How to give great customer service: The L.A.S.T. method
How to give great customer service: The L.A.S.T. method
http://www.engvid.com/ Do you work in customer service? What do you do when your customer has a problem? In this video, I will teach you how to give great customer service. You will learn many polite expressions you can use with your customers. I will explain the Listen, Apologize, Solve, and Thank (L.A.S.T) method, which will help your performance at any customer service job. I’ll also give you my customer service tips for dealing with an angry customer. After this video, watch Rebecca’s video about phone customer service: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBSrZYXkkyE
Take the quiz at http://www.engvid.com/how-to-give-great-customer-service-the-last-method/
TRANSCRIPT
Hello. My name is Emma, and in today’s video I am going to teach you a very, very important thing for customer service. I used to work in customer service, and this is actually one of the most important things I learned, and this is called the L-A-S-T or LAST approach.
So, to get started, let’s talk a little bit about: What is customer service? So, customer service is when you have customers, of course, and you’re trying to make your customers as comfortable and happy as possible. You’re also trying to meet their needs and expectations, and solve any problems or situations that they might have. So, customer service is a huge category. There’s many, many different jobs where you use customer service. If you work in a hotel, for example, as a clerk, you know, in the lobby, as a bellhop, you will be using customer service. If you work at a restaurant as a server, you’ll be using customer service, or as a hostess. If you’re the manager of a store, you’ll be using customer service. If you work in a business or even in a hospital, you’ll be using customer service. So, pretty much any time you’re dealing with people from the public and they’re customers and you’re trying to help them, you’re doing customer service.
So, there are many different problems that a customer might have. What are some examples of some problems? Can you think of anything, a problem a customer might have? Maybe somebody charged them too much for something, maybe they’re in a store and the lineups are too long, maybe a customer is at a hotel and they’re very unhappy because the Wi-Fi isn’t working or their bed’s uncomfortable. So, there’s so many different problems customers might have at different types of businesses.
In this video what I’m going to teach you is: What do you do when a customer has a problem? Okay? So, a very easy thing to do when a customer has a problem is called the LAST approach. “LAST”, what does it stand for? Well, if a customer has a problem, the first thing you should do is listen to their problem, the next thing you should do is apologize, solve their problem, and thank them. So: Listen, Apologize, Solve, and Thank. We’re going to look at expressions we use to show we’re listening, expressions to apologize, expressions that can help us solve problems, and expressions to thank customers.
Okay, so the first step when a customer has a problem is to listen. So, the first thing you should do is find out what the problem is. You can ask them: “What seems to be the problem?” or “How can I help you?” Okay? Once they start explaining what the problem is, very important that you look like you’re actually listening and that you do listen. Okay? So, you shouldn’t look at your watch: “Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.” Okay? That’s a bad idea. You shouldn’t look at the sky: “Uh, when is this person going to stop talking?” Okay? You shouldn’t roll your eyes. Okay? No, no, no. You need to show that you actually care about what the customer is saying.
So, showing you’re listening is very important. You can repeat back to the customer what they’re saying to show that you understand and to make sure that you did understand. So: “So what you’re saying is, you know, there’s no hot water in this hotel.”, “So what you’re saying is the Wi-Fi’s not working and you’re not happy with that.” Okay? These are some examples. “So what you’re saying is _________.” You can also say: “Let me get this right…” “Let me get this right, what you’re saying is that, you know, there’s a problem at your table.”, “What you’re saying is that you’ve been waiting for your food for a really long time.” So it’s important to show that you are listening and you acknowledge what they have said.
Okay. Now, sometimes with customer service you get a customer who’s very angry, and maybe they start swearing, they start using very bad language. Okay? So if this happens, very important that you don’t get upset. Okay? When this happened to me in the past, I would actually pretend to be a computer. I would not take anything personally. I would just smile and pretend to be a computer, and that’s how I got through angry customers. So, if the person is rude… You know, it’s not right if somebody is saying something rude to you, if they’re swearing at you, or they’re making you feel uncomfortable. So, be polite. Okay?
Thank you always for adding the subtitles.
Obrigado pela legenda, muito boa a Aula 💜
Very useful suggestions. Thanks madam.
No where in the history of calming down has anyone actually calmed down by being told to calm down!
im a kid and even i know not to say calm down u suck at this
❤❤
While there are many things wrong with this, and they have been pointed out in the other comments (seriously, never tell a customer to calm down), I want to zero in on a couple of particular things;
A = Apologize. I have taught customer service for nearly 15 years at the time I write this, and I can assure you that apologizing when you do not actually feel sorry is a platitude and the CX will know that right away. Your insincerity will expose you as unempathetic and result in a potential hostile relationship with your CX. You need to focus on building a bridge, so let’s take that A and turn it into Assure instead of Apologize. Saying "You’ve come to the right person to help." or even the base, and trust me naysayers it works if said with sincerity, "I’m here to help" (notice the dropping of "you" in that one), will give the CX a moment to know that you are taking this seriously… which leads to my next point;
CXs do not have "problems" they have "issues". Positive language is something we need to focus more on in modern society, and for customer support it starts right out of the gate with this simple word choice. "Problem" implies a negative, there is a problem, Houston we have a problem, etc… Issues imply a situation that (hopefully) can be resolved. This minor thing can do a lot to turn the temperature of the conversation or call to a warner clime. Issues can be resolved, problems must be addressed.
Lastly I want to stress to everyone working in customer service that you speak in your own voice, and unless your company is forcing you to use scripts (what an awful idea btw), use words and phrases that are more natural for you. It will reflect to the CX, who will in turn feel less like they are being given a run-around, or pat answers, and instead like they are having an actual conversation. Naturally you want to use your best and most professional language, but you can keep it human without sounding like a robot, or as she suggested, a computer.
Soft skills are bread and butter, soft skills are life preservers, soft skills are fantastic things for customer service, and can make a bad call good and a good call great. L.A.S.T. (with my modified A) is essentially another tool to put in the toolbox alongside T.E.D. (Tell me, Explain to me, Describe for me), A.R.R. (Acknowledge, Relate, Reassure)m and O.C.C. (Open Questions, Clarifying Questions, Closed Questions), but they are just that, tools. They are not magic bullets, they are not one-size-fits-all, and sometimes they will be needed for tasks they weren’t designed for, but suddenly are the perfect fit.
Be Heroic!
Some great advice right here! Thanks, Emma.
1.25 speed good video
Try working bridal and suit hire for a few years in real service.
The L.A.S.T Approach L – Listen A – Apologize S – Solve T – Thank
Listen to the customer
Apologize to the customer
Solve the customer’s problem
Thank the customer
– The L.A.S.T Approach to Customer Service
Lmfao, I said, "Okay Google, Google customer service." And you showed up
You can apologize to customer but never ever said to anger customer to calm down they will choke you 😜😂😂
Thank u emma ur accent is very very clear anybody can understand ur english
no doubt she is extremely an amazing teacher
I hate people
thanks once again for this one is so clear and complette advice
AMERICAN KARENS BE LIKE:
Is english not your first language?
(Even if the NORMAL americans wud tell u, u sound like an american – wc isn’t the goal, never)
TRIGGERED BE LIKE:
Are u referring to English English, or American English?
Well, obviously not. Anything else???
My goodness! So many views 1,3 millions, but only 20 thousands likes. The audience must be more respectful and thankful. Just thumbs up!!!
I found her lectures very easy and simple, full of advantages
As always very useful video and it deserves a lot of likes. Thanks and God bless you.
This is very helpful, thank you so much, Emma 👍😁
90% of the comments "Calm down".
Customers come to you. Listen,serve,palms up .direct only when needed. Ring sale. Grateful .
Como puedo hablar contigo para ponerno de acuerdo con la clase
I have never seen anyone calming down after being told "calm down". Huge mistake
In my time of customer service (valet), the biggest problems people have, are that we are not bending the rules for them.
Hahaha I dont care you have a problem with our rules. Stop whining or go somewhere else.
Hallo emma the best your videos very important for me tank you teacher
Most times I repeat back what the customer said they act like I’m stupid 😪 I just don’t want to fuck your order up lmao. And they rifle off their order before I can even ring up their first item 😑 thankfully I haven’t had any verbally rude customers, though I get plenty of passive aggressive people though.
Very helpful. I would agree with some of the comments about not telling the customer to calm down. That typically only aggravates anyone, including ourselves in those situations. Other than that part, I really like the other tips. Thank so much for sharing this.
Really good video. As a business skills trainer I was not expecting so much from an English teacher (apologies) but you manage to deliver a really good lesson on complaints handling whilst teaching some very useful English. Very impressive!
we enjoyed with your video its very interesting
Sometimes I do not understand what the customer is saying, how should I proceed then?
I’m jus gonna save y’all some time. Start from 2:30
i would replace apologise with Acknowledge because you should not be sorry for something that isn’t in your control. e.g ‘ Sorry for the long wait’ to be replaced with ‘thank you for waiting’ it’s always much more positive.
do not have a
American english is better than UK english
(My parents) “Working at customer service will be a great experience for you”
(Me) “Are you guys crazy? That’s a death sentence”
Thank you for this very insight. sometimes when you inform customers you are checking with your manager, they deem you incompetent hence, a different for your company.
I would consider Acknowledge than Apologize.
ya allah plz forgive me stop watching this.
Instead of "calm down", one should better say, "I am really aimed at helping you but I would appreciate you patience first. Let me check it out what’s the matter. I am sure I will solve your problem"
I need this
good
I really misunderstood that "A" means might be Answering or Advice and more..these shoud be at first.
I am lucky to have such excellent coach like you .
dakog totoy
I liked this lesson
You have not the idea how you are helping me.
God bless you i love you much my teacher Emma
Emma, you’re very pretty!
wer ist wegen Frau klar hier
sometimes I could hear some Irish accent from you