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Hone your tone of voice: A linguistic perspective on how to talk to customers

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Re: Hone your tone of voice: A linguistic perspective on how to talk to customers

#21

Post by rebuilder »

eikeegi wrote: post #11

In the cultural context where I come from (Estonia), using ones name while NOT being friends is a sure way to sound very passive aggressive. Doing this in a formal dialogue pretty much guarantees that the person on the receiving end will consider the other party to be very much a dick. I am pretty sure that it's not just Estonia, but Finland too.

Yep, I'm from Finland and to me, using a person's name in a potential conflict situation just feels like trying to make the problem personal. In the article's examples, like "I’m not entirely sure we can do that, Liam", I hear an unspoken "you fool" at the end.

Re: Hone your tone of voice: A linguistic perspective on how to talk to customers

#22

Post by aggie »

gowld wrote: post #7
grasshopperpurp wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For short messages, I open and close with the person's name. For longer messages, I pepper in the name at points where I feel they may need a reminder that I'm here to help or to emphasize that I care. You're right that if you overdo it, you can create a Stepford-Wives vibe, but if you write the way you speak, it should be pretty easy to avoid.

Why is it important to remind someone of their own name in the middle of a long conversation?

I suppose to reassure them of the personal touch -- that this isn't a copy+paste response. But to me it usually feels forced. Much better to find a more natural way to remind them this is a personalized message, like referencing their situation. "As this is an urgent request, Jennifer, we can provide..." vs. "As this is an urgent request due to your upcoming status meeting, we can provide...".

Re: Hone your tone of voice: A linguistic perspective on how to talk to customers

#23

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

jscholes wrote: post #15

The article raises some good points, but it's worth considering that even if you take note of everything written here and everything ever written about striking the right tone of voice as a customer service agent, you may still end up sounding patronising, repetitive or dismissive. Because your communication will often be surrounded by some wider context. Consumer services aimed at less technical customers are well-k…

Know. Your. Audience.

It's amazing how often people forget this detail.

Re: Hone your tone of voice: A linguistic perspective on how to talk to customers

#24

Post by davidmoffatt »

We have too much of this saccharin sweet but vacuous tech support. What you really need to do is.

1) Be polite even when they are not. (The authors approach of doing this makes you sound like a teenager trying to take the car on a date, skip it)

2) hear what the customer is really saying not what you think they are saying. Don't immediately bucket them.

3) Calm the customer down. "Yes Ma'am, I don't know why it isn't working but we are going to fix it. I just need to ask a few questions..."

4) Don't waste the customer's time. This is a big one. Your staff should not be constantly calling for a manager. They should be trained before they go online.

Everything else is just trying to cover for the fact that you can't seem to do your job. If you are rude, gruff, and speak with a funny accent they will love you if you solve their problem.

Re: Hone your tone of voice: A linguistic perspective on how to talk to customers

#25

Post by gnicholas »

alleyshack wrote: post #13
nmstoker wrote: post #4

Interesting point about using a person's name. I've always associated that with a slightly patronising manner, which makes me wonder what're they after. An old boss used to drive me up the wall, as any vaguely difficult conversation he wanted to have would be peppered with my name - it can easily go too far and rapidly become false

I absolutely hate people using my name in conversation. As you say, it feels patronizing, and to me it also feels fake and manipulative, especially in the context of customer support. It's interesting to me how much advice about communication involves using a person's name. Do most people like hearing their name dropped frequently in conversations with strangers or near-strangers? Or is this one of those weird unprov…

Using a name feels even more unnatural when done incorrectly. For example, I get this all the time:

I would be happy to help you with this Mr. Nick

I have no idea why this happens — are there countries in which people call each other "Mr. [first name]"?

Re: Hone your tone of voice: A linguistic perspective on how to talk to customers

#26

Post by jumelles »

stcredzero wrote: post #16

The number of times I've been faced with condescending comments from developers of mobile and web apps here and on reddit is pretty amazing to me. The presumption of cluelessness on the part of most developers faced with any kind of non-praise feedback is stark and amazing. I can understand why it exists -- since the degree of cluelessness out there is quite amazing -- but it's pretty much anathema to anything in goo…

> Could you just

Yeah, that's a really bad example - the "just" adds a tone of impatience.

Re: Hone your tone of voice: A linguistic perspective on how to talk to customers

#27

Post by kornakiewicz »

gnicholas wrote: post #25
alleyshack wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I absolutely hate people using my name in conversation. As you say, it feels patronizing, and to me it also feels fake and manipulative, especially in the context of customer support. It's interesting to me how much advice about communication involves using a person's name. Do most people like hearing their name dropped frequently in conversations with strangers or near-strangers? Or is this one of those weird unprov…

Using a name feels even more unnatural when done incorrectly. For example, I get this all the time: I would be happy to help you with this Mr. Nick I have no idea why this happens — are there countries in which people call each other "Mr. [first name]"?

You can say that in Polish, i.e. title "Pan" (Mr) or "Pani" (Ms) with either first name, last name or both. So I think people from certain cultural/linguistic backgrounds may not find it unnatural.

Re: Hone your tone of voice: A linguistic perspective on how to talk to customers

#28

Post by fmfamaral »

rebuilder wrote: post #21
eikeegi wrote: post #11

In the cultural context where I come from (Estonia), using ones name while NOT being friends is a sure way to sound very passive aggressive. Doing this in a formal dialogue pretty much guarantees that the person on the receiving end will consider the other party to be very much a dick. I am pretty sure that it's not just Estonia, but Finland too.

Yep, I'm from Finland and to me, using a person's name in a potential conflict situation just feels like trying to make the problem personal. In the article's examples, like "I’m not entirely sure we can do that, Liam", I hear an unspoken "you fool" at the end.

That reminds me of "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that" :D

Re: Hone your tone of voice: A linguistic perspective on how to talk to customers

#29

Post by tdeck »

nmstoker wrote: post #4

Interesting point about using a person's name. I've always associated that with a slightly patronising manner, which makes me wonder what're they after. An old boss used to drive me up the wall, as any vaguely difficult conversation he wanted to have would be peppered with my name - it can easily go too far and rapidly become false

Relevant Mitchell and Webb sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W34wyKZlWQ

(audio nsfw)

Re: Hone your tone of voice: A linguistic perspective on how to talk to customers

#30

Post by fmfamaral »

eikeegi wrote: post #11

In the cultural context where I come from (Estonia), using ones name while NOT being friends is a sure way to sound very passive aggressive. Doing this in a formal dialogue pretty much guarantees that the person on the receiving end will consider the other party to be very much a dick. I am pretty sure that it's not just Estonia, but Finland too.

The end of the article points at cultural differences that need to be taken into account. Like someone said in this thread: know your audience!
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