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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is that whenever you need customer assistance, you can

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Speaker 1: try using the phrase can you help me with that?

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Speaker 1: You just might find an ally, when you set a

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Speaker 1: tone of collaboration, you can work together to address your problem.

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Speaker 1: So I am sure that all of us have felt

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Speaker 1: rightfully frustrated with service issues, whether it's the utilities the

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Speaker 1: cable company, an insurance matter, or a billing problem, when

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Speaker 1: you haven't had the service you expect. Once you finally

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Speaker 1: navigate the AI mased to talk to a real person.

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Speaker 1: It is tempting to vent your frustration and make demands

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Speaker 1: of the customer service rep. But unfortunately that might not

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Speaker 1: get you anywhere. When you start from an adversarial place

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Speaker 1: you versus the company, the customer service representative will probably

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Speaker 1: let you vent and then just try to explain the

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Speaker 1: company policy. We all know that in a contest of

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Speaker 1: you versus the cable company, ninety nine percent of the time,

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Speaker 1: the cable company is going to win, so maybe it

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Speaker 1: is best not to make it a contest. Certainly, the

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Speaker 1: customer service rep is not personally your enemy. I am

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Speaker 1: pretty sure that the person answering the phone at your

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Speaker 1: doctor's office bears no responsibility for the fact that you

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Speaker 1: haven't got in a response to your my chart message.

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Speaker 1: It is unlikely that the customer service rep for your

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Speaker 1: alarm service has anything to do with the fact that

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Speaker 1: your new back door sensor isn't working. So rather than

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Speaker 1: seeing the customer service rep as an adversary, it might

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Speaker 1: be possible to see the person as a potential ally

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Speaker 1: and resource in your struggle. There is this problem, and

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Speaker 1: it is you and the rep versus the problem. When

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Speaker 1: you calmly explain your situation and ask can you help

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Speaker 1: me with that, it's an invitation for the person to

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Speaker 1: say yes. You are not asking for a particular course

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Speaker 1: of action. You are not even asking the person to

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Speaker 1: solve your problem on their own. You just want their help. Now.

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Speaker 1: It might not work, but I do think it is

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Speaker 1: more likely to lead to something than anything else. So

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Speaker 1: the next time you need to deal with a service issue,

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Speaker 1: you just might try it. No accusations, just a question,

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Speaker 1: can you help me with this? Together? The two of

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Speaker 1: you might get something done in the meantime. This is Laura,

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and here's to making the most of

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Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've

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Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at

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Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a

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Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit

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Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

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Speaker 1: your favorite shows.