{"id":31068,"date":"2014-10-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-what-not-to-do-when-you-dont-know\/"},"modified":"2023-08-09T03:42:02","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T03:42:02","slug":"customer-service-dont-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-experience\/customer-service-dont-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Customer Service: What Not to Do When You Don\u2019t Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bad-Answer-is-Bad-Service-Low-Res.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-5666 size-medium\" title=\"customer service speaker shep hyken\" src=\"http:\/\/www.hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Bad-Answer-is-Bad-Service-Low-Res-250x300.jpg\" alt=\"Bad Answer is Bad Service - Low Res\" width=\"250\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>Common Sense<\/h2>\r\nRecently I had a question about my international calling plan for my mobile phone. I was preparing for several overseas trips. My assistant was tasked with finding the best plan our carrier had to offer. One might think this would be an easy project; just get the information and sign up for the program. But one might be wrong.\r\n\r\nWithout boring you with the details, my assistant came back with information that didn\u2019t seem to make sense. She was told when my monthly bill was renewed, my international plan would start over because the plan ended in the middle of my trip. In other words, even though I was only gone for a week, we would be charged for two months of the international calling plan. I asked her to call back for clarification.\r\n\r\nSo she called back and was given a completely different answer. Something about a pro-rated plan through the end of the first billing cycle. While it made more sense, it still didn\u2019t seem right.\r\n\r\nWell, it seems the third time was a charm. When she called back, she was connected to a knowledgeable customer service support person who told her what to do, and it made complete sense.\r\n\r\nMy assistant asked, \u201cSo, who should we believe?\u201d\r\n\r\nI said, \u201cThe person who gave us <em>the best<\/em> answer.\u201d In other words, the one that we liked the most, regardless of it being right or wrong.\r\n<h3>Here\u2019s the problem.<\/h3>\r\nWe really don\u2019t know which answer was the correct answer. Each of the three customer service reps acted with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hyken.com\/customer-service-2\/1057\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">confidence<\/a>\u00a0as if they had the correct answer. But at least two, if not all three, are incorrect. We\u2019ll find out when we receive our monthly bill.\r\n\r\nPeople inherently don\u2019t want to show ignorance, and they will sometimes give an answer that seems like <em>common sense<\/em>, even if the answer is wrong. Even with the best intentions, this is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hyken.com\/customer-confidence\/restaurant-manager-sets-bad-customer-service-example\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bad customer service<\/a>.\r\n\r\nSo, what\u2019s a good customer service rep to do? People will always appreciate an honest response, even if you have to say, \u201cThat\u2019s a great question. I want to give you the correct answer, and I have to check with someone. Can you hold or can I call you back?\u201d And then you do.\r\n\r\nBy the way, this applies to everyone. You don\u2019t have to be in the customer service department. Your colleagues, customers, suppliers \u2013 everyone \u2013 will appreciate that whatever answer you give them is the correct answer.\r\n\r\nDon\u2019t make assumptions, even if it seems like common sense. If you don\u2019t know, don\u2019t guess. It\u2019s okay if you don\u2019t know the answer to every question. Just know where to go or who to go to to get the correct answer. Now, that\u2019s common sense!\r\n\r\n<em><a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Shep Hyken<\/a>\u00a0is a customer service\/CX expert, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Learn more about Shep\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/speaking\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">customer service and customer experience keynote speeches<\/a>\u00a0and his\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/training\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">customer service training workshops<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hyken.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.Hyken.com<\/a>. Connect with Shep on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/shephyken\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em>\r\n\r\n<em>(Copyright \u00a9MMXIV, Shep Hyken)<\/em>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Common Sense Recently I had a question about my international calling plan for my mobile phone. I was preparing for several overseas trips. My assistant was tasked with finding the best plan our carrier had to offer. One might think this would be an easy project; just get the information and sign up for the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6791],"tags":[2290,2309,4895],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.5 (Yoast SEO v22.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Customer Service: What Not to Do When You Don\u2019t Know<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In business don\u2019t make assumptions, even if it seems like common sense. If you don\u2019t know, don\u2019t guess.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-experience\/customer-service-dont-know\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Customer Service: What Not to Do When You Don\u2019t Know\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In business don\u2019t make assumptions, even if it seems like common sense. 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