1. Diagnosis

Agent is less effective with particular types of customer (ethnicity, gender, age).

2. Behaviour Observations

What you might see or hear that points to this pattern.

• When the agent does not understand what the customer says, they are happy to go ahead without looking for clarification.
• The agent does not repeat the customer's name or does not make sure to get it right at the start.
• The agent is worried they will come across as prejudiced if they stop the customer too much.

3. Session Objective

In order to offer successful customer service it is vital to understand what the customer wants. Staying in Q1 until you have that information is critical. Agents that look for the first simple thing they can execute based on what they understand from the customer's first unclear articulation will fail to satisfy their customer.

4. Session Tactics

How to prepare for and structure the 45-minute call review.

Bring a call from a customer who is speaking in a way that is difficult to understand. Play the call to the point just before the agent is about to move on without understanding. Discuss what the customer said — it should become clear that it is not possible to understand. Discuss reasons for not asking for clarification. Take the customer's perspective: would the customer prefer to be asked to clarify or get an offer that didn't match their needs? The session should end with the agent being clear that customers prefer to be asked to state their need again.

5. GROW Experiments

Experiments the coachee might choose to try. These are offers, not prescriptions — the coachee selects what feels right for them.

Behaviour Tags