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Shadowing practice: The Secret to GREAT Customer Service | Simon Sinek

Listen to the line, then say it out loud
Line 1

Full transcript

  1. Customers talk about they have great service or bad service if they got what they want or didn't get what they want, right?0:00
  2. But that's not true.0:05
  3. I'll give you an example.0:06
  4. Let's say I'm on a business trip and My work is done early and I want to go home to my family.0:07
  5. I check the website I see that there are there's flights available on the earlier flights.0:13
  6. Let's call it a day early And so I call the airline and I say hey, I'm done early.0:18
  7. I'd really love to get home to my family I see that you've got availability in the earlier flight.0:24
  8. Can I get on that flight?0:28
  9. And the agent says I'm sorry you have the wrong class of ticket.0:30
  10. I can't change your I can't change your flight I'm happy to pay a fee.0:33
  11. I'm happy to pay whatever it is.0:35
  12. Please can I get on that flight?0:37
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  1. I'm sorry, sir.0:38
  2. I told you you have the wrong class of you have the wrong class I can't I can't book you you have the wrong status flight.0:39
  3. There's nothing I can do the computer won't let me do it Okay, I now hate that airline, right?0:44
  4. Okay, let's replay that Okay Same scenario.0:51
  5. Hi.0:55
  6. I'm done early love to go home.0:55
  7. I see you have availability.0:57
  8. Can I get on that flight?0:58
  9. Sir, I want to get you home to your family.0:59
  10. Here's the problem Your your ticket is the wrong class and so the computer won't let me but let me let me see what I can do I really want1:02
  11. to get you home to your family click click click click click click click that didn't work Click click click click that didn't work sir.1:09
  12. Let me talk to my supervisor.1:15
  13. I'm determined to get you home to your family Go away come back sir.1:16
  14. I talked to my supervisor.1:20
  15. We've tried like six different things.1:20
  16. There's nothing I can do I am so so sorry.1:22
  17. I just cannot get you on that earlier flight.1:24
  18. Don't worry.1:26
  19. Thank you for trying I now love that airline even though I didn't get what I want and that's what it feels like when someone cares It doesn't mean we1:27
  20. always get what we want But what we get is somebody who understands and cares about what we're trying to accomplish.1:34
  21. That's considered good service1:39

English listening practice with Simon Sinek's fast paced American customer service lecture

This is a monologue, not a conversation. Simon Sinek tells the same airline story twice, once with an agent who refuses and once with one who genuinely tries. It is a B1 lecture recorded at 261 words per minute, faster than 97 percent of the catalogue, which makes it a strong pick for english listening practice once slower material feels too easy.

The accent is American, and because Sinek is speaking live to an audience rather than reading from a script, sentences trail off and restart mid thought. Line 14 circles back on itself three times before finally landing on "wrong status flight". That kind of messiness is exactly what real american accent training needs: speech that does not arrive in tidy, finished sentences.

The wording and intonation in this B1 lecture on American customer service

Sinek runs the same call twice so you can hear the exact wording that separates a bad interaction from a good one. In the refusal version the agent says: "I told you you have the wrong class of you have the wrong class I can't I can't book you you have the wrong status flight." The stumbling and repetition are not a performance mistake, they are how a person actually talks when they are stuck and out of options.

The second version answers it. Sinek plays the agent trying, sound effects and all: "click click click click click click click that didn't work". Then the story lands on the emotional turn, "I now hate that airline, right?" against "I now love that airline", the same outcome, a flight he does not get, described with opposite feeling. Repeating that contrast out loud is a better way to improve your english accent than repeating clean textbook sentences, because it forces you to match Sinek's real timing and stress.

  • Line 14: "I told you you have the wrong class of you have the wrong class I can't I can't book you you have the wrong status flight." shows how the agent self corrects mid sentence rather than speaking in finished lines.
  • "click click click click click click click that didn't work" is a run of one syllable words that tests your rhythm more than your vocabulary.
  • "I now hate that airline, right?" is a falling tag question, practice the drop on "hate".
  • "I now love that airline" repeats the same sentence shape with the opposite feeling, practice the lift on "love".

How to shadow this Simon Sinek clip for english speaking practice

Work through the 33 lines in order rather than jumping to the ending, since the payoff only works once you have heard the failed call first.

  • Play lines 1 to 15 straight through once, without pausing, matching Sinek's pace instead of stopping at each sentence.
  • Shadow this line, "I now hate that airline, right?", by itself until the falling tone on "hate" sounds natural.
  • Move to line 31 and shadow this line, "I now love that airline", noticing that the words are almost the same but the pitch rises instead of falls.
  • Isolate "click click click click click click click that didn't work" on its own until the seven clicks land evenly, then rejoin it to the sentence around it.
  • Run the full clip again at speed for real english speaking practice, aiming to keep pace with 261 words per minute without dropping words.
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