Paring down a sentence

[tsdragon]

One of my bosses asked me to look over a letter he had written to a client. The last sentence was: "If I can answer any questions you may have please feel free to call me." I changed it to: "If you have any questions please call me." My logic was:

1) How would the client know whether he could answer the question or not until he asked it. That part is just stupid.

2) The use of "you may have" (passive voice?) is just overly wordy.

3) Of course the client should "feel free to call." To suggest otherwise would be rude.

Was I correct?


Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[gbaughma]

I do wireless support for 5 hotels (among other things), and here's my take on things.

First of all, when people call, they're already at a high level of frustration. They didn't WANT to call, for fear of sounding stupid (and often it is something stupid... lol) BUT, since they are my customers, I have to remember a couple of things.

o This is something that they need to work.
o It doesn't matter what type of day I've had, and it doesn't matter to me if their cat got run over this morning, I will treat them professionally, not "talk down" to them, and remember that they are my customer. They also have the ability to go to the front desk of the hotel and complain about me, at which point I could lose the contract. Not a win-win situation by any means.
o The customer is not always right, but they are always the customer.
o You *NEVER* win an argument with a customer. (if you want more detail on that statement, just ask)

So, I try and keep things "light" but professional. For example, while I'm waiting for their cache to clear, I might make small talk "So where you from? How was the flight?" Stuff like that. To show an interest, and also helps pass the time.

If someone ever says to me "I'm just dumb" (which does happen, both in this job and my regular job), I make sure to point out to them "No, you're not dumb. Everyone has their own specialty. Me? I'm lucky to know how to put gas in my car!" (Of course, that isn't entirely true, but it points out that everyone has their own speciality. Mine is computers. Theirs is marketing, or sales, or manufacturing, or whatever.)

At the end of the call, I always say something to the effect of "There ya go! If you have any more problems, just give us a shout! Enjoy your stay."

I don't normally say "Feel free to..." or "don't hesitate to..." I like to keep it a little more "friendly". At the end of the call, I'm hoping that they hang up the phone and say "Gee, that wasn't so bad. The guy was friendly..."

The thing to remember is that you may have 100 customers who you do an excellent job for, you're friendly, professional, etc. They will go about their day after their interaction with you, and not say a word to anyone other than "Yeah, I had to call support to get online" or something, if they say anything at all. However, that 101st customer, the one who woke you up at 2 a.m., was rude, and you got snippy back with him, is the one that will smear you all over the place.

I have a saying that "It takes 100 attaboy's to make up for one mistake". It's very true when dealing with customers.



Just my 2¢

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg