Customer Service Requires the Right Mindset … And the Right Word Set

This article answers the question: Why does great customer service require both the right mindset and the right word set?

Answer: Great customer service requires employees to have the right attitude and mindset of genuinely wanting to help customers, and word set training so they know how to use the right words at the right time.

I was recently having a conversation with my friend Kenrick “Ice” McDonald about customer service when he said, “Great service requires the right mindset.” However, I misunderstood him and thought he said, “Great service requires the right word set.” 

I asked him what he meant by word set, and he gave me a confused look and said, “I said mindset.” 

I started thinking about the conversation. Maybe there is something to the idea of a word set, especially as it applies to customer service. You need the right mindset, but you also need the right word set. 

When you hire someone for a customer-facing job, you want someone who is friendly and willing to help. That’s mindset. 

My customer service and CX research supports this, as kind and helpful employees are ranked as the top reason customers come back. Conversely, rudeness and apathy are the top reasons customers leave.  

You can teach employees many things, such as how to answer the phone and use the computer, and equip them with product knowledge. And you can even teach them what to say to customers. That’s the word set. But even with the right knowledge and word set, employees still need the right mindset: “I truly want to help this customer.”  

For example, an employee may genuinely want to help a customer, but without the right word set, they might respond to a problem by saying, “That’s against our policy.” While that may be true, there are better ways to respond. With word set training, you can teach an employee who already has the right mindset a better response.  

My friend and fellow CX expert Christine Trippi is an expert on how to turn a NO into a YES. It’s not that you say yes to everything. You find options and use the right words to avoid that negative two-letter word. Again, that’s a word set.  

There’s an old saying, “Hire for attitude and train for skill.” Attitude is mindset, and part of the skills that should be included in training is word set.  

Word set is more than a collection of scripts. It’s knowing what to say and how to say it. It’s giving employees the words that allow their positive attitude and willingness to help to come through in conversations with your customers. Combine the right mindset with the right word set, and that’s when the magic happens. That’s when customers say, “I love doing business with them,” not just because the company has great products, but also because they have great employees with a great mindset and a great word set.