened and make sure that delivery arrives this time."
Example three: missing items.
"I'm so sorry about this mix-up. I will correct the order and get the missing items to you as soon as possible."
Example four: faulty products.
"I'm very sorry about the inconvenience. I know this is frustrating. I'll contact my supervisor immediately to see how we can resolve this for you. Is it okay if I call you back within the next [number of hours]?"
Sometimes, when there's an issue or a problem, customers can get quite angry or impatient. It's important to stay professional and calm and, again, to show understanding. You could say:
"I can appreciate how frustrating this must be. Let me contact my manager and get this resolved for you right now."
Or:
"I'm very sorry for the inconvenience. I know this isn't ideal. I'm going to look into this immediately and find out what went wrong and how we can put it right for you."
Or:
"I know this is extremely inconvenient, and I appreciate your patience. I'll make sure we resolve this for you today."
Or:
"I'm going to do everything I can to get this resolved as soon as possible."
And one more example:
"I totally understand. I would feel the same way. Please give me a moment to look into this and find the right solution for you."
But what if we can't fully resolve the issue for the customer on that call? What do we say?
"Sorry [customer's name], can I check this with my manager and get back to you in the next hour?"
Or:
"[Customer name], I'm afraid I need more time to look into this properly for you. Would you mind if I call you back in the afternoon when I've found the right solution or the right option for you?"
Here are some different ways to close the call:
"Thanks again for your call. Do you have any other questions?"
Or:
"Well, I'm glad I could help you resolve this issue. Is there anything else I can help you with today?"
Or:
"Please feel free to get back in touch if there's anything else I can do for you."
"Great! Well, thank you very much for calling and have a great day, a great evening, or a great weekend."
"Great! Thanks again and have a nice day."
I hope you liked this lesson and found it useful. If you did, give it a thumbs up and watch one of these next!