Imagine a customer saying something like this to one of your representatives: "I want to be honest with you. Your system works well, but your representatives tend to be rude. And, in my humble opinion, your engineers need to upgrade the software."

Re- read the example to identify 3 places where the customer may not mean what the words say. Then read the explanation below.

Enjoy!

When customers feel an uncomfortably high level of tension during a service event, or when they choose to withhold the truth from the representative, they often speak Meta-Talk to disguise what they really mean. (Met-ah-Talk)

The benefit of recognizing Meta-Talk is to realize a service event is not going well from the customer's point of view, allowing you to seek the cause and take corrective action immediately.

Following are some common examples of customer Meta-Talk and their meanings. Bear in mind representatives may use similar Meta-Talk for the same reason as customers.

• "I want to be honest with you . . ." (Those who proclaim their honesty often do so to cover up deception.)



• "Your system works well, but . . ." (Bad news is often softened by a preceding compliment.).



• "In my humble opinion . . ." (Proclaiming humility often disguises a lofty opinion.)



• "I'll try to send my payment right away." (By saying "try" they are alerting you that it isn't likely.)



• "I hope you won't think I'm critical, but . . ." (Why would they deny criticism if they didn't already know they plan to criticize you?)
  
  
• "Oh, by the way, . . ." (Feigned casualness is a sign that what follows is of great importance.)



• "Why don't we do lunch sometime?" (The vagueness is a clue no offer is intended.)

Teach your representatives to monitor interpersonal tension and reduce it to comfortable levels. Most often the reduction is best accomplished by giving customers empathetic feedback and probing to uncover what is being hidden. Once revealed, the underlying tension can be resolved.

June and July are wonderful months to train your service representatives to World Class performance. The skills they learn will be a great mid-year "pick me up" and they will also lead to a strong conclusion to the year.

Right now is the best time to schedule summer programs. Please call me today.