How to Persuade Customer Service Reps

Here is a good tip for getting better customer service over the phone. It's from Noah Goldestein, a behavioral scientist at the University of Chicago.

If you find toward the beginning of your interaction that the customer service agent is being particularly friendly, polite, or responsive -- perhaps before you get to your toughest request -- tell the agent that you're so impressed with his or her service and knowledge so far that you're going to write a positive letter or e-mail about your interaction to his or her supervisor as soon as you get off the phone. After getting the agent's name and the supervisor's contact information, you can then get to the more complex issues at hand.

I actually just used this the other day when transferring a balance. It didn't work, but they had already given me what I wanted. I just wanted to see how far I could push it. From what I remember from Psychology classes, I think it's similar to the foot-in-the-door technique, but I spent more time doing the Daily Wildcat crossword than actually learning in those lectures, so I may be wrong.

-Matt

Link: Psychology Today Via boingboing