If you work in a call center or any customer-facing role, then you experience the magic and power of words every single moment you spend on the floor. Using the right statements is as important as using the right call center software. When you use the right phrases, you delight your customers and make them warm up to you no matter how irritated or frustrated they’re with your product or service. But when you use inappropriate statements, you alienate and exasperate them.
That’s why every call center should design the best possible scripts to empower customer service representatives to provide quick replies to customers’ queries and boost resolution time. When agents don’t get the right scripts they may provide incorrect information and answers.
A well-tailored script should be a part of every call center. Contemporary call centers can leverage advanced call center software to provide a library of pre-programmed scripts to help their agents say the correct phrases and statements. This blog post outlines seven effective call center scripts for different situations. Read on to gain useful insights.
1. Call center scripts for greetings and openings
These are the most important part of the call center conversation as the right greetings and openings set the tone for the rest of the conversation. By starting the call on a positive note, agents can break the ice with customers and make them comfortable. Here are some opening phrases you can use:
“Thank you for calling (Company’s Name). How may I help you today?”
“Good morning! Welcome to (Company’s Name). My name is (Agent’s Name). How may I help you?”
“Hi! Thank you so much for calling (Company’s Name). You’re speaking with (Agent’s Name). How can I help you today?”
If the customer’s name displays on the dialer, then you can say the following opening:
“Hello Mr/Ms (Customer’s Name), thank you for calling (Company’s Name). My name is (Agent’s Name). How may I help you today?”
All these above phrases have a few things in common. They exude warmth and express gratitude to the customers. The positive vibes are strong enough to put customers at ease and open up to you, which would pave the way for a meaningful and pleasant conversation.
2. Call center scripts for resolving common issues
While some customers will call you to ask questions or make a request, some will call you to bring your notice to some important issues and get them resolved. When you get the latter, you must thank the customer sincerely for bringing up the issue and then proceed to resolve it. Here are some phrases you can use to thank your customers:
“Thank you for bringing this to our attention and I’m sorry to hear there was an issue with (the issue with the product). Let me look into it right now.”
“We sincerely thank you for your effort in bringing this to our attention. I am sorry for the inconvenience it may have caused you. Let me fix this right away for you.”
“Thank you for noticing (the issue) and bringing it to our attention. I’m sorry you’re having this issue. Let me look into this for you and see how I can help.”
“Thank you for sharing the issue with us and making us realize the situation. Let me see what I can do.”
Before resolving any issue, thank your customers. The phrases “Thank you for bringing the issue to our attention” and “Thank you for letting us know” will make customers feel good and valued.
3. Call center scripts for solving problems
If some customers have called to solve their problems, then use phrases such as:
“I’ll absolutely help you with that.”
“I’ll check on this and get back to you soon.”
“I’ll transfer you to a specialist who can help you better.”
“I’ll fix this for you within five minutes.”
“I’ll take care of this for you.”
“I’ll get this sorted for you. Please give me five minutes.”
Using these phrases at the outset lets your customers know that you’ll do everything you can to solve their problems.
4. Call center phrases for transferring a call to a different team
There will be times you may get connected to customers whom you cannot help in any way. But they can get their issues resolved from another department. If you feel that you can’t help them, then you should consider forwarding the call to someone who can. In that case, you must politely tell them that you can’t help them with the issue and connect them to the right department.
Before forwarding the call, however, tell them that the person they’re going to speak with is a specialist and is trained to resolve similar issues.
Here’s how you can do that:
“I’m sorry, I’m not able to help you with that. However, I can transfer you to the [Department Name] team, who can assist you with that. Is that okay?”
“I understand. Let me transfer you to the [Department Name] team. Please hold while I connect you.”
“I apologize for the inconvenience. I’m transferring your call to the [Team Name] team now. Please hold while I connect you.”
“As much as I would love to help, I’m sorry I can’t help you with that. I’ll connect you to the [Department Name] team who can assist you. Please hold while I transfer your call.”
5. Customer service phrases for putting customers on hold
When customers call a business, they want all attention to their requests or queries. So many won’t like to hear they’re going to be put on hold for some time. But as an agent, you need to tell them.
The more you make them wait for an answer, the more they might feel frustrated. You should always try to keep the wait time as low as possible even if sometimes you need to keep customers on hold to lessen the extent of the damage.
At the same time, you need to take permission and tell the exact reason so that customers take the situation easy. You can also take help from customer service call script examples to understand how others are managing the situation well.
“I’m just putting you on hold for a few moments while I look into that for you.”
“If you wouldn’t mind waiting for a few minutes, I’ll be right with you.”
“Let me just put you on hold while I check on that information for you.”
“I apologize for the wait, I’ll be right back with you.”
“I’ll be with you shortly, I’m just putting you on hold now.”
“Dear Mr/Ms (Customer’s Name), I’m just placing you on hold while I locate that information.”
“I need to check on something, so I’m placing you on hold.”
“I’m sorry for the wait, let me just put you on hold while I look into that for you.”
“If you can hold for a few moments, I’ll be right with you.”
“I’m sorry for the inconvenience, I’m just putting you on hold while I look into that for you.”
6. Call center phrases for saying “No”
Sometimes you may not be able to fulfill all requests of every customer. It can be due to your company’s internal policy or certain things beyond your capacity. In such instances, it’s extremely crucial to tell them that you can’t help them with empathy.
“As much as I’d love to help you, I’m sorry I can’t”
The phrase shows that you want to help them but there are some constraints because of which you can’t. You can also use these phrases:
“Mr/Ms (Customer’s Name) I totally understand your problem. But at the moment we can’t meet your request.”
“Dear Mr/Ms (Customer’s Name) I’m so sorry to hear that. That’s very frustrating.
“Dear Mr/Ms (Customer’s Name), I can relate to the issue you’re currently facing. But I wish I could do something to help you with that. I’d like to sincerely apologize for that.”
Even though saying “No” can be extremely difficult, you can turn around the situation by offering a reasonable alternative. Phrases such as “here’s what I can do instead” and “I would recommend you to (state a best closest alternative to offset the damage.)”
7. Call center phrases for angry customers
Handling calls from angry and frustrated customers is a massive challenge for the customer service team. It’s even more when you tell them that you won’t be able to help them with their requests. Here are some phrases to assuage the situation:
“Dear Mr/Ms (Customer’s Name), you are a valuable customer for our company. I can completely understand why you’re so upset. I would request you to bear with us for some time and I’ll see what I can do the best for you.”
“Dear Mr/Ms (Customer’s Name), I’m extremely sorry for the trouble caused to you. I will assure you such issues are not repeated ever again.”
Taking everything into account,
You must empower your call center agents with the best possible scripts to help them provide quick and satisfactory replies to customers’ queries. Call center scripts not only provide a consistent, efficient, and repeatable approach to customer service but also boost resolution time.
With a consistent approach, call centers can enhance employee productivity and customer satisfaction. After all, the right scripts provide guidelines to handle different situations and different customers. Call centers that use high-quality software can provide their agents with a library of pre-programmed phrases, which can help provide excellent customer service.
