Phrase That Create Positive Customer Memories

Much of the memories are based upon how we phrase our conversations. Here are some examples of poor and good phrasing.

Poor phrase: “I’ll get back to you as soon as possible…”

Good phrase: “I will call by 5:00 PM on Tuesday with…”

Poor phrase: “I’d like to help but…”

Good phrase: “What I can do is…”

Poor phrase: “Unfortunately, we do not do this.”

Good phrase: “We currently do not do that, but I will find out how we can help you get it done.”

Poor phrase: “I’ll have to check with my manager.”

Good phrase: “I’d be happy to check on that. Would you mind holding while I do that?”

Poor phrase: “I’ll se what I can do.”

Good phrase: “What I am going to do is…”

Poor phrase: “I’ll try to find the information.”

Good phrase: “It will take a little while to gather this information. May I call you back in an hour with more details?”

Poor phrase: “To be honest with you…”

Good phrase: To be candid with you…”

Poor phrase: “Possibly…”

Good phrase: “I will do my utmost to see that this gets to you.”

Poor phrase: “Obviously, you missed the deadline.”

Good phrase: “Since it’s past the deadline, the best thing to do is…”

Here are three rules that will help create good customer memories:

1. Avoid a word or phrase that is negative in some fashion.

2. Avoid expressions that show little or no empathy or are impersonal in nature.

3. Avoid jargons and acronyms.

Careful rephrasing of our conversations will help create positive memories.

I welcome stories of your experiences with good and poor use of spoken and written phrase that have created positive or in some case negative memories.