Softening a Blunt Message

When organizations bring me in to conduct customer service training seminars, I often see employees getting buried with email. With the economy limiting corporate budgets, there’s no extra staff, so employees attempting to keep-up with their inboxes dash off quick email responses to internal and external customers. Unfortunately, the tone of their message becomes perfunctory and even terse. The recipient gets angry, sends more emails, or escalates it up the ladder – which takes more time to address later. That’s why when employees need to respond with ‘bad news’ I encourage them to phone, rather than email, their responses. Then, follow-up with a short email. With a phone call or voice mail, you can explain the reasoning behind the decision or policy, offer alternatives, and convey compassion through your voice tone – all in 30 seconds. Bottom line, you can save time and improve service – pick up the phone.

Today’s chuckle:

Today’s tip about email overload is sent by email… Yikes!

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Jeff Mowatt is a customer service strategist, award-winning speaker, and best-selling author. To inquire about engaging Jeff for your team visit www.JeffMowatt.com