I am not a natural whooper and leaper. On a bad day, even the most perky effervescent cheerleader type would probably find curmudgeonly1 a generously optimistic adjective for me.

However one thing I do buy into is the power to influence others; small changes we can make to what we do that can have a big impact on the actions of others. And if this is applied positively (using your powers for good) so much the better!

For example: My fifteen-month old daughter (not uniquely!) has an aversion to having her nose wiped. And thanks to a ‘summer cold’ this is an activity we have to do with alarming regularity recently. (Sorry – stay with me, that’s as graphic as it gets and there is a work-related point to this!) Weary of chasing her round and cornering her with a piece of tissue (at this point do feel free to add a Benny Hill style soundtrack to the image for maximum effect), to be greeted by tears, tantrums and flailing limbs, I considered the situation objectively and examined our respective roles. By doing this I was able to change what I did which then influenced her response. So rather than feed her reaction (“I know, you don’t like having your nose wiped, but it has to be done – now, hold still, please!”), I started praising her (initially non-existent!) co-operation (“Well done! What a good girl having her nose wiped.”). And it really helped, at first her reaction was less extreme, then calm and after five days I just have to ask her if she needs her nose wiped and she says yes and comes straight over!

Separate out what you can control, influence or merely respond to and then adjust your side of the script to influence theirs. Simple!

Now if this sounds to you a little like NLP, well I’m glad you noticed! Joking2 aside, I think some of the more practical NLP techniques can be fairly useful in the call centre/customer service environment. For example I would say that the ability to guide an irate customer to a more reasonable and responsive state to begin to resolve their issue using Pace, Pace, Lead is quite a handy tool. And I would also say that a course for agents to be trained to tap into the callers’ processing preferences by noticing whether they use visual, auditory or kinaesthetic references and then adjusting your own responses accordingly in order to increase conversion is probably not going to bring about the return on investment you hoped for.3

Now typically call centre agents barely have five minutes let alone five days to work this magic on customers. But there are some really simple small things agents can do that can make a difference.

Consider this: If an agent needs to refer someone on, rather than saying, “I’m sorry I can’t help you with that, you would need to contact X”, try saying “Yes, you can do that by contacting X” And how about even anticipating the next question and offering the number! The outcome is the same in both, but how the caller perceives the level of customer service they have received is likely to be more favourable in the second example. Now this example is fairly generic, but I’m sure you can come up with a selection of typical exchanges in your own environments that could benefit from a few simple changes that may even have a Pareto-style4 effect on levels of customer satisfaction. Ask your agents – I’m sure they could come up with some suggestions!

Whether you support NLP or not, surely anything so simple with the potential to reduce callers’ frustration levels is worth some consideration.

Zoe

1 An ill-tempered person full of resentment and stubborn notions.
2 NLP being the art of noticing – well I thought it was witty!
3 Scoff all you like, but as an agent I once endured a five hour session to do just that.
4 Pareto’s law states that 80 % of the objectives or effects are achieved with 20 % of the means or causes.