TactFilter

The TactFilter Explained

What is the purpose of a filter?

Say for instance an oil filter on a car, what purpose does it serve? In a nut shell, the filter gets rid of all the junk and dirt from the oil before it is consumed by your engine. This is the case with any sort of filter – it takes one substance, runs it through a filtering system of some sort, and then what you have left is the “pure” version of the substance – ready for consumption to the end user (your car, your A/C, etc.).

Oftentimes when we speak – we need a filter. Unfortunately the only way to truly filter our words is to practice. We have to practice so much that what ultimately comes out of our mouths is the already filtered content for our end user. We have affectionately called this the “Tact Filter.”

The TactFilter Applied

The first step in order to put the tact filter into practice is to know who will be hearing your message. This is important because based on this, you will make crucial decisions about what content will be let through the filter.

For example, let’s take a look at a typical call-center problem. A client is on hold, and by the time that they get to you, you want to craft a tactful message that ultimately is going to deliver the following message: “We were busy! – Sorry” Sounds harsh, but is it true? Yes. Now what we need to do is deliver the exact same sentiment for the end user – in this case the client who had to wait on hold. Now what is the best way to deliver this message?

The best, most streamlined way to deliver this message to a client is to sincerely apologize and simply say: “We are experiencing a high volume of calls” Seems too easy, right? It needs to be that easy. The client doesn’t want to hear about all of your reasons as to why they had to hold on that long. For example, “we are short staffed,” or “I’m the only one here.” These statements will aggravate the client further – these are details that you will need to filter out of your message.

Isn't it Sugar Coating the Truth?

Absolutely Not! The reason why is because it does not serve them to be in the loop on "dirty laundry," so to speak. The key is to know what is going to be the MOST HELPFUL thing for your audience in that specific moment in time.

It very well may be true that you are short staffed and heaven forbid you may be the only one there. Knowing this information isn’t going to help that client accomplish their objective.

You need to apologize sincerely, acknowledge the wait time with the filtered, truthful reason as to why they had to wait; and then get right into fixing their problem. This is what is going to serve that client – and you, for that matter – the best.