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Beware of Scary Telephone Customer Service - 10/27/26


As we near the Halloween holiday in the United States, it seems appropriate to discuss examples of scary customer service, particularly on the telephone.  Here are a few common issues that frustrate and annoy customers.  These are experiences to avoid delivering, and alternatives to adopt: The customer calls, describes their Read more

The Art of the Successful Script - 10/20/26


You’re the customer.  You go to the store, and they ask if you have a loyalty card.  You call the doctor’s office, and they ask for your birth date.   You walk up to the counter, and they ask if you found everything you were looking for. These are all valid Read more

The Key Building Block for Your Customer Relationship - 10/13/26


An automotive manufacturer gets supplies for their vehicles from all over the world.  They have arrangements, service level agreements, expectations for timing and quality of all the parts.  And when they gather all these supplies, they assemble the cars.  They test the cars.  Then they take pictures of those Read more

Be Flexible to Fill the Gaps - 10/6/26


The non-profit has the expected challenges.  There are only 3 people in the organization, yet, they have the same responsibilities of a larger company.  They have to do finance, sales, marketing; they deliver their services to the community, and they need to keep a pulse on what’s going on Read more

Is This Good Customer Service? - 9/29/26


A friend of mine reached out to me recently as she waited for the electrical technician to show up at her house to do some minor repairs.  She had never worked with this company before, but they sent a text about the tech who was soon to arrive. The message Read more

Ownership when Fixing Others’ Errors - 9/22/26


We were conducting training with a client recently, and one of the participants, Jackie, is in a role in his organization where he goes out to the customer site to investigate issues, address customer complaints, and fix problems.  While he’s at the site, he often gets an earful from Read more

Why “No” is So Important - 9/15/26


The employee told the caller: “I don’t think that is possible.” The customer eventually hung up, and redialed to ask a different employee the same question. The employee responded to the customer: “That’s probably not the best way to do it.”  Then, the customer kept asking question after question, arguing Read more

It’s Not “You,” It’s “I” - 9/8/26


During a business writing course that I took years ago, the instructor had us write an e-mail.  I can’t recall if it was written to a co-worker or customer, but after writing this e-mail, she had us count every “I” and “You.”  We talked about how we need to Read more

It Shouldn’t Make a Difference, But… - 9/1/26


We have this conversation with lots of our sports clients, but the principles apply across all different industries.  Too many service representatives view a conversation with a customer as a transaction.  Just get him off the phone as quickly as possible.  The customer is Joe Public, not Joseph Pendergrass.  Read more

Use What the Customer Gives You - 8/25/26


Scenario #1: The customer sent an e-mail to the general inbox at the company.  The message noted that the customer needed to get a family member added to their account, but they couldn’t tell from the website how to do so. The next morning an employee opened up the e-mail, Read more

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Empathy Examples for Everyday Situations – 12/10/24

Posted on December 10, 2024 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

I’ve often said that empathy is the single most important characteristic of people who are great at customer service.  If empathy is essentially “to understand the other person,” it helps so much to have that ability in order to specifically help someone.  To talk to what’s unique about them.  To convey your knowledge of their situation or your ability to comprehend the emotions they must be feeling.

But how do you phrase your empathy to the customer in particular situations?  Here are three quick examples for you to consider and put into practice:

Acknowledging Inconvenience During a Refund Process:  A customer requests a refund and expresses annoyance about the delay in processing. The employee could say:  “I understand how inconvenient this delay must be for you. Your time is valuable, and I’ll prioritize making this process as smooth as possible moving forward.”

Understanding Frustration with a Delayed Order:  A customer calls upset about a late order.  In addition to providing the tracking information, the employee could respond:  “I can understand how frustrating it must be to wait for something you were expecting on time.  Let me look into this right away and see how we can resolve it for you.”

Calming a Customer Facing Technical Issues:  A customer is struggling to navigate an online portal and expresses irritation. The employee could say:  “I know how stressful it can be when technology doesn’t work the way we expect.  I’m here to guide you through this step-by-step so we can get it sorted out together.”

These examples show how empathy can involve acknowledging, understanding, and calming someone.  And every example has empathy, followed by a transition to the next step.

To be empathetic with the customer and also convey that understanding of them and their situation, add these everyday examples to your empathy toolkit.

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