SOFT SKILLS &

FINANCIAL SERVICES
Part 1: Soft Skills

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 Dealing with Dead Air
Dead air is that awkward silence that
makes customers wonder if you are doing
something or at least listening.
Reasons:
• Transferring a call and not finding what to say in
the meantime.
• Contacting a floor support and muting your
headset.
• Waiting for the system to load information.
• Analyzing data and determining course of action.
• Waiting for a customer to finish a task.
• Finishing and/or processing a task.
What can we do?
Let me pull up your account, so I can take a look at it and see what
happened. This will only take a moment. I appreciate your patience.
I am processing your request and I am waiting for the confirmation. Thank
you for your patience.
I would like take advantage of the time to remind you that you can easily
manage your account through the app and our website. It is easy, quick,
and convenient.
The request is taking longer than expected, please stay on the line with
me.
By the way, we really appreciate your loyalty. Thank you
for doing business with us.
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 5 Tips to Avoid Dead Air
1- Use some polite phrases to indicate you are working.
o Sorry to keep you waiting, I am working on the case.
o thank you for your patience, the process is almost complete.
2- Tell customers what you are doing.
o I am processing the payment, we are almost done.
o I am pulling up the data from our system, please, bear with
me.
3- Review the system and processes to do things more
efficiently.
o Check tasks and how-to on a daily basis to avoid errors and
improve your understanding of the system.
o Understand and manage the time it takes to load information
on the system.
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4- Inform customers about advantages of their product and
benefits.
o While I finish checking your information I would like to remind
you that… (provide information about the app/website/ other
useful information.
5- Place customer on hold when needed. Remember that
“mute” and “hold” are not the same!
o I have all the information a need; so, would it be ok if placed
you on hold for no more than 1 minute so I can process your
request?
o Would it be ok if I placed you on hold for 1 minute to check on
the details of your request?
 Dealing with Angry Customers
1- Don’t take it personally and sympathize actively:
Customer might feel very angry since we manage their money, so try to understand the customer and try to
help; however, remember to be professional. There is a process to follow and you can’t modify it.
o I would feel the same way in your position. Let me help you with that.
o I am so sorry to hear that, but I can help you out.
o Doing that is not a problem, I am sorry for any inconvenience you had. Allow me to help you.
o I understand how you feel
2- Active Listening:
o Paraphrase and summarize information. Make sure you understand their concerns.
o React promptly and adequately to what customers say and remember to apologize.

 I am sorry to hear that you couldn’t (…) but I can solve that for you.
 I understand how frustrating (…) could be, I will help you out right now!
 Let me explain the process to clarify what we have to do…

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 Why were they angry?
Case 1 Case 2

Customer: I am super pissed off. This is the situation, my
mom called yesterday to make a payment but you guys
didn’t let her pay. The agent said something about not
having the information at first, then something about her
not been the owner of the account…. Whatever!
You are making it super difficult for your customers! She
had my checking account and my information, what else
could you need from her? I have never been late and this
is going to look bad in my credit report and, guess what?,
it is all your fault!
Customer: I have always liked Capital One, I thought
you guys were good. But you know what? I
discovered today that I have a fee for not paying my
card on time! After so many years you dare to charge
me $20 for not paying on time? Now, I know I have
been late a couple of times before, but you have
always waived the fees. How can you do sometime
like that to a customer that has been loyal for so
many year. You have waived fees before, why can’t
you this time?

Take a moment to try to understand the reason why these customers were not happy. What did they
want? Why were the agents unable to provide them with the solution they wanted? Consider the position
of the company and the procedures that may be affecting the call.

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 Why were they angry?
Customers sometimes call asking for information from
someone else’s account. They ask for:
• Balance
• Amount due
• Transactions
• Due date
• Others
This kind of data is normally considered private.
Therefore, if someone (even if it is a relative) calls
asking for it, it will be denied. In this case, his mother
probably called to make a payment and needed to
know the information about the transactions.
What should you do?
React fast! Customers normally understand if
they are given a valid reason. You could say
something such as:
The reason why the information was denied
is because we have strict security protocol to
protect your information. Protecting your
privacy is our utmost priority. I want to
apologize for any inconvenience this could
have caused.

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 Why were they angry?
Accounts are sometimes able to provide customers
with different benefits and courtesies; however, this is
not something that can normally be offered
consistently.
In this specific case, the agent was instructed not to
provide the benefit again since it had already been
given in last six months.
Remember that this kind of restrictions may or may
not apply depending on the account. Review systems
and ask supervisors to verify what you are supposed
to do.
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What should you do?
Show customers specific information that
could make them understand policies.
Sir, what is happening is that we have waived
other fees before. These are considered one-
time courtesies reserved for special
customers like you, and applicable only in
very specific scenarios. Since we have done it
before, we can’t do it again.
 Empathy
• Putting yourself in someone else’s
shoes

Empathy statements are effective Discovering fraudulent charges is

when you demonstrate that you also
understand WHY the individual is frustrating; but don’t worry, we can
upset. handle these cases.

Empathy statements do not involve

I understand how procedures could
agreeing with the client, or
make you feel, but our commitment is
condoning his or her abusive
to protect your account.
behavior.

Empathy statements convey that you I want to make sure I address all your
are interested and concerned, and concerns. If you any question just let
that you understand. me know, I want to help you
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 Ownership: Taking responsibility for an idea or problem
For a conversation to be successful, we need to show responsibility and that we are present. Remember to react to what is going on in the call.

Customer You

The customer provided you with information. Thank you so much for the information. Let me go ahead and check.

I see. I am sorry for that inconvenience, but I will be more than glad to
The customer is having a hard time getting something done.
help you!

I am so sorry you had a bad experience before, but I can certainly help
The customer had a bad experience with the previous agent.
you out with that.

The customer wants something that is not possible. Unfortunately, that is not an option because (…) however, we can (…)

The customer just told you what he needs. Sure, I can help you with that!

The customer told you that the issue was solved. Great! I am happy to hear that. Is there anything else I could do for you?

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 Do’s and Don'ts
• That is not an option
• I understand how you feel.
because…
What we can do is…
I can’t • We can do that, but first
• The alternatives we have
we must…
are…
• We can do that, but lets go
• The best option is…
step by step. Lets first…
Don’t say!
Say!
• Allow me a moment to
• That is a great question.
I don’t know validate that with my
Let me double check…
manager.
• Allow me just a moment
• I am going to check the
to confirm…
options available.
 Offering help
o I am Here to help you. Let me know if you have any other question.
o I’ll be more than glad to look into that.
o I am going to find out for you what is going on.

Transferring a call
o I am going to contact one of my co-workers from a different department.
o Before transferring, is there anything else I could do for you?
o I am contacting a specialist who will continue helping you.

Showing appreciation
o Thank so much for doing business with us. We really appreciate it.
o We are very glad to have you as one of our customers.
o Thank you for contacting us today. We want to keep your account
safe.
 Verifying transaction
o In order to protect your account, I need to verify some transactions. Please let
me know if you recognize them.
o I would like to make sure that there isn’t any suspicious activity in your
account. Let me know if anything sounds unfamiliar.

Placing a customer on hold

o I would like to verify some information. Would it be ok if I placed you on hold
for 2 minutes?
o May I place you on hold for 2 minutes to confirm the information.

Telling customers “it is not fraud”

o Thank you so much for contacting us. In this case, since you do recognize the
merchant, we suggest you to try to contact the company first to check what is
going on.
o Since you provided them with your information, the first step would be to
contact them in order to check what happened.
Part 2: Financial Services

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 Common Mistakes
These mistakes often lead to escalations. Practice these to avoid
inconveniences with your customers and QA

Question Formation
Error #1: No auxiliary Error#2: Not moving the verb “to be”

You have your credit card with you? There is something else I could do for you?
Do you have your credit card with you? Is there something else I could do for you?
Negatives
Error #3: Double Negatives Error #4: Did + Simple past

I don’t see nothing on my system. I didn’t saw anything suspicious.

I don’t see anything on my system. I didn’t see anything suspicious.

Prepositions
Error #5: Dates Error #6: Collocations

You made a payment on December. I am working in your case.

You made a payment in December. I am working on your case 15
 Can you say…? Troublesome sounds:
Authorize /ˈɔːθəˌraɪz/ /θ/ = Place the tip of your tongue between your teeth and let the
air flow.
Available /əˈveɪləbəl/ Practice this sound in the word “think”

Check /tʃɛk/ /ð/= It’s similar to the previous sound, but with vibration.

Fraudulent /ˈfrɔːdjʊlənt/

Merchant /ˈmɜːtʃənt/

Fraud /frɔːd/

This /ðɪs/ Day /deɪ/ vs They /ðeɪ/

Choose /tʃəʊz/
/ʃ/ It’s sometimes referred as “sh”. Think of asking someone to be
quiet: shhh as in “wish”.
Those /ðəʊz/
/tʃ/= Sometimes referred as “ch”. This is the same sound in the word
Much /mʌtʃ/
“change”.
Unfortunately /ʌnˈfɔːtʃənɪtlɪ/

Charge /tʃɑːdʒ/
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 Noun Verb

RE – fund re – FUND
IN – crease in – CREASE
DIS – count dis – COUNT
UP – date up - DATE

o The merchant couldn’t offer a refund.

o The merchant will refund the money

o To obtain a credit limit increase, you have to follow some

steps.
o To increase the credit limit, you have to follow some
steps.

o The discount will be applied automatically.

o The system will discount the money automatically.

o The update will take place immediately.

o I can help you to update you information.

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