Customers typically call when they have issues and something isn't working like they think it should. You need to get a problem description. "It's not working," isn't very helpful, but sometimes people are emotional. Sometimes people don't know the product that well and don't understand what you need to help them. This is how to navigate the call.

Hear the customer.

What is the customer's mood? Pay attention when the customer is talking. What is the tone of voice and pace of speech? Note the customer's body language if you can see the customer. What kind of words is the customer using? Make an educated guess as to the customer's mood.

See the Gemini-created chart of volume, pitch, pace, words, mood here.

Notes:

• Include the customer's body language in gauging the customer's mood, if you can see the customer.
• People from different cultures might express themselves differently. For example, my grandmother would say "That'd be alright." I was in my thirties before my father explained that phrase meant "I'm really excited about that and am looking forward to it." And that was just the difference between Kansas and California.
• Do not assign emotions to the customer when interacting. For example, don't say "I know you're mad." Unless the customer says they're mad, you are just making an educated guess, and misidentifying the emotion can make things worse.

If the customer's mood is positive or neutral, you can likely start working on the problem immediately. If the customer has a negative mood, the customer might not be able to help you until you acknowledge that mood.

Empathize with the customer.

If your customer displays strong negative emotions, empathize with them. Imagine yourself in the customer's position and imagine what the customer is likely feeling. Are you sad, frustrated, angry, mad, neutral, thoughtful, happy, or enthusiastic? Once you have an idea of what the customer is feeling, and coming from, put yourself in a calm and objective mood. Then respectfully say something like, "I can imagine how you might be feeling after XXX. I will work to get this resolved."

Interact with the customer.

Wait for natural pauses in the customer's speech, then interact with the customer. Try repeating and rephrasing, open questions, and probing questions. Avoid closed questions until the end of the call. Let's again use the example of the customer not being able to remove an item from the shopping cart.

Ask open questions to get a general sense of what is going on. Open questions encourage the customer to give more detail. Open questions usually contain who, what, where, why, and how. These questions need more than a yes or no for an answer.

Support: Okay. Can you describe what you were trying to do and what happened that you didn't expect?

Customer: I am trying to delete something from the cart and it won't let me.

Repeating and rephrasing helps to show the customer you are listening. Repeating and rephrasing also allows the customer to know if you understand the issue, and gives them a chance to clarify points that you may have misunderstood.

Customer: The page reloads with the item present after I hit delete.

Support: "Let me see if I have this right. You hit delete, and do not see a successfully deleted message. Then the page reloads and the item is still there?"

Ask probing questions to narrow the focus of the conversation and to get specific pieces of information. These questions also require more than a yes or no answer, but are targeted to something specific.

Support: Please tell me what item it is that you cannot remove from the cart?

Support: If there are other items in the cart, what are they?

Make careful use of closed questions. Closed questions only require yes or no answers, so they are best used when verifying a specific piece of information or at the end of the call.

Support: Is there anything else I can do for you?

Support: Would you like a copy of my notes emailed to you?

Support: Is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. your correct email address?

Use probing questions to create a problem description.