As customer service professionals, we do our best to answer customers’ questions and solve their problems. But sometimes we simply can’t help or we have caused or contributed to their issues. That’s when a sincere apology is required. Too often, however, we rely on insincere, tired, trite phrases like “We regret any inconvenience this may have caused.” These “Sorry, Not Sorry” apologies do more harm than good, especially when we can’t fix the situation and the only thing we have to offer the customer is our understanding.

In this workshop, you will learn:

• Why insincere apologies increase contact volume, especially in email, chat and social media
• How to recognize apology wording that does not sound sincere
• How to avoid passive aggressive non-apologies when providing customer support
• Which words to use if you want your apology to be heartfelt
• How to apologize sincerely without opening yourself to greater liability or taking responsibility for problems you didn’t cause
• How apologizing and empathizing are different
• When to apologize to a customer and when to empathize