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On 10/12/2012 11:06, paul sutton wrote:
When I worked for ISP Tech Support my initial Customer Service training (such as it was) boiled down to 'Be polite and address the customer as Sir or Madam' [The latter used less as occasionally ladies tend to get a bit stroppy if you call them Madam for some reason ;)] or Title/Surname e.g. Mr Smith. However we provided outsourced support to various ISPs in a 'Virtual ISP' or V-ISP callcentre where I worked. A couple of years later one of our (American) Corporate clients decided our salutation should be by the customer's first name. That went totally against my training, and my instincts as IMHO it does not convey the proper respect for a customer, and I never did it; the only caveat being if it was a customer I had been dealing with for some time who made the offer first.On 10/12/12 10:22, tom wrote:On 10/12/12 09:22, Philip Hudson wrote:On 10 Dec, 2012, at 8:55 am, tom wrote:Using mercan spelling makes as much sense as using 3 for pi. It might be 'easier' but achieves nothing of use to anyone.Go on, just take a deep breath and let go of those silly UK spellings. You can do it. Accept that American spellings are phonetically truer, truer to Latin and Greek originals, shorter, more consistent, easier to learn and remember, and altogether utterly and completely superior. You're a logical, reasoning, rational sort of chap, a global cybernaut, way beyond petty prejudice and chauvinism.compare Sulphur (uk) to Sulfur, the latter is now the accepted international spelling. It makes more sense, This was a decision made by the international chemistry people not us simply adopting American spellings. Oddly employers or potential employers here seem to think its ok to write Dear Paul on official correspondence, despite the fact I use proper salutations. Such as Dear Mr, Mrs, Ms, Miss. To me what I use is more professional, and if I write to you like that you should write back (just because I am using e-mail does not mean that e-mail can't be made formal / informal. I have had letters from the US that use the salutation / surname format, so we are not getting this casual unprofessional attitude from the USA. You can't tell me times are changing as if you get official correspondence from the tax office, NHS et al, they do it properly. If you expect this from school leavers it may help if the teachers did it properly. Paul
Brief segue. On one occasion I asked for the postcode and it brought up an account for a customer who I suspect had Polish or at elast East European heritage judging by the name. Either way he heard the pause as I was about to attempt his name and in a kind tone said 'Call me Len'.
One of my colleagues had a fairly successful half-way option between first name and title/surname of saying 'Good morning John.. do you mind if I call you John?' Only once did I hear him revert to 'Mr' as the customer evidently did mind in that case.
It's a slippery slope though because soon after I heard technicians address customers as 'mate', at which point I lost my temper and pointed out to the other seniors that while one client may have said they wanted us to use first names, 'Mate' was well out or order and needed curbing ASAP.
Julian -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq