How’s the Weather and Other Stock Lines that Prove the Rep Is Uninterested

Recently, Toyin McArthur, a trainer and facilitator for Storage Vault in Canada, asked me if I had any thoughts or suggestions related to customer service reps using questions like How’s the weather? to establish rapport with a customer. The concern was that using the “weather” is a sure way to leave the customer feeling like the agent or salesperson is disinterested and unauthentic, resulting in an overall “blah” experience.