Finding "Words that work" for your customer-facing roles

"English...tends to ambiguity and obscurity of expression in any but the most careful writing."

Robert Graves, the great English poet, mythographer and translator, wrote these words in his 1943 book, The Use and Abuse of the English Language. I can only imagine how Graves might react to the language of 21^st century sales, marketing, and customer service efforts. If our written language is imperfect, what indeed can be said about our verbal skills?

For Customer Experience Management and CRM proponents, our message is this:

- there is a vital connection between your company and your customers that is forged at, and across, each touch point with them, as they move from suspect, to prospect, to trial user, to customer, and finally either to loyal customer advocate or to the position of terrorist, whose attitude threatens your reputation.

It is clear that we - each of us in those roles - must take more care, be more clear, be more precise, and more completely understandable as the company providing the service, products, solutions, and answers than our customers need be. Our front-line personnel can often feel besieged, if the customer is upset. Emotions can get in the way. In those "moments of truth", to borrow Percy Barneveld's phrase, when our frontline personnel are telling the product story, resolving an issue, or trying to sort through a complaint, the reputation and image of your company are put at risk.

Most of us understand this reality. Many of you have tried to communicate, train, and monitor your front-line people. Yet, all too often, it is the linguistic part of the interaction that causes the breakdown. I am not advocating scripting. I've never really liked the idea of any customer-facing representative having a script. I do advocate, however, guidance and planning: training, role-playing, on-going communications, and (perhaps even) a company-specific, conversational "dictionary" as actionable tools that each front-line, customer-facing individual can absorb and personalize.

In today's economy, our customers are looking for openness, resolution, and consistency. While words alone will not save or protect your reputation, words alone can sink your Customer Experience Management Efforts.