Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that whenever you need customer assistance, you can
Speaker 1: try using the phrase can you help me with that?
Speaker 1: You just might find an ally, when you set a
Speaker 1: tone of collaboration, you can work together to address your problem.
Speaker 1: So I am sure that all of us have felt
Speaker 1: rightfully frustrated with service issues, whether it's the utilities the
Speaker 1: cable company, an insurance matter, or a billing problem, when
Speaker 1: you haven't had the service you expect. Once you finally
Speaker 1: navigate the AI mased to talk to a real person.
Speaker 1: It is tempting to vent your frustration and make demands
Speaker 1: of the customer service rep. But unfortunately that might not
Speaker 1: get you anywhere. When you start from an adversarial place
Speaker 1: you versus the company, the customer service representative will probably
Speaker 1: let you vent and then just try to explain the
Speaker 1: company policy. We all know that in a contest of
Speaker 1: you versus the cable company, ninety nine percent of the time,
Speaker 1: the cable company is going to win, so maybe it
Speaker 1: is best not to make it a contest. Certainly, the
Speaker 1: customer service rep is not personally your enemy. I am
Speaker 1: pretty sure that the person answering the phone at your
Speaker 1: doctor's office bears no responsibility for the fact that you
Speaker 1: haven't got in a response to your my chart message.
Speaker 1: It is unlikely that the customer service rep for your
Speaker 1: alarm service has anything to do with the fact that
Speaker 1: your new back door sensor isn't working. So rather than
Speaker 1: seeing the customer service rep as an adversary, it might
Speaker 1: be possible to see the person as a potential ally
Speaker 1: and resource in your struggle. There is this problem, and
Speaker 1: it is you and the rep versus the problem. When
Speaker 1: you calmly explain your situation and ask can you help
Speaker 1: me with that, it's an invitation for the person to
Speaker 1: say yes. You are not asking for a particular course
Speaker 1: of action. You are not even asking the person to
Speaker 1: solve your problem on their own. You just want their help. Now.
Speaker 1: It might not work, but I do think it is
Speaker 1: more likely to lead to something than anything else. So
Speaker 1: the next time you need to deal with a service issue,
Speaker 1: you just might try it. No accusations, just a question,
Speaker 1: can you help me with this? Together? The two of
Speaker 1: you might get something done in the meantime. This is Laura,
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.