Contact Center Employees Are Probably Your Company's Best Lie Spotters
David Filwood
CEO | TeleSoft Systems | People & Process Improvement For Contact Centers
Customers may always be right – but they sure can bend the truth sometimes – and no one knows this better than the Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) working in your Contact Center.
Sometimes customers withhold truthful information – or they ‘misrepresent’ their situation.
Some customers exaggerate the seriousness of their problem – and others intentionally tell blatant lies.
Some customers will lie about never receiving a product in order to get another – or fib about how much a competitor is charging for the same service.
Some customers will ‘misrepresent’ something about an insurance claim – or tell untruths about how a product has been used in order to qualify for a warranty or return – or lie to perpetuate some other fraud.
Women Are Better Than Men At Detecting Verbal Lies
Criminal psychologists have been studying deception & liars for decades – and the science is pretty much settled that it’s not ‘Body Language’ – but ‘Verbal Cues’ – that most magnify the differences between what liars & truth tellers say.
For example – researchers have demonstrated that reaction time is one such ‘Verbal Cue’ – with people answering questions with lies on average nearly 2 seconds more slowly than when they speak truths.
Research has also shown that the more unreasonably angry a customer becomes over the phone – the more likely it is that they’re lying or ‘misrepresenting’ something about what they’re stating.
In study after study – women have been shown to be far better than men at detecting a liar’s ‘Verbal Cues’.
Females Generally Possess Higher Levels Of Empathy Than Males
Empathy in the Contact Center is when CSRs exert the emotional labor to be ‘In Sync’ with the customer – actively listening to sense / understand / respond to a caller’s thoughts / feelings / experiences during the service encounter.
Delivering high levels of Empathy also correlates with accurately determining the emotions & feelings of others – a kind of lie detector.
The limbic system is composed of structures in the brain that deal with emotions – and research has demonstrated that women typically have a larger & deeper limbic system than men – which allows them to be more in touch with their own feelings – and have a greater capacity for understanding others’ thoughts & feelings.
Other studies suggest that women are usually higher in Empathy as a result of socialization – and our society's expectations that encourages girls to be more emotional & talkative – and so their verbal and listening skills are emphasized.
Regardless of the cause – women are generally more empathetic than men – and this helps to explain why female CSRs are better able to detect deception & lies told to them.
Customers Exaggerate / ‘Misrepresent’ / Lie Less Often When Speaking To A ‘Trustworthy’ CSR
Ineffective chatbots – jammed call queues – long hold times – billing issues – price increases – product / service failures – consumers have never been angrier with companies' efforts to resolve their problems – and they’re acting more aggressively / belligerently toward the CSR they get connected with.
Far too many callers don’t view the CSR as someone who is genuinely there to help them.
They’ve been burned by other CSRs who only wanted to deal with a problem as quickly as possible before rushing them off the phone.
Customers with an aggressive / belligerent mindset like that often exaggerate the scope of their problems / ‘misrepresent’ / lie because they don’t trust the CSR to act with the urgency the customer wants and often needs.
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Callers don’t misrepresent themselves – or lie anywhere near as often – if they feel the CSR they’re speaking with is ‘Trustworthy’.
Empathy is the foundation for developing Rapport & Trust with callers.
Empathy / Rapport / Trust are essential for effectively handling complaints – avoiding or diffusing conflict – reducing churn / retaining customers – developing customer solutions – and winning new business.
Customers are far more honest when they sense they’re speaking with an empathetic ‘Trustworthy’ CSR sincerely interested in taking the time to help them achieve their goals & solve their problems.
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