Elevate Your Customer Service By Speaking In Complete Sentences

Speak in complete sentences with your customers from Building Rapport with Customers by Myra Golden

Have you ever talked with a customer service person that went something like this?

The Agent says: Date of birth? Last name? Zip code? 

A lot of customer service reps ask questions this way. But when you talk in little bytes, you sound robotic. And it’s hard to build rapport with customers if you sound robotic. After all, rapport is a human-to-human connection.

Consider the difference in placing a fast food order where the person says, “Pull forward.” versus, “My pleasure. We’ll have your order ready at the window.” Which sounds better to you? These are both full sentences, but the attitude is very different. 

So, speaking in complete sentences is one of the easiest ways to make your conversations with customers more warm and friendly. 

Before we jump into that, let’s think about why we sometimes talk in fragments.

The temptation to talk in fragments is greatest when we have to ask a customer several questions before we can help them. We do it because we want to quickly get through the questions so we can solve their problem or answer their question. But remember, we’re not coming across as helpful. We’re coming across as mechanical and impatient. So, while our intentions are good, we need better execution.

So when you have to ask your customer questions, I want you to do two things:

First, always ask your questions in complete sentences.

Second, use “please” and “thank you” whenever possible.

It will sound something like this:

“Can I please have your last name?” 

“Do you happen to have your claim number?” 

“Thank you. One last question for you.” 

Commit to asking your customers questions only in complete sentences. This will make you sound friendlier and give the conversation a casual, natural flow, giving you the best opportunity to create rapport. 

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For more help delivering the best possible customer experience, check out my LinkedIn Learning course, Building Rapport with Customers.

Why rapport really matters from Building Rapport with Customers by Myra Golden