How much of a role does being professional play in the conversations of a customer service agent?

Being professional is very important as it establishes the base of a conversation and shows a customer that the person, they are speaking to is representing the company they have availed services of. However, there is also something called being personal on a professional level. This method is now very commonly used in the industry where the agents try to be familiar with the customers and really understand their problems and then provide them with the best possible resolution. Also, there is a very fine line with which an agent can go overboard with this personalization and might offend a customer that is why learning how to use this technique is very important.

Let’s take a classic example to understand this technique – A customer ordered an item off of Amazon and the item got lost in shipment, now the customer is frustrated and calls Amazon Customer Service. Now let us consider the 2 ways in which this call could go-

The First way – ” …. Now, I understand that this is something you were not expecting to happen. However, this is a human world and things can go wrong sometimes. What matters now is how I can get things fixed for you. Now I can either get you a replacement order which I can expedite the shipping for and get you delivered on a priority basis or else I can offer you a refund if you’d like to buy a different product or the same product at a later date. Which one would you like to go for?” and then proceed with whatever the customer decides.
The Second way –” … Hey, it is not my fault that your product got lost in transit. Shit happens sometimes. The best I can do right now is to give you a refund.”

So, the way these two conversations were handled makes all the difference in the world while communicating with your customers. Both of them had a personalization touch and it seems like a human is talking and not a robot. However, the way they are handled is a little different. In the first conversation, it shows that the agent is trying to connect with the customer on a personal level without losing his professional decency and gives the customer the authority to decide what they want to do in such a situation showing that he is with them no matter what they decide. In the second conversation, the agent is being too frank and using slang that the customer might not feel very comfortable with. Also, the agent gave the resolution in such a manner which seems as if the agent is doing the customer a favour by refunding the money, they paid for the item to get delivered on time and has no sincerity. Therefore, personalization is important in order to connect with the customer and understand how they might feel under certain circumstances and being professional helps the agent make the right decision for the customer and makes it seem like the customer was the one who decided so that they feel heard and welcomed at the end of the conversation.