Resources/Conversation examples
Asked whether they were speaking to a person
The caller stops and asks whether they are talking to a person or to a machine.
Hold on. Am I talking to a real person right now?
What to do when you spot it
Say plainly that it is an automated assistant, and offer to connect the customer with a person right away.
Practice a response
Synthetic practice exampleReply to the example above out loud, then compare your words with this sample.
"Yes, real person. I'm Derrick, I'm on the sales team, and our assistant picks up when we're all on calls. What were you asking about?"
Coaching and context
Taking the next step
Answer the question the first time it is asked, in one short sentence, then offer a person immediately instead of after another exchange. The business decides what the assistant may say about everything else, and this answer is not one of the settings worth trimming. Before an assistant takes its first call, check the rules for your state and your customers' states with the AI caller disclosure by state tool. For the rep who picks up, confirm you are a person, give your name and get straight back to what the customer called about. Write the disclosure line yourself and hear it out loud, because a sentence that sounds evasive does more damage than the question it answers.
Why it matters
This is a trust moment, and there is only one good answer to it. The assistant says plainly that it is automated and offers a person, because a customer who is told plainly usually keeps going, and a customer who feels tricked remembers it and tells other people. The question is also information for the team. It means the conversation has reached the point where somebody wants judgment rather than answers, and judgment is a person's job, whatever the assistant is permitted to do.
How to coach it
Make this a team decision before it is a coaching one. Agree on the exact disclosure sentence, listen to it out loud, and make sure every rep knows what the assistant is permitted to say so nobody contradicts it on the callback. Then coach the ten seconds after the handoff: confirm you are a person, use the customer's name, and return to their question without making a joke of it. Customers take their cue from how lightly or heavily the team handles the moment.
Practice the conversation
The manager plays the customer. The rep responds, then you review it together.
The customer says
"Hold on. Am I talking to a real person right now?"
Your goal
Answer honestly in one sentence, then get back to what they called about without making it awkward.
Feedback after the call
- You answered plainly instead of joking about it.
- You took a beat too long to answer a simple question.
- You gave your name and where you sit.
- You did not get back to their question afterward.
Questions and answers
What should the assistant say?
That it is an automated assistant, in plain words, followed by an offer to connect a person. The business decides what else it may discuss, and the answer to this particular question is not one a team should trim down.
Does the question hurt the call?
Rarely, when the answer comes quickly and a person is offered in the same breath. What costs a team is the pause before the answer, the dodge, or a customer who works it out for themselves later and tells other people what happened.
What should the rep say after the handoff?
Confirm you are a person, give your name, and get straight back to what they called about. No jokes about the technology and no explanation of how the phones are set up. Customers take their cue from how lightly or heavily the team handles it.