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§§ Table of Contents − − − − − − − − −
Ultimate Guide to Difficult
Conversations
1. Introduction 2. When you don’t know the answer 3. When you have to transfer a customer to someone else 4. When a customer requests a feature or product 5. When a customer asks you for a favor that you cannot do 6. When there’s something wrong with the delivered product 7. When you close the conversation 8. When a customer is angry 9. When a customer is unwilling to pay 10. When a crisis occurs 11. When you have a frequently complaining customer 12. When customers complain on social media 13. When you have legal issues 14. When you have to deliver bad news 15. When you have an abusive customer 16. When customers cross boundaries 17. When the customer speaks a different language 18. When a customer asks a vague question 19. When customers ask when something is going to be available 20. When you or your fellow agents made a mistake 21. When a customer wants to speak with a manager 22. When you can’t resolve the issue right away 23. When you need to let a customer know that it was their mistake 24. When a customer reaches you by mistake 25. When a customer asks how your product is different from others 26. When a customer is worried about how secure your service is 27. When a customer says that they forgot their password 28. When you want to point a customer to your documentation 29. When a customer violated your terms of service 30. When a customer is not tech-savvy 31. When a customer is right, but your policy is not 32. When a customer sounds like a bigot 33. You’ve got this!

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18.

When a customer asks
a vague question

Customers know how to do a lot of things well, but not always how to help themselves — that’s what you’re there for! Unfortunately, they don’t always know how to ask for help well, either, so sometimes your customer support agents can be left grasping at straws when it comes to what your customer needs. Remember: just because you know all of the terminologies in your product like the back of your hand doesn’t mean that everyone that uses it does, too. It’s possible that they’re referring to something that really exists but just using the wrong language.

There are a few ways to get to the bottom of a vague request if you don’t quite understand it:

  • The first option should always be to ask for more information. If you have any inkling about what the customer might mean or be looking for, ask for additional information. In fact, you could even tell them what you think it might be, and ask for more information if that doesn’t sound right. Questions like: “does that sound right?” Or “let me know if that’s off-base.” could be incredibly helpful in this scenario.
  • If that doesn’t work, or the customer isn’t able to verbalize the steps taken to get to the trouble, check out their screen or do a screen share. Many softwares like Median and Upscope have direct integrations with chat and helpdesk software. Getting someone to show you what they mean, rather than use a limited vocabulary can save both you and the customer a whole bunch of back and forth for just 15 minutes of video.
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17.
When the customer
speaks a different language
Next Chapter →
19.
When customers ask
when something is going
to be available
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