From the course: Delivering Bad News to a Customer

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Delivering bad news over the phone

Delivering bad news over the phone

- Confidence is the key to giving bad news over the phone. I will teach you four things you can do to deliver bad news confidently and easily over the phone. First, let's start by speaking more slowly. You sound nervous when you speak fast. You sound more confident and can articulate better when you slow down. Slower speakers are perceived as more powerful and confident than fast talkers. Second, focus on using a casual, friendly tone. Despite giving bad news you should sound friendly and conversational. Talk casually and naturally, like you would if you were delivering bad news to a friend or family member. Third, try to avoid words that cause tension. A word that might cause tension is unfortunately. Just leave off the word unfortunately and state your news. A computer company found that the word crash made the product sound useless and tended to make customers more upset. Employees were told to avoid this tension…

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