6 Customer Service Techniques Your Agents Should Avoid

If you want your contact center agents to excel, it’s not enough to teach them just the best customer service techniques. Without acknowledging the should-nots of customer service, your agents might be sneaking unintended doses of negativity into customer service interactions.

Even worse, when agents don’t know they’re in the wrong, they’ll put their unintended negative behaviors on repeat. Then, you’re leaving the door open for your customers to experience dozens of unhappy moments. All those moments can pile up in your customers’ minds and create an emotional disconnect with your company.

Here are 6 negative customer service techniques your agents should avoid, plus tips to steer them towards better habits.

1. Being too apathetic.

Solving hundreds of customer issues per day means that, oftentimes, the problems your agents solve get repetitive. As agents see the same issues, they boil these repetitive issues down to their essential pieces, so they can easily and quickly solve them. But, the routine of identical problem-solving can trigger your agents to shift to auto-pilot.

Agents who’ve switched to auto-pilot go through the motions, but they don’t give customers the personalized care and attention they crave. Your agents know the issue plaguing your customer, so they immediately move on to step two in their problem-solving process. Your customer is left in the dust waiting to explain why their failed shipment is so detrimental to their day, but your agent isn’t present enough to listen.

So, how do you coach your agents to turn off auto-pilot and combat apathy? As a call center manager, use paraphrase training with your agents. It’s a technique agents can use to mirror a customer’s problem and summarize their reason for reaching out. When you train your agents to paraphrase customer problems, they articulate problems in a way that resonates with your customers. Plus, paraphrasing ensures that your agents solve the right issue and address your customer’s specific pain points.

2. Prioritizing speed over accuracy.

It’s tempting for your agents to speed through a call when they see 15 more in-queue. But haste leads to mistakes. Mistakes your agents (or you) will have to correct when the customer calls a second time. And, that haste leads to customers who are even more frustrated that you rushed them through an interaction.

In an efficiency-driven environment, like a contact center, people often prioritize speed over accuracy. But it shouldn’t be the priority. Encourage your agents to take the time needed to solve problems correctly. Choose metrics that back quality interactions, not just a lot of interactions. Sharpen’s contact center platform emphasizes quality interactions by providing real-time insights and coaching tools, enabling agents to resolve issues correctly the first time.

3. Assuming problems and solutions.

Assumptive reasoning is another negative side effect of agents rushing through calls. Rather than listening to a customer explain their problem in-full, agents act on key phrases like “I forgot my password” or “I have a question about my bill.” When agents spring into action too soon, it can lead to a misinterpretation of the problem. Or worse, it could escalate a customer off to the wrong department for help.

Remind your agents how important it is to listen and paraphrase. Even some minor issues can turn into major problems if your agents don’t know the full story. Train your agents to be listeners first, and active problem-solvers second. Even better, create resources with clarifying follow-up questions your agents can ask to get detailed information about each situation.

4. Inhuman courteousness.

Inhuman courteousness is a customer service technique perfected by agents who go through the motions of being polite, but they fail when it comes to delivery. Maybe these agents say, “thank you” and “you’re welcome” on each call because you listed it in their script, but their apathetic tone shows they don’t mean it. These agents use the words they’re supposed to, but nothing about their presentation gives your customers a warm and friendly feeling.

Build a culture of frequent feedback in your contact center. Ask for feedback through agent satisfaction surveys and 1:1 conversations. Then measure your agents’ holistic well-being in your contact center. Sharpen’s platform supports frequent agent feedback and coaching to foster authentic, empathetic communication, improving both agent satisfaction and customer loyalty.

5. Being unprofessional in an attempt to be friendly.

Agents need to establish rapport and build relationships with customers, but there’s a fine line between being friendly and being unprofessional. It’s easy for an agent to cross the line if they become too casual.

Sharpen encourages managers to use call recordings and inline training tools to provide targeted feedback and coach agents on maintaining professional yet personable communication. If you have an agent who needs to brush up on how to communicate with customers, use call recordings and in-line training to guide them. Point out specific moments during interactions where an agent can shift their language to better communicate with a customer. Then, give your agents some alternative phrases they can swap in during future interactions.

6. Serving the policy, not the customer.

Hearing a customer service agent cite “our policy” as a reason for being unhelpful is like nails on a chalkboard for a customer. It makes their problem feel unimportant and like they aren’t valued by your company.

Rather than citing policies or using ingrained procedures as a scapegoat to avoid solving difficult problems, empower your agents to do what’s in the best interest of your customer. If you have policies in place that force agents to say, “sorry I can’t help you,” to your customers, change them. And if now’s not the time to revamp your contact center policies and procedures, train your agents to think creatively and give your customers alternative options for help, instead.

Elevate Your Service Through Contact Center Agent Tools

Build up your team of contact center agents and teach them how your customers perceive every interaction. Giving your agents insight into the negatives of customer service stops bad behaviors from turning into bad habits. Plus, being upfront with your agents about what not to do while working in a contact center will help them become more self-aware, fueling their professional growth and your customers’ satisfaction. Contact Sharpen today to learn how our CX platform can help your team avoid costly mistakes and improve customer satisfaction.

This post was originally published on April 9, 2018. We updated the post on September 5, 2025.