The Customer Service Survival Kit

CHAPTER 3

Achieving DeepAcknowledgment

YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW to acknowledge other people. Especially difficult ones.

I mean this statement in the nicest possible way. In my experience working with groups ranging from senior executives to front-line employees, the vast majority do not know how to acknowledge a truly obnoxious, demanding customer. These are good people who try hard to do the right thing with customers, and they either struggle with what to say as they are being taunted, baited, or yelled at, or they fall back on empty catchphrases that don’t work.

Now I am going to make another bold statement: Your inability to acknowledge people causes the vast majority of your most difficult customer situations.

“Wait a minute!” you are probably ...