Customer Service Exellence

Customer Service: In the details

Fatmak Institute of Technology 1 of 81

CUSTOMER SERVICE EXCELLENCE: IT’S IN THE DETAILS Transcript from the training video presentation by Lisa Ford



GOAL INTRODUCTION FIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF QUALITY SERVICE

Quality #1: Reliability

There are three levels of customer service being delivered today: • rude, • indifferent, • and exceptional.

This tape is aimed at improving your customer service skills. Provision of exceptional customer service by paying attention to the details. Providing exceptional customer service is in the details. When you do the basic well, the customer feels served and not processed. Many times, the service I receive doesn’t want me to be a repeat customer. I am being processed, not served. Your challenge is to give your customer exception service by paying attention to the details and doing the basics well. Excellent customer service can turn a one-time customer into a life-time customer; rude or indifferent customer service can turn a life-time customer running to your competitions. Research done by Lymbery & Colleagues of Texas identify the criteria how customer define quality customer service. So with their research which I have expounded upon with my own experience, let’s look at the five (5) qualities of what customers expect.

1. Reliability 2. Responsiveness 3. Feel Valued 4. Empathy 5. Competence

Lets look at each of those characteristics and see how focusing on details can improve customer service. Reliability is at the core of the products and services that we provide. If we are not reliable little else matters. For years I use an old concept I called the Grandmother Rule, it has three (3)

Rude

Indifferent

Exceptional



The Grandmother Rule Guidelines for Recovering Customer Loyalty

Apologize Sincerely

Fix the Problem Quickly

Do Something Extra

components to it.

i. Do what you say you’re going to do

ii. Do it when you say you’re going to do it iii. Do it right the first time

That’s the Grandmother Rule. Most of us weren’t raise with that kind of values. Follow the Grandmother Rule and you’ll improve your reliability. Are doing what you say you’d do? Are you doing it when you say you will do it? Are you doing it right the first time? We will have many more happy customers if we all honor the Grandmother Rule.

There are times, however, when we do not get it right the first time. When this happen, we must have guide lines for recovering customer loyalty. There are four (4) guidelines for recovering customer loyalty.

i. “Sincerely” is the key word. Most apologies are not sincere. Say, “I am very sorry this has happened, I apologize for the inconvenience”. Apologize sincerely.

ii. When you fix the problem, don’t fix the blame. Too often, we talk about what happened, who did what, or who to blame rather than focusing on the real problem. The customer does not care who is to blame, they want you to fix the problem quickly.

iii. Now, some people say, “hey, wait a minute, if I have apologized and then fix the problem, why do I have to do something extra?” Here is why. Your customer has been hassled; in their mind it should have been done right the first time. If it was not done right the first time, you must do something to regain their confidence and loyalty. Make it right, and then do something extra

For example, a firm specializing in temporary personnel placement will unfortunately occasionally send an individual on a job, who is not well suited for that position. In those situations, the typical remedy is that the



Follow-Up

Review: Quality #1

customer does not have to pay for that individual day of work. However, this temporary personnel firm will not only attempt to do a better match with the next employee; they’d also send a bouquet of flowers with a bottle of aspirin with a note attached saying, “we are sorry for the headache we caused”. Isn’t that great? That is an extra.

This gives the customer confidence that even if they did not do it right the first time, they will do better the next time. It also tells the customer that their first mistake was unusual, and not how they normally do business.

iv. It might be a quick phone call; it may be a letter; it could be a visit just to check how the customer is doing. Whatever it is, you must make certain that your recovery effort has paid off, and the customer will continue doing business with you.

A simple guideline to keep in mind so that you don’t have to be recovering often is - Do the right thing the first time It sounds basic, but it’s something most of us spend too little time doing. If we recover too often it will reveal short comings to our customers. After a second or third recovery experience, they certainly will take their business elsewhere and who can blame them.

That sums up the first point – Reliability (follow the Grandmother Rule).



Quality #2: Responsiveness

Speedy Service

Take Ownership &

Follow Through

Customer’s Perception

Let’s move on to the second characteristics of quality service – Responsiveness.

Speed is the best way to define this. Today’s customer wants something faster than they ever wanted them before; whether it’s a brief hold on the phone or a short time in line or an immediate email; customers have a desire for speedy service. A good friend and I were talking about customers becoming more sophisticated, educated, and demanding, and he said, “Lisa, listen, you are just the same. How many times have you stood in front of a microwave wishing the microwave would finish faster”. I laughed. That’s exactly what our customers are like and we are expected to serve them. So, when you are working with customers be sure to keep timeliness and considerations. Ask yourself, “what would I expect if I were in the customer’s shoes?”

Another part of being responsive means taking ownership. Ownership means owning the customers’ issues or questions. You do this by following through on promises, and if possible, be the only person who speaks with the customer. I know this is not always realistic, but try to apply the one voice concept. One firm calls it “First touch, last touch”; whoever first touches the customer with their voice will be the individual who last touches the customer; that’s the only person who speaks with that customer. You know the reason for this. How many times have you had a caller transferred to you, and you hear the caller say, “You are the third person I’ve talked to”. No one likes being bounced around.

So, we must take the customer problem, concern, or issue and see it through; that’s responsiveness from the customer’s view. Speaking of customer’s view, how many of us really evaluate how good we are from the customer’s eyes? You probably heard the old phrase, I think Tom Peter said first, “Perception is all there is”. The customer’s perception is reality. If the customer thinks we are great, we are great; if the customer thinks we stink, we stink. If the customer thinks someone was rude, someone was rude. The interesting thing about perception is that it’s rarely neutral; perception is usually on the upside of positive or the downside of negative. For example, I was being seated in an hotel restaurant and the host took me to a table, pulled out the chair; when he pulled out the chair I could see the floor underneath the table; I saw a lot of crumbs, and empty cracker packages, it was dirty. Now I want to ask you, when I saw that floor, what else did I see? You’re right. The kitchen; the quality of service. Just because



Coffee Stains Review: Quality #2

their floor was dirty, I perceived and expected that my service would be bad; the kitchen was dirty, and the food would not be worth the money I would pay for it. And I want you to guess, was I right? Definitely! Perception is all there is.

Now, that’s a negative perception. Let me give you a positive one. I always take my car to a place to get it repaired, and when I picked it up, they’ve always washed it. So, when I pick up my car, I see if it’s clean, and guess what I think. It’s fixed! You might be laughing, but as long as they take of the outside, I assume they take care of the inside. That’s the power of perception. There is an interesting line that came from an airline executive many years ago. He said this, “when passengers get on the airplane, and pulled down the tray table, and see coffee stains on the tray table, they also see poor engine maintenance”. My question to you is, “what are your coffee stains?” What are the things that your customers have to see or deal with that could taint their perception?

Many years ago in a seminar, a woman who managed a doctor’s office told me this: “I am standing here picturing our reception room, and I’m seeing the close-to-death plants, and I wandered if our patient seating there looking at our close-to-death plants are saying, ‘if they could kill these, what could happen to me?’” It’s a great point.

What things do you need to improve? What are your coffee stains? Remember we must see our responsiveness from the customer’s view. Lets review our second quality service characteristics – Responsiveness:

1. Solve Their Problems Quickly 2. Take Ownership 3. Follow Through 4. Ask Yourself, “What are your coffee stains?”

Quality #3: Make the Customer Feel Valued

Customers want to feel valued, respected, and important. I was checking into a motel one night in South Carolina, and since the motel has been booked for me I was not sure what to expect. Inside the front desk is protected by a glass shield with a small cut-out hole where I could speak to the person behind the desk. Inside the glass is a sign that if I commit armed robber I would be imprison for a minimum of 7 years. At that moment, waiting to check into that motel, I did not feel valued.



Tone of Voice

Body Language

Simple Manners

Using Customer’s Name

Using the Right Word

Customers expect high quality in the respect and the service that we give them. Unfortunately, this does not always happen. Customers expect a certain tone of voice, a warm, friendly upbeat tone. Too often when I am being served, I am greeted by someone that said, “may a elp you!” Have you notice that “May I help you?” has become “may a elp you!” That’s not upbeat or friendly. I recommend recording your voice while talking with the customer so that you can hear how you come across. Evaluate your own tone of voice. And additionally, ask yourself what your body is saying. Now, many of us spend time on the phone with customers, remember, body language makes a difference on the phone also. If you are slump in your chair, your energy level is affected and that can be heard over the phone. If we are face-to-face, we certainly need to pay attention to body language. Do we make eye contact; we answer our phone, while a customer is waiting face-to-face, and roll our eyes about what the caller is discussing. The waiting customer can observe that, and that does not help your customer feel valued.

So two (2) things you could do to make your customer feel valued are:

1. Make sure you use the appropriate tone of voice, and 2. proper body language

Another thing that helps our customers feel valued is simply paying attention to our manners. It’s as simple as saying, “Thank you, we appreciate your business”. Too often people hand us an item or hang up the phone and say “bye” without a word of thanks.

Do you pay attention to the details like using the customer’s name? Always use the customer’s name when you can. Do not over do it. In a brief conversation, use the customer’s name 2 or 3 times; go formal using Mr., Mrs., Dr., unless your customer ask you to use their first name. Now, let’s talk about a difficult situation, what do you do if you can’t pronounce their first name? It’s simple. If the customer’s name is difficult to pronounce, politely ask for help in pronouncing it. Then make sure you store the pronunciation in your records so you can get it right the next time. Customers appreciate the fact that you take the time to get their names right.

There are few other details that can help your customers feel valued.



Review: Quality #3

1. The words we use: Use certain words but avoid others. Here is an example: a. use the word “Can,” Not “Can’t”. Customers do not

want to know what you can’t do; they simply want to know what you can do for them.

b. Also, customers don’t like to hear the word “Transfer”. They fear they will never show up or reach another living person again. Instead use words like, “Let me connect you,” “Let me put in touch with” or “Let me let you talk with”.

c. Use “Thank You,” not “I’m Sorry”. Hang on, I know that there are appropriate times to say I am sorry such when we’ve been at fault and we need to recover. However, let’s say I have a caller who has been on hold and I am returning to them, instead of saying, “I’m sorry you had to hold,” say, “Thanks for holding”, “Thanks for waiting”. That comes across much more positively. If you had an unhappy customer waiting, and you come back with “I’m sorry you had to wait,” that might cause them to come back with, “You should be sorry. Every time I come in here I have to wait.” Try “Thank You” instead.

d. Another word customers do not like to hear is “policy”. Many times you must quote your company policy, but don’t call it policy, instead say, “Here is how we handle this”, or “Here is what we can do on this”. If you do not use the word policy, the customer may be more accepting of your explanation.

Help Customers Feel Valued By Thinking About:

• Your Tone of Voice • Your Body Language • Simple Manners • Using the Customer’s Name • The Words You Use

Quality #4:- Being Empathetic Understand the customer’s

Problem

Partner with the Customer

The customers want to know that you really understand their situation. Too often when the customers have a problem they feel that you are working against and not trying to help them solve it. You need to get into a partnership with the customer where the problem is the enemy, not you. You can do this through an empathy statement. Empathy can create the bridge to you moving



Active Listening

Four Keys to Active Listening

onto solving the customer’s problem. Empathy helps you ask the right questions that would then help you solve the customer’s problem. Our customers simply want to know they been heard. To help our customers know they been heard, remind yourself to listen, truly listen. We all know what listening is. Let me review the four key steps to active listening.

1. Attentive Silence: this means your body posture is alert. You’ve got eye contact and you are focus on what the customer is saying.

2. Attentive Words: If you are on the phone and you only

use attentive silence, what would the customer say? “Are you there? Hello” Exactly. So, we must follow through with words like “Aha!”, “Yes” “I see” “Really” Simply use attentive words to let the customer know that you are with them. Certainly do that face-face also.

3. Ask Door Opener Questions: These are the questions

that begin with who, what, where, when, and how. They invite the customer to continue talking, to open up. In many cases, we not quite clear what is it the customer need or want, or what situation are they speaking of, or what they’ve been promised. We need them to talk so we can clearly understand what they need. Door opener questions help the customer tell you what they want and help clearly understand what their needs. b

4. Restate: Notice that it is called restating not repeating. No one likes having their exact words repeated. With restating, you check to ensure that you are on track before you continue with the customer.

Please keep this mind - there is a difference between listening and waiting for your turn to talk. Too often we wait for our turn to talk, especially if we are experience in dealing with customers; customers don’t say that many new things. They put a word out, you pretty know what the next 56 words would be, so you tune out and prepare your own response. We aren’t really listening; we’re simply waiting for our turn talk. Listening is the key skill that will help you provide empathy to your customer.



Review: Quality #4

Empathy

1. Understand the customer’s Problem; 2. Form a Partnership with the Customer (using an empathy

statement); and 3. Make the Problem the Enemy

Remind yourself to really listen to the customer. The four keys to active listening are:

1. Attentive Silence 2. Attentive Words 3. Ask Door Opener Questions 4. Restate

Quality #5: Be Competent

Asking Questions to grow

Building Rapport with the Customer

Review: Quality #5

This means when you are knowledgeable and the customer is confident you can help them, the customer becomes less demanding. Now, we face a lot of incompetence today.

Customers want us to be competent. They don’t want to deal with two or three people to get what they need. In other to be competent, you have to continue to learn and grow. To do this, start by asking questions of your co-workers, your managers; learn about all aspect of your job so you can be as confident as possible when facing your customers. There is another way to show how confident you are, and that’s simply by building rapport with your customers. When you think about it, when you have rapport with someone, you have a connection; customers always want that connection. Here is a way to connect with your customer. Match your customer style. This means when you are facing your customer and they talking really fast and they have a sense of urgency, they would want you to speed up also and match their urgency. If you have a customer who is speaking a little slower and showing some concern, you match that rate of speech and show concern. If you dealing with someone who is extremely friendly, you would match them by being friendly back. It’s a simple technique but it helps us to start off on the part of showing how confidence we are, and therefore giving the customer the confidence that you are the one who can help them.

Ask questions of your co-workers and managers, and build rapport with your customers by matching the customer style.

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Summary

FIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF QUALITY SERVICE

1. Reliability – Follow the Grandmother Rule 2. Responsiveness –Solve Your Customer’s Problem as

Quickly as Possible 3. Feel Valued – Be aware your tone of voice, body language

and the words you use. Pay attention to simple manners 4. Empathy – Understand the customer’s problem, form a

partnership with the customer and make the problem the enemy; really listen to the customer

5. Competence

By delivering those five qualities, you can turn a one-time customer to a life-time customer; and remember, the difference between merely good service and exceptional service is in the details.



THE SIX ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE LISTENING. Extract from the training video by Ed Brodow, author of Negotiate with Confidence. Introduction: Listening Is Number One Key 6 Rules For Effective Listening Rule #1: Develop a desire to listen

The level of your listening skill can determine whether you will be successful professionally or personally. In this video, Ed Brodow, CEO of Ed Brodow and Sons of California and one of America’s leading expert on negotiation and communication, describes six practical steps you can use to become a more effective listener. Most people are poor listeners. We hear what we want to hear. Regardless of your occupation, listening is of the key skill you need to be successful.

1. Develop the desire to listen 2. Let the other person do most of the talking 3. Ask lots of open-ended questions 4. Be Objective 5. Listen actively 6. Listen to body language

What this means is, it is not enough for you just wake up one morning and decides to be a great listener. You will not be a great listener until you understand why its so important. And the reason is, if you give the other person the opportunity, they will tell everything you need to know in other to reach an agreement and satisfy your need. That’s what communication is about, understanding each other. Listening to others is your strongest weapon for success. On the other hand, your failure to listen can result in misunderstanding and ultimately, it can become the reason why things are not done right. In so many cases, listening can make the difference between success and failure. When we do not appreciate what difference effective listening can make, and we become more interested in our point of view than those of others, we are most likely to fail. We have not developed a desire to listen. The first step in becoming a great listener is acknowledging the importance of what the other person is saying. Develop a desire to listen.



Rule #2: Let the other person do most of the talking

Now we come to the crust of the matter. I believe that being a really good listener boils down to this. This is where so many people have an obstacle. We want to get the first word in, and we want to get the last word in. In other words, we think that communication means talking. Take it from me, communication means listening. And the only way I know of that you can do this is by not speaking. To help you, Rule #2 is also called the 70/30 Rule. This means listen 70% of the time, and talk 30% of the time. This gives you a mathematical formula to follow. I do not expect that you would follow it precisely but it gives you a model to work from: Listen 70% of the time, and talk only 30 % of the time. Now, as a practical matter, what often happens is this: you are following Rule #2 and you are letting the other person do most of the talking. All of a sudden, the other person said something that you disagree with; and what do you do? You interrupt them, of course. You say, “hey, wait a minute” “hold on there” Now, you have just defeated your purpose which was to let them do most of the talking. So, the next time you are about to interrupt somebody, ask your self, “is this really necessary?” I guarantee you, its probably is not.

Do not interrupt.

Remember, the most important step to become a good listener is not to talk. Let the other person do most of the talking. I know how difficult this may be, but after what I am about to tell you, it will never be difficult for you again. Are you ready? Here is it:



Rule #3: Ask lots of open-ended questions Rule #4: Be Objective Rule #5: Listen actively

As a good listener, your objective is to get the other person carry the conversation. What of they don’t say anything? How can you listen if nothing is being said? Think of yourself as a detective interviewing a suspect. By asking them open-ended question, you force them to open up. By the way, in case you have been wandering what an open-ended question is, it’s a question that can not be answered with a simple “yes” or “no” answer. The other person is forced to give you a long, thoughtful answer. This is terrific because what you are trying to do is let them carry the conversation. When you ask someone an open-ended question, you are inviting them to talk. That’s like making them an offer they can not refuse because the fact is, we all love to talk. Being a detective and asking open-ended questions will set the stage for you to become a good listener. Getting back to our original objective, understanding the other person, do you see how this can help? Asking questions and listening is the best way to understand other people. Asking questions and listening will help to clarify the other person need. We only human and we have a tendency to interpret what we hear. We are judgmental. Instead of hearing what the other person is saying, we hear what we want to hear. We let our feelings distort the facts. Be careful that you do not let your feelings or preconceived ideas to interfere with what the other person is saying. I am not suggesting that you should always agree with the other person, nor am I suggesting that you are not entitled to your feelings about what is being said. I am urging you to separate the facts from your feelings about those facts; be an objective listener. Active listening means you are listening in a way that let the other person know you are listening. Have you tried to talk to someone only to have them engage in another activity while you speak, may be they were reading the newspaper or they were working on the computer? If this has happened to you then you know how irritated this behavior can be. The other person may have been listening to you, but you did not think so. They failed to communicate to you that they were listening. Please understand. It is not enough that you simply listened, you have to communicate to the other person that you are being held. This is called active listening.



Rule #6: Listen To Body Language

Four Tips for Active Listening

1. Move into a listening position: this involves physical behavior; focus on the speaker and let your body express this; lean in to the speaker as oppose to facing away from the speaker or folding your arms or performing another task. Also, make eye contact; it does not mean you have to stare at them; you can take away your eye from time to time, but on the whole maintain your eye contact.

2. Take notes: In my experience nothing works better for active

listening than taking notes. Have a yellow pad handy, and say, “if you do not mind, I would like to take some note” It works for a couple of good reasons. First, its flattery to the speaker because they know they have your full attention; plus it helps you because you will remember what you write down.

3. Give encouraging responses: You can say things like, “I

understand, or I can see your point” or “I think I know where you are coming from” Or you can make empathetic noises like, “hmm”, “aha” “hah” Now, this may seem silly to you, but believe me, its works. People need feedback. Or you can simple nod your head; this encourages the speaker to keep going.

4. Repeat what they said: “Let me be sure I understand what you

are saying. You are saying that …” and then you feed back to them what they just said. This reassures them that they have been heard. It also help to prevent misunderstanding because if you repeat it back incorrectly, then they have an opportunity to correct you.

To be a good listener is just as important to listen to what is not being said. Studies have shown that 90% of all communications is non-verbal. The other negotiator may be communicating with you via body language; you need to decode this non-verbal message. Examples of typical body language are:

• folding the arms - this signifies that the other person is pulling away from you or that they are feeling defensive;

• another one is looking away - the lack of eye contact suggests that they are uncomfortable about something;

• doing something else – if they are involve in other activities while talking with you, they are sending you a strong message. You need to listen to these non-verbal messages.

For example, have you ever experienced this – the person you are talking to says that there are content, that everything is ok, that they



SUMMARY

agree with you, but their body language contradicts what they are saying; they sulk, or they do not make eye-contact with you; or the muscles in their face become tight. When body language contradicts spoken language, it’s a sure sign that something is wrong. It is really important to listen to that non-verbal communication. Well, as you have seen, listening is all that difficult, but like all other human endeavors, it requires a commitment. You can make that commitment to become a great listener by following the six rules:

1. Develop the desire to listen; once you have the motivation - 2. Let the other person do most of the talking, and to help them

along - 3. Ask lots of open-ended questions; do not jump to conclusion - 4. Be Objective; be sure the other knows you are listening - 5. Listen actively; and be sure to listen for what is not being said - 6. Listen to body language

Believe me; developing your listening skill is the best investment you can make.



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON EFFECTIVE LISTENING QUESTION ANSWER What is the biggest obstacle to effective listening? How do you learn to overcome this? What is one example of how we don’t listen objectively?

The biggest problem people have that stop them from listening is that they think that what they have to say is so important; they think that if they don’t say it to the other person everything is going to get strewed u, and usually it’s the other way around. People have to learn that the important thing is listening; the important thing is what the other person said. It’s a very hard lesson to learn; that’s why people keep interrupting, that’s why people just don’t get it; they don’t want to listen because they want to talk. I used to interrupt people constantly, and I had a mentor when I was in the Marine Corp. A very kindly Colonel said to me one day, “Lieutenant, you don’t listen!” He explained to me that I was constantly interrupting and I should be listening more. Then when I go out of the service I got a job in sales and it really, it really hit home because if I went in to a prospect office and I started to make a flowery presentation, I was out; they would through me out; but if I kept my mouth shut and I listened to them and I let them tell me what their problems were and may be I asked a few open-ended questions to get them going, they love it… it was an opportunity for them to tell somebody what their problems were. So they like me and they bought from me. So I had my nuts screwed well and I learnt the importance of keeping my mouth shut. Well a good example of how we don’t listen objectively actually happened to me. I was in France, I was having lunch at a bistro in St. Paul de Vence, a picturesque hill town in the south of France. In my fractured French, I tried to order a bottle of beer. "Je voudrais une bouteille de biere, sil vous plait." I would like a bottle of beer, I told the waitress. So, the waitress looks at me and she said “in a can” and I said “no, not in a can, I want it in the bottle ……” She said “Monsieur, in a can” and I said “no, not in a can, in a bottle …” and she said “monsieur, in a can!” I had it already, I said “look, not in a can, I want it in a bottle, give it to me in a bottle!”



How do you maintain your attention when listening for a long period of time? Should we interrupt when people keep repeating themselves? What should you do when you’re busy and don’t have time to listen?

The lady storms off and she comes back with a bottle of Heineken. When you say “Heineken” in French, it sounds like “in a can” which is what she was trying to tell me. She was trying to me that she has a bottle of Heineken but I didn’t hear that. All I hear was what I wanted to hear. I heard her saying “in a can” If I had stop for a moment and thought about what she was saying, listen to her, we would never have had any problems. She thought I was nuts because I started to laugh hysterically and of cause I’d be afraid to ever go into that restaurant again. We tend to hear what we want to hear. Hmm … taking notes is really important. You should have a yellow pad tied to your wrist and when people talk take notes because that way, it gives you something to do, its active. The problem with listening sometimes is that we have nothing to do, people get tired of it. If you seat there and you are taking notes, you are a detective, you are a reporter, you are interviewing someone; and you cant get enough. You can even ask him to slow down……”what did you say……” In that way, it gives you something to do so that it does not seem like you are listening forever. People sometimes don’t give you the answers to the questions that you want. So, the way you do that is by rephrasing your questions. …………So, someone starts to repeat themselves or they are not telling you what you need, then you simply rephrase your questions, ask a different question; but the question method is full-prove, it works and this way you don’t have to say “hey, you are not answering my questions; or would you please shut up and stop repeating that all over again” Just ask a slightly different question. Well, every often we don’t have time to listen to what to what the other person is saying, and what do we do? We ignore them; we tell them to shut up; we say go away. Every simple thing you can do is to explain to the person that you are interested in what they have to say but the timing is bad, so you would rather a better time when you can listen to them.



How should we handle people who disagree with us?

Yes, that’s a problem. When people disagree with us, we tend to shut them off, and we want to come back with our point of view; we want to argue with them. What I say is acknowledge the other person position. You ought to have your feeling about what they said but you don’t have to necessarily inflict your feelings on the other person. You want to be as objective as possible. So instead of shutting off, let them really explain what they are saying if you don’t understand. … let them really spell it out for you and take notes rather than trying to shut them off or shut yourself off because you do yourself as much an injustice as you do the other person. That’s why listening is such a wonderful skill because it enables us to transcend our own feelings, our own superstitions, our own opinions, and preconceived notions; and it really allows you to get into the mind of the other person and find out what is going on; that’s communication, understanding each other.



CUSTOMER SERVICE – YOU ARE IN CONTROL Extract from the training video on “Customer Service: You are in Control” by Jean Lebedun PART I: LECTURE INTRODUCTION

How do you handle difficult customers? That’s one of the most burning questions asked by customer service professionals. And frankly its not that had to deal with people who are courteous, and polite and pleasant; it’s the difficult demanding people who really challenge us. Do you ever feel your heart beating faster and your frustration level going higher?

OBJECTIVE To help you learn how to deal with difficult and angry customers in a way that would make your job easier, more enjoyable, and more rewarding.

Customer Service Don’ts

Angry customers often attack or blame, and if we are not careful we catch that attitude from them and start attacking back. That’s when we need to remember the five (5) don’ts in customer service.

1. Don’t argue: When you beginning to argue, you move the goal of the dialogue from solving the real problem to winning the argument.

2. Don’t attack: attacking the other person changes the dynamics of the dialogue, and focuses the conversation on the negative size of the situation.

3. Don’t blame: remember the motto “the customer is always right”, we will talk about that later but now you must understand that your job is to solve their problem, not push it back on them.

4. Don’t tell the customer to calm down: it’s the worst thing you could do. This is a type of blaming, saying in effect, “what you feel is wrong”.

5. Don’t ask for understanding: If you ask for understanding, you put yourself in a weak position. For example, if you were to say, “Please understand our own position. We’ve had 3 people calling sick today” What customer would have any confidence in your organization now? Is it their fault that these people called in sick? Your goal in dealing with an angry customer is accept and work with the customer to defuse their anger and solve their problems.



Responses to Angry Customers

You have three (3) choices when responding to angry customers:

1. Get Upset: You can get upset. Its easy to do but its not professional.

2. Become Indifferent: You can become indifferent; you see employees that develop that thick skin, they are cold and distant.

3. Accept the challenge: to deal with the situation in caring and respectful, professional manner.

Professional customer service representatives choose this third option and look to it as an opportunity to make things right and retain their customers. After all, what if they did not bring us their anger but just took their business else where? We need to hear what is going wrong, even if its just the customers’ perception so we can take action. Here is the good news. If you take the right action, and the customers’ complains are resolved quickly, 95% of them will remain loyal; that means keeping your business strong, and maintains a good public image. So, here is your challenge. Can you open to their anger? It shows in your words, tune of voice, and body language.

Steps to Handling Angry Customers

1. Listen 2. Summarize 3. Mutually Determine the Solution 4. Follow Through

Be sure to use them in that order. Don’t summarize before the customer is through venting, and don’t give a solution before the customer is ready to hear it. You have got to first handle their emotions and then begin to work on their real problems. So, why do you listen first? Its because this is the heart of the defusing process. Have you ever notice how people just need to tell their story? And you need to give them a chance to say what is on their minds to let off steam in order to calm down. That’s actually how calming down works. You can not calm a customer down, they calm themselves down, but they need a listener for the process to work. By listening, you open a communication channel, which you can use later for problem solving. Asking questions lets you listen. Be sure to listen not only to words but to body language as well. In fact, you can spot hidden anger in non-verbal signals such as the clinched jaw, closed arms, or foot tapping impatiently. When you



#1 Step: Listen

#2 Step: Summarize

see these non-verbal signals you should respond by asking questions to draw out the anger and allow verbalization. Let’s take a moment and talk about asking questions. Its one of the most important customer service skills you can use. When you ask questions appropriately here is what you will accomplish:

• You let the customer vent • You gain a better understanding of the real problem • You begin building rapport

I am sure you have heard of open-ended questions versus closed-ended questions. Open-ended questions cannot be answered with a simple yes or no answer. They usually begin with who, what, when, where, why or how. In dealing with the customer service situation that is difficult, these types of questions are used to gather general facts about the problem such as:

• What problem are you having with the product? • Why do you feel there was an error?

Once you understand exactly what the problem is, you can then use close-ended questions to work towards a solution and gain the customer’s agreement. You might ask:

• When did you purchase the item? • Whom did you speak to last?

By asking open-ended and then closed-ended questions, you not only get the facts you need, but you also help your customers gather their thoughts. Let look at the first step in dealing with an angry customer: You start by accepting the anger and opening up to what the customer has to say. It would be the same on the phone as in face-to-face meeting, use open-ended questions and gradually move in to close-ended questions for fact-finding. Now you are ready for step # 2. The purpose of this step is to check your understanding of the real problem; but its more than just facts. When you clarify your understanding reflecting what you’ve heard, your customer knows that he has been taken seriously; that you cared enough to listen. And in a way this step is just a confirmation of the first one – Listening. By summarizing, you have established that its you and the customer against the problem, you against the customer. And



#3 Step: Mutually Determine a

Solution

you can also make a smooth transition from this step to the next step. In this solution step, involve the customer in arriving at an agreeable solution. That’s how to turn a situation that started out negative and antagonistic into a positive situation. Remember to keep your language positive, emphasizing what you can do and not what you can not. Here are some common negative words translated into positive ones: Negative: We couldn’t possible have that by Monday. Positive: We can have that on Tuesday Negative: You will have to give us your social security number. Positive: Please give us your social security number Negative: I’ll have to ask the main office. Positive: I’ll be glad to call the main office. You will find that customers really warm up to these helpful words, especially when you get into the sticky situation of having to say “no” to a customer. Saying “no” is one of the most difficult situations you will ever face in customer service. The professional way to say “no” is to avoid actually saying the word “no”. Instead, make “can do” the heart of your response:

• If a customer wants a delivery by 2:00pm and you can not make it, say something like “We can have that delivery at your office by 3:30.”

• If the customer wants an item in the color beach, you

respond as close as possible “ We can get that for you in either ivory or soft brown”

Be sure to keep your voice and face optimistic because that attitude often carries right over to the customer. You may face the most frustrating “no” of all, when it’s too late to fix the situation. In this case your “can do” statement is about the future. For example you could say,

• “Next time, if you give us two days notice, we can include



#4 Step: Follow Through

“Sorting”

that information.” • Next time, if you have your receipt, we can make an

exchange immediately.” Everything about you needs to say “I truly care about you as a customer and I am on your side” We never want the customer to think of you as the organization setting up obstacles. Follow through with the solution you mutually determined. As a customer there is nothing worse than determining a solution and then not having follow through. Do what you say you are going to do. What about if you talking to a customer on the phone? The system is the same. The only difference on the phone is that we cannot see each other body language. So listen between the lines for subtleties that reveal hidden anger such as a very insistence tone. Other clues of growing anger may be:

• A change in the pitch of the voice, either higher or lower • Unusual pauses • Sentences coming in short emotional burst

Some customers however are more open with their anger on the phone. The distance from you helps them feel anonymous, so they will really let loose. When you hear excessive language, here is a tip – practice the skill called “sorting”. Sort out the negative words and tone of voice so you can concentrate on the real problem. Place a higher priority on the part of the message that conveys what the real problem is. Sorting helps you stay focus. It can be used face-to-face as well as on the phone. For telephone situations here are three (3) special tips:

• Verbal Attends: Use verbal attends to let the customer know you are listening; use phrases like:

“Ok” or “I see” or “go ahead”

On the phone your customer might assume you are not really listening; silence might be interpreted as impatience.

• Internal Summaries: Use internal summaries to show the customer that you are listening and understanding. Make your responses short and on-going. For example you might say, “If I understand you correctly, you just found out that



What do you do when the customer is wrong?

Customer Service Essentials

SUMMARY

the item was on back order.” These internal summaries keep the two of you connected even though you cannot actually see each other. It shows the customer that you truly care about helping them.

• Describe what you are doing: Remember that you silence

may come across as negative. The customer feels neglected unless you explain.

Let’s consider one finally sticky situation. I know that the very idea contradicts our famous motor, “the customer is always right” Well customer believe they are right. It’s just that sometimes they have faulty information; in some instances they may have just misunderstood the situation. However, there are some people who on purpose, misrepresent the situation. A customer may says she bought a merchandise from your store whereas she bought it from somewhere else. Or the customers may say they were told one thing when they were not. What do you do?

• Never make the customer wrong: Be sure you never make the customer wrong by saying “you are wrong” or “that’s not true” You don’t want a head-to-head battle.

• Keep things neutral: keep things neutral by stating the fact.

• Show or tell the customer where you are getting your information – this will lend credibility to your answer.

• Don’t let things get personally threatening: by saying the customer did not read the contract properly or he did not pay attention.

So, here is the new motto, “Customers may not always be right, but they are our customers” Even the unpleasant ones deserve our attention and consideration. Your customer is looking for action, looking for someone to help with their problems. One final tip: Do something extra for the customer. It may not cost you much, but it will repay handsomely. Here is what it all comes down to. What story do you want your customer to tell? Do you want them telling others that you argue with them, got defensive, and made excuses? Or do you want them to tell about a professional who listened respectfully, remained patient, and help them solve their problem?



One thing is certain. They will tell the story, and you could be the villain or the hero. Its your choice.



PART II: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

QUESTION

ANSWER

What do you do if the customer just won’t calm down? When a customer will not calm down, you need to back to the first step, the Listening step, because if you are in the second step, Summarize, and the third step, Solution, and you find there is still anger, go back to the listening and give it a chance. There might be a point when you actually give up and you feel that there is a personality clash between the two of you, now you have a couple of options – transfer or postpone. When you transfer the customer to somebody else, you let a colleague take over. When you postpone, you indicate to the customer that you will check on the issue and you will get back to the customer, but be sure to exactly when you will be getting back so that they will know that you are not just getting rid of them. I think the time out might help both of you a lot.

QUESTION

ANSWER

What do you do when the customer was misinformed by another employee? Remember team work, and remember the image of your organization. If you start bad-mouthing another employee, it is going to reflect on everyone including yourself. So, be very careful how you refer to what happened, something like this “I understand a mistake was made” so that way you are not blaming any individual.

QUESTION

What do you do when the customer ask to speak to your supervisor?



ANSWER

Let the customer do it, because probably that customer need an authority to give the information. In many cases the supervisor would say the same thing you did but it will just have more credibility behind it. Don’t be sensitive about this because the customer might say “I need to talk to somebody who knows something. We recommend though that ahead of time you find out what your supervisor guidelines are. May be your supervisor wants you to handle the customer up to a certain point, so just find out about that in advance.

QUESTION

ANSWER

What do you do when the customer just won’t accept the solution you’re offering? Honour the options that the customer brings up; show empathy. In other words, don’t argue with the customer. There does come a time, however, when you can use a skill called the broken record, don’t use it early in the interaction or you will just sound stubborn. Used it towards the end when you need to draw line in the sand, the broken record indicate what your last offer is and to which you really do not have anything to add. So your statement might be “I need to have that receipt in order to make that refund”, and if there is argument, you say it again, and again and again. That’s the broken record, but you say it at the end, not at the beginning.

QUESTION

ANSWER

How can you be sure the situation is really over? Here are three extra steps to help you bring closure to a difficult situation:



1. Thank the customer: Say “Thank you for bringing this up.” Say it sincerely.

2. Ask if there is anything else. Now

that you are communicating, you have a healing process going; find out if there are other complaints.

3. Call the person later. About 2 days

later call the person. Now apply this as it would work out in your business, but the point is to check with the customer to find out if that solution really works.



EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION It your responsibility

An extract from the training video on Effective Communication INTRODUCTION GOOD COMMUNICATION SKILL ARE THE BASIS FOR ACHIEVING SUCCESS

Being able to effectively communicate is not an easy thing to do. This forms the basis for this training. Effective communication, sometimes, involves improving your listening skills so as to properly understand what is being said; at other times, it is to do a better job of getting your message across. Usually, we blame the other person when the communication did not go all that well. What you need to realize is that every communication that you are a part of was your responsibility. There are only two roles you can take in communication, one is to deliver a message and the other is to hear it; the sender and the receiver; the communicator and the listener. When you deliver a message to someone, it is your responsibility to send a clear message that can be easily understood. When you listen to a message that someone else delivers, it is your responsibility to hear and really work to understand it. So, which is more important in successful communication - sending a message or listening to it? It is whichever one you are doing at the time. Let us talk about how having good communication skills can be the basis for achieving any success in your career or in your personal life. Think about all the people you need to be able to communicate effectively with - your co-workers, team members, boss, employees, friends, family, children etc. How well you are able to communicate your thought to those people and understand theirs has a direct correlation to how much success and satisfaction you will achieve. This part of the training will focus on your role as both the sender and receiver, as well as provide you with six key actions to enhance your communication skills to increase your effectiveness, and to improve your relationships. Do you know that more work problems can be traced back to poor communication than any other reason? So, what are the primary reasons why there is so much room for miscommunication?



PRIMARY CAUSES OF MISCOMMUNICATION Your Role as the Sender

1. People Think Differently: Some people are relationship oriented in their thinking while others are technical; some are aggressive and dominate while some are shy and layback. Think about the different styles between precise doctor, a timid neighbor, or a top local police officer; what about the difference between a controlling co-worker, an aggressive lawyer, and even a favorite television character. Because people tend to think differently, they communicate differently. Therefore, to help overcome these communication differences, we will talk about ways to send clear and more understandable messages, and how to listen and understand more effectively. 2. Word Interpretation: This is the second factor leading to communication. For example the word ‘quality’, what does it mean to you? While we all may generally use the same word in discussions, we tend to understand and interpret them in completely different ways. The word “quality” might mean “technical perfection” to one person while it means “reliable performance” to another. How do you define it? Word interpretations like these can lead to miscommunication. So, we will be talking about how to check for understanding as both the sender and receiver. 3. Ego: The third factor that contributes to miscommunication is our own ego, pride, personal opinion, and defensiveness all get in our way. We give you some strategies for keeping focus on the goals of the conversation and away from your ego. 4. Poor Listening: The fourth factor in miscommunication is poor listening and this is a big one. Most of us think we are great listeners, when in fact, we are terrible, therefore, we will spend some time in the art of listening. Your role as sender and receiver are equally important in achieving successful communication. Where do we start? When you choose to communicate a message, you have a goal in mind, to share information, to share feelings, may be promote an idea, or sell a product. Whatever your message, you are responsible for constructing a clear, precise message. You cannot count on the listener to sort out your thoughts, ideas, or objectives. You must do that yourself by knowing and using the tools of communication effectively.



Responsibility #1 - know and use the tools of communication

Looking Relaxed

Weaknesses of body language

These tools of communication, when used properly, allow you to construct a clear, precise message. What are the tools?

1. Verbal Tools – These are the words you choose to use during a communication. It is always best to use precise, concrete words and images “Talk” is more concrete than the word “discuss”, even though they share a similar meaning. Just because you may have learnt some attractive and very interesting words from Oxford dictionary last week does not mean you should use them when you are trying to achieve communication. Remember that word interpretation is a leading cause of miscommunication. So, keep words simple, keep them clear why use the word “repudiate” when you can say “reject”? Or ‘that is a note worthy concept” make it simple with “that is a good idea”

2. Vocal Tools – These are what you use to control

your voice through volume, tune, and pitch. When you say something, you say it in a certain way. For example, if I were to say, “I am glad you were able to make it”, in a very lifeless tone. What would you believe the words I choose, or the tone I used? Exactly! When faced with a choice, a listener would always believe the tone of voice over words used. So, make sure your tone of voice, pitch, and volume complements your words, not contradict them.

3. Physical Communication Tools - These are also

known as “Body Language”. Effective body language is critical in achieving successful communication. Actions like establishing and maintaining eye contact, leaning forward to gain interaction or show interest, and using hands and arms to gesture are very powerful.

One of the most difficult and important physical action you can take during any kind of communication is to relax, especially when delivering a tough message. You can even practice looking relaxed when you are not because it will make you appear more confident and your verbal massage will be accepted easier. So, how do you look “relaxed”? Release your massage so that you don’t have to think as you go, lean forward, maintain and hold eye-contact, make sure your tone of voice and volume are consistent with your words, and your speech is clear and strong. Lets take a look at some of the weaknesses of body language and see how to turn it into powerful communication skill.



Revision

Responsibility #2 - Know what you want to achieve as a

result of communication

1. Eye Contact: When your eyes are glued to the floor,

or away from your listeners, it does not command much respect or indicate confidence. So, TRY NOT TO LOOK AT THE FLOOR! Instead, keep your head up straight and deliver solid eye contact, DO NOT STARE! Make sure you break eye contact every 3-5 seconds. Direct eye contact shows confidence and trust worthiness.

2. Posture - Do Not Slouch: A person who slouches

sends a message of disinterest, being rigid and uptight says the person is nervous and scared. So, DO NOT SLOUCH. What do you do then? Try to maintain a relaxed confident posture by seating up straight, keep your head erect, and your arms relaxed. Remember, present a confident posture.

3. Avoid Nervous Gestures: Become aware of any

nervous gestures you may have such as tapping pencils nervously, twisting rings, or bouncing feet. Instead, keep your feet on the floor, or crossed neatly, and use your arm and hand to gesture and support your message.

These are your communication tools – verbal, vocal, and physical. They can work either for you or against you. It is your responsibility to know what you want to achieve by communicating. You may not always be aware of this, but whenever you talk to someone or send a memorandum, you want something specific to happen. Perhaps to sell an idea, to layout expectations, may be to change someone’s behavior, to inform or get a boss update on a project, or even obtain apology for something that was hurtful. As you know, there are lots of reasons for communicating. Keep in mind that you have a responsibility to know what your own goal is for each communication, and what you want to achieve. How do you do that?

• Think It Through: Think it through if possible before your communication. As you, why am I communicating this message? What is the ideal action or result that I would like to achieve?

• Be Honest With Yourself: Be honest with

yourself especially when the communication is



Responsibility #3- Understand Your Audience

Responsibility #4: develop and Present a clear, precise

message.

difficult. What do you really think, feel, and believe? Unless you are true to yourself and express yourself with openness, honesty, and confidence, you will have a difficult time achieving your real objective for communicating

Once you are clear to yourself on what you really want to achieve, your next responsibility is to understand your audience. Is your audience your boss, your spouse, your team, co-worker, or your 10-year old son?

• Tailor your message:- to address the needs of your audience. Keep focus on what you know about your audience needs. There are few other things to keep in mind about understanding and audience.

• Be aware:- that a listener or receiver is different from

you; the person may not think things through or go about accomplishing results exactly as you do.

• Whenever possible, tailor your message

specifically to that person or group and their need. For example, you need to sell your idea to a supervisor, ask yourself, “What do I know about him/her?

• You May Not Agree or Have the same

Perspective: You and your audience may not agree or have the same perspective on every idea or issue that you present. Focus on making sure that the listener understands your words and your perspective rather than on changing theirs.

• Look for Common Ground: Try looking for

common grounds to agree on, and focus on the result you would like to achieve.

Ok! Once you got a good idea about your goal, and thought about whom you want to communicate to and their needs, its time for your fourth responsibility. It is important to simplify your message as much as possible, Which can reduce the opportunity to miscommunicate? How do you do that?

• Write Out Key Points in Order of Importance: It can be very helpful to write out the key points you had like to get across, and order them in importance.



Make sure all your key points support your goal. • Make a list of Details with Examples: Make many

details to include examples to support your key points. These are the issues you should try to stick to during the conversation. It is very easy to get sidetracked or stray from your intended communication. When you add a lot of extra information into a dialogue, it is then much more difficult for the listener to understand your message. So, keep it brief, to the point, and tailor-made to fit the receiver needs.

You might be wandering of that time when you do not plan to talk to someone and it just happens. Communication does just happen spontaneously more often than not, and you do not have time to pre-plan, but you can always take a moment to determine a goal and pin-point a few points, even jotting down on a piece of scrap paper. You can also make a mental note of whom you are talking to, and what you know about them, then the best you can, tailor your communication style to suit their need and style. Remember, as the communicator you are always responsible for making sure you are understood.

• Plan the Communication: when you do have the luxury of time, do some planning. Planning involves:

How Will You Begin? Plan what you are going

to say and as well as how you intend to deliver it. Think about how you had delivered your communication; is it with a statement of what you want to achieve, or a stray to support your first point?

How Will You End Your Communication?

Think of how you will end your communication. You might end with a list of actions that can be taken as to overview your key points; you may want to ask for something specific to happen within a time line for achieving the objective. How you conclude should directly support what you wanted to achieve as a result of communication.

Rehearse: Another key action in presenting a clear, precise message is to rehearse. I find it particularly very helpful when I have the



Responsibility #5: Focus on Facts, Not Personalities, or

Opinions

Responsibility #6: Involve the listener

SUMMARY

opportunity to practice what I want to say; that way I can sort out the snags of transition before I seat down on someone.

Define Terms: If you are discussing a technical

subject or a topic that may not be common knowledge to your audience but critical to your message, take the time to define any term you need to use in your communication. Do not leave anything up to audience’s own interpretation. Using illustrations and specific examples can also be useful in creating a common understanding.

Now, what about when you deliver a difficult or sensitive message? Let us say you have to ask someone to change his or her behavior or deliver constructive criticism? The answer lies in your fifth (5th) responsibility. What about when delivering a difficult or sensitive message? Let us say you have to ask someone to change a behavior, or deliver some constructive criticism? The answer is Focus on Facts, not personalities or opinions. Be careful not to attack someone personally, they will likely only make the receiver defensive. This means that you will not achieve your goal of communication when you attack the person. If you attack someone personally, they will generally just attack you back, then you can throw your goal of establishing an understanding and achieving result right out the doors. Instead, focus on specific facts and examples that support your objectives, not the person. If the receiver still gets defensive, do not respond in kind, keep calm, and focus on your goal. It is important to find out if your message was delivered effectively or if there issues to address that may hold you back from achieving your desired result. You can do this periodically during a conversation or at the end of a presentation by asking for feedback through the use of questions for clearer understanding. Delivering effective communication is never easy. You can improve your odds significantly by following the six (6) responsibilities of a communicator.



Your Role as the Receiver

Responsibility #1: Listen to

the Speaker’s Perspective, not yours

Responsibility #1: Know and Use Communications Tools Effectively. Verbal tools or the words you choose should be clear and precise while your vocal and physical tools should be consistent with your message. Responsibility #2: Know What You Want to Achieve as a Result of communicating with someone. Responsibility #3: Make sure You Know, understand your audience, and tailor your message to their needs. Responsibility #4: Develop and present a clear, precise message. Responsibility #5: Focus on facts, not personalities, or opinions. Responsibility #6: Involve the listener in the communication. Now, its time to flip side and look at your role as the receiver. Remember, we earlier mentioned that as communicator you are responsible for making sure you are understood. So, does that mean that as the receiver you can jest relax? Actually, no! As the receiver, you are responsible for understanding the message of the communicator through pro-active listening. Your goal now becomes to understand, not to be understood. Actually, listening ranks as one of the most valuable communication tool. Experts say that up to forty per cent of your compensation correlates directly to how well you listen on you current job. That means, improve your listening, and increase your worth. Let us now talk about your listening responsibilities and how you can pro-actively listen to obtain a clearer understanding of the communicator’s intended message. Your first responsibility is to listen to the speaker’s perspective, not your own. You have to work hard to put your own thoughts and feelings aside and make sure you understand the communicator’s perspective. One trick that I have learned is to remind myself upfront and throughout the conversation that understanding another person’s perspective does not mean I have to agree with them or support them, but



Responsibility #2: Listen to Body Language

that I do have an obligation to understand what is being communicated. The highest compliment you can give another person is to respect, listen, and acknowledge his/her opinion. If you find this difficult to do a times, take a moment to self-Evaluate and determine the things that tends to upset you from hearing what another has to say. If you feel that you have to defend yourself, you get upset when you think that someone is wrong or misinformed, or you have a hard time with constructive criticism; you can control these barriers to effective listening by knowing that you do not have to agree, just understand. Do not pre-judge someone or his/her message. Instead of getting defensive if attacked, stay calm and acknowledge their perspective or opinion. Ask questions that would help find and hear the real problems. After you have fully listened to and acknowledge the speaker’s perspective, you can clarify information or share your own point of view. Remember, that there are many points of view to consider and separating yours takes mental toughness and discipline. Your second responsibility as the receiver is to listen to body language; it is a big part to understanding the real message. If you watch body language, you are most likely to use hidden message. When contradiction exits between words and body language, you had found that the silent one would speak the loudest. If something about a person’s body language or even tone of voice does not match the message, probe harder with a question. What about your language as the listener? How can you show that you care and that you are truly interested and involved in the discussion? You can do that by:

a) Face the speaker: Face the other person and give your full attention.

b) Nod Your Head: Nod your head to show that you understand or are in tone with what being said.

c) Lean Forward: Try leaning forward to show your interest.

d) Eye-contact: Make strong direct eye contact



Responsibility #3: Listen Precisely

Responsibility #4: Listen to

feelings and Empathize

e) Try Not To Look At Your Watch: Be careful not to look at your watch that says you had rather be somewhere else.

f) Avoid Nervous Gestures: Do not display nervous gestures such as doodling or playing with paper.

g) Deliver Solid Eye Contact: Do not interrupt or lose eye contact for long periods of time.

Remember that body language sends a stronger message than words. Make sure that you, as a listener, send a signal that you care and that you are interested. In addition, listen to the body language of the communicator. If they are consistent with the message he/she is sending, ask questions to uncover the real issues and feelings. Your third responsibility as the receiver of the message is to listen precisely. Do not count on the speaker to effectively deliver the message.

• Participate in the message to make sure you understand the communication. Ask a question if you do not understand a word or comment.

• React and Response to Each of The Speaker’s Key Points.

• Another action you could take to help you listen precisely is to respond to each of the speaker’s key point. This also helps to keep you in the moment and let the speaker know you are following with “I see” or “I understand”. Be a part of the communication, not just a sounding board.

You are forth responsibility as an effective listener is to listen to feelings and empathize. Try to understand what that person is saying from their point of view; what are they feeling? Is the person hurt, angry, upset, excited, or motivated? Reflect that you hear and understand their feelings. It is much, more effective as a listener, when you let the other person know that you care about their feelings and acknowledge them. You can do this verbally by telling the person that you understand, vocally by making volume and intensity, or physically by matching their body language. As a listener, you have to be aware of your own feelings, emotions, and make a conscious effort to put them aside,



Responsibility #5: Listen For

More

Responsibility #6: Listen to Understand by Giving

Feedback

getting defensive wont help you to achieve your goal of understanding the communicator’s message. That is not always easy, especially when someone is upset and taking it out on you. When you find yourself getting defensive, remind yourself that you have to deal with feelings, not your reaction to them. Focus on facts, and let your words and body language show that you care and want to listen. Remember you do not have to agree with the message; you just need to understand it. Moreover, how do you do that? By probing for the facts and real issues, which lead to your next responsibility. Do not assume that you have made a connection so soon, let the speaker get it all out; do not cut the person off with your opinions or perspective, even to correct them. Do encourage the speaker to go on. If you think he/she is wrong, or do not understand their perspective, dig deeper. You can do that by asking more questions. As hard as it may be at times, avoid giving advice, or diverting the conversation to an area where you are more comfortable. Be patience with the communicator and do not get defensive. You either willing listen or you are not. Your final responsibility as a listener or receiver of a message is to listen to understand by giving feedback. Now and then, check with the speaker to make sure you understand the intended meaning; paraphrase what you heard. Feedback is critical to the process of proactive listening. It not only ensures that you understand the communicator’s intended message, but it also keeps you from having your own conversations. As you seek to understand, you cannot spend time trying to fig out you are giving to say next or how you can change the speaker’s perspective. Therefore, as the receiver take the responsibility for making sure you get the message right. Just think what could happen if everyone did that. As I said that, the only person you can rely upon is your self.



SUMMARY

1. Listen to Speaker’s Perspective, not yours.

2. Listen to Body Language – when words don’t match body language, probe or dig deeper to find out what is really been said.

3. Listen Precisely – do not rely on the communicator to

be clear.

4. Listen to Feelings and Empathize – do not get defensive.

5. Listen for more – do not assume you understand, dig

deeper.

6. Listen to understand by giving feedback – to confirm your understanding.

Communicating effectively can increase your confidence and promote your success, both professionally and personally. Take control of all your communications. Deliver messages that can be more easily understood even by the worst listeners. In addition, give one of the most powerful and beneficial gift of listening by acknowledging and understanding another person point of view. Never has there been a time in business when good communication skills have been more important or more valued. It is your hands to become a better communicator by taking and using the six (6) responsibilities to becoming an effective sender or receiver.



GIVING AND RECEIVING CRITICISM Extract from the training video on Giving and Receiving Criticism by Jean Lebedun INTRODUCTION AIM Benefits of Criticism RECEIVING CRITICISM

Criticism is one of the most sensitive areas of communication. Why? Because most of us think of it as negative. Oh, we love positive feedback, compliments, praise. Positive feedback is pleasant both for the giver and the receiver. With criticism, people often get their feelings hurt or they become angry, and that could make you to dread giving criticism because you are afraid of triggering of those reactions. Receiving criticism can be difficult as well. In this training, I will share with you some of the skills for giving and receiving criticism. You might be wandering why we don’t just stop criticizing with other. It’s because when criticism is done correctly, it can be a great way to learn. When you hear about fault, mistake or a problem, you have the opportunity to correct them, and to learn how to avoid the same error the next time. We should strive to learn and grow not by building on our strength, but also by improving on our weaknesses. Properly giving and receiving criticisms can help identify these areas of potential growth and improvements. Think of criticism as a career issue. Personal growth in your field depends on learning from every situation, especially when people see problems in your work. If you become argumentative or defensive, it could have a serious negative impart on your career. Criticism is also a team work issue. Team members are constantly been told to give feedback to each other, communicate openness, and identify problems. Look at what could happen when team members don’t have the ability to give and receive criticisms properly. Being able to handle criticism is good for your team, your organization, and your customers. Lets begin our journey to become a criticism expect by learning how to receive criticism. Its easy to take criticism when its constructive and the critique’s skill is diplomatic. However, the challenge comes when we have to take criticism from someone who is not particularly constructive in their communication style. We must learn to be



Fight Reaction

Flight Reaction

Evaluate Reaction

The Three A’s for Receiving Criticism

objective and open-minded even if the person giving the criticism is not. In most cases you can’t change the person giving the criticism but you can learn how to control your respond to criticism. People usually respond to criticism in one of three ways:

1. Fight 2. Flight 3. Evaluate

Lets compare being criticize to someone throwing a stick at you. If someone throws a stick at you, you might do one of three things:

1. You might pick up that stick and throw it back at the other person. That’s the fight reaction; its quick and aggressive. When we do this while receiving criticism, the overall message is, “that couldn’t be true” or “you don’t know what you are talking about.” This is how a person responds when they feel they are above criticism.

2. A second way to respond when you see someone throw a

stick at you is to run away from the other person to prevent further conflict. This is the Flight respond. Some of us feel over-whelmed and intimidated when we are criticized. We think, “I can’t do anything right” or “this is so unfair.” This is how a person response when they lack self-confidence or they have been hurt by poorly giving criticism in the past.

3. The third and final reaction to criticism is Evaluate. This is

the one we should strive for. Instead of being defensive or running away from the problem, lets decide to pick up that stick and examine it. Ask the person who threw it to explain why they did so. This way you seek to understand the criticism and analyze it.

1. Acknowledge: You acknowledge the issue that the critique has brought up. You should do this in a neutral way, not agreeing or disagreeing. Just let the person know that you are willing to discuss the situation. Don’t become defensive; if you do, you limit your ability to find what is really going on.

2. Ask questions: This step help both you and the person you

are communicating with. By asking questions, you show a sincere interest in understanding the problem. You also achieve emotional balance by beginning to treat criticism as facts instead of personal attack.



Review: Receiving Criticism

GIVING CRITICISM

When we take criticism as personal attack we feel dejected and hurt. The oldest advice in the world is, “Don’t Take It Personally” is good advice but difficult to apply unless we turn it into action. Here is a better advice, “Do Take It Professionally” When faced with a personal attack, translate it to a professional level. Ask questions that apply to your work performance. This way you can skew the conversation to object issues. Another advantage to asking questions is that you can help the critique to be specific. Some people give criticism in such general terms you can’t understand what they mean. Ask clarifying questions like, “Can you give me a specific example?” or “Can you show me exactly what you mean?” In this way, you help the other person better communicate the information they intend to convey. If someone said, “Your staff meetings are boring” It’s a blank condemnation and very frustrating to hear. But when you get specifics, you may find out that your co-workers thinks you spend 5 minutes too long on the company’s announcement. Now that’s not really so bad, at least it’s an issue you can do something about.

3. Action: In steps 1 and 2 above you worked to understand the criticism. Now you must make a commitment to take action. An action may be to look into the situation, may be check your data or consult other people who are involved. Or an action could be to setup a follow up meeting for the two of you to decide how to proceed. The key is to commit to taking some kind of action, otherwise the time spent to understand the criticism as well as the time spent giving the criticism would have been wasted.

Remember, learning to receive criticism in a constructive, professional way takes practice. Use the three A’s – Acknowledge, Ask questions, and take Action to make the most of the situation. Now let’s talk about giving criticism. Your goal in giving criticism is to help your listener avoid the Fight or Flight reactions in favour of the Evaluate reaction. You want the criticism to be non-threatening. When giving criticism, avoid generalities and irritating words like “always” in favour of giving specific times and dates in a positive manner. This makes it easier for you to be taken seriously.



Laying the Groundwork

Guidelines for Giving

Criticism

Effective criticism depends not only on what you say at the time of the criticism but also on what you say leading on to the criticism and after. Long before any difficult issue comes up, you need to be laying the ground work to promote effective criticism.

1. Offer positive feedback on a regular basis. It’s a nice surprise when your colleagues hear you say, “thanks for getting back to me quickly” or “I’m glad you included me in the meeting today.” Brief sincere statements let the other person know that they are appreciated. The pay-off is that the other person would listen more attentively when you offer criticism.

When people automatically reject criticism, its usually because that’s all they hear Its natural to get defensive when all a person hears is negative feedback. Instead be a strategic communicator. Give reinforcing feedback whenever possible. They will ultimately pay-off.

2. Examine your own intentions: Do you intend to be

helpful or are you just venting? Being helpful is the only legitimate reason for criticism. How many times have we heard people brat off out of frustration? Before criticizing, ask yourself, “what is my goal? What do I want the result to be?” Effective criticism depends on understanding your own goals and objectives.

Now that we have laid the groundwork, let’s look at the actual step to giving criticism. There are three guidelines to giving effective criticism.

1. Be Specific: Explain the problem in specific details, not ambiguous comments. Sometimes people resist this in their speech, because they think he would sound too picky. Actually by being specific, you communicate your criticism clearly, and you help the person receiving the feed back to better understand the situation.

2. Focus on the future not the past: You may need to reverence the past to explain what happened but your emphasis should be on the future; talk about what change you are hoping for; explore possibility. This way you can bare your goal and not an insult.

3. Avoid personal attacks: If there is one way to shut down communication and turn on defensiveness is personal attack. Choose your words carefully. Don’t call a person irresponsible, take about Deadline being missed; don’t call a person rude, talk about Standards of Courtesy; don’t call



The Three R’s For Organising Your Communication

a person Sloppy and Careless, talk about Attention to Detail. It’s a matter of being tactful. “Tact” has been defined as the act of making a point without making an enemy. Be sure you get your point across tactfully. Your tactfulness will make the other person be more willing to listen to what you have to say.

So, you have laid the groundwork, and you know the three guidelines for giving effective criticism. Now lets take a moment to look at a formula that gives you gives a way to organize your communication step by step. I call it the three R’s.

1. Raise the issue: You can raise the issue by asking a question or by making a statement such as, “I need to talk with you about the budget proposal” Its important how you open your criticism because you are setting the tune for what would follow. You want to engage the other person interest without making them feel defensive. Remember to stay neutral; state your concern without blaming or attacking. “I would like to talk with about the budget proposal” is much different from “You have a lousy budget proposal”

Whatever you do, don’t open the criticism by using the common expression, “would you like to hear some constructive criticism?” To many critiques, it seems like a very nice thing to say, but consider the effect on the listener. Just raise the issue and move on.

2. Remain Open: If you want to involve the other person in a two-way conversation, try to understand their point of view; state your own interpretation but at the same time show respect for the other person’s opinion. Ask questions, listen carefully, and be willing to concede a point. There may be a good explanation for the situation that you are aren’t seen.

3. Request: This is the real point of the criticism, to get a

commitment for future action. Start by giving your reasons for needing action. Be sure to acknowledge the need of the other person as well. Your request may lead to a negotiation in which each of you is willing to contribute. Make sure you get a definite agreement on what should happen next. This approach makes sure the time you took is fruitful. Instead of finding fault, you work together on a plan for improvement. That’s why the three R’s formula is so far removed from the brutal personal criticism we often



Commitment

SUMMARY

hear. Using the three R’s for giving criticism can also be used in a team situation, just be sure to continue to focus on giving other team members feed back that has a positive intent and a positive result. Following the three R’s could even help people who have difficult with criticism in the past. A final tip for giving criticism is to lock in the commitment; use strong words and communicate them with emphasis. “I appreciate your commitment” or “I’m counting on you” are two ways to hold people responsible. You want your criticism to be about action not hot air. The three A’s for receiving criticism and the three R’s for giving criticism are the two formulae you need to effective give and receive criticisms like a professional. Remember:

The Three A’s for Receiving Criticism • Acknowledge:- the issue that the critique has brought up. • Ask questions:-to gather specific facts and show sincere

interest to understanding the problem. • Action:- Make a commitment to act on the problem that

the critique has brought up.

The Three R’s for Giving Criticism • Raise the issue:- of the criticism and open a dialogue with

the other person • Remain open:- try to understand the other person point of

view • Request:- request a commitment for future action.

Remember, criticism can be a valuable tool that you can use to help evaluate and improve your professional career. My wish for you is that you benefit from every criticism whether giving it or receiving it.



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON

GIVING AND RECEIVING CRITICISM

QUESTIONS ANSWER How can I handle my frustration if I am criticized in public?

Criticism in public does have more tension than criticism in private, so you can ask the critique can we move down to where is private. But sometimes the criticism needs to be in public because it’s a team issue, it’s a meeting. In that case, you want to use the A’s, you acknowledge, you ask questions, but remain non-defensive; keep your voice even, make eye contact with your critique. Now, lets say the critique is making a brutal attack, trust that the people at the meeting would know that that’s what is going on, and they will admire you if you are calm and professional.

What if I feel the criticism I hear is unfair or unjustified?

Criticism usually seems unfair at the beginning. We are just so sensitive to criticism. That’s why you ask the questions, you are seeking the validity in it. Lets say you have gone through the whole process of evaluating the criticism and you still believe its unfair, at this point you need to stand up for your self; so you can say something like “I want to explain to you now why I did it that way” or “my view is very different from yours” That’s standing up for your self without putting the other person down.

What if I can’t get the critic to be specific?

Keep asking those questions; reword those questions. “can you give me an example” “can you tell me what I was doing at the time” May be you can try another technique and this is multiple choice. Now let’s say that the critic says your staff meetings are boring. Run him through some possibilities, “what the meeting boring at the beginning? How about the video I showed, was that boring? The company announcement, anything wrong there?” Something just might click and you’ll get a response from your critic. This is called Inviting Negative Feedback, and you are making sure the critic feels safe telling you what was wrong.

How can I give criticism to someone who has a chip on their

Somebody who has a chip on their shoulder is going to get defensive or feel hurt no matter how tactful you are.



shoulder?

Well, what can you do about it? Continue being tactful, it’s the proper thing to do. But don’t let the person escape; don’t let them off the hook just because you are getting defensive reactions. Now, here is a “Don’t”. Don’t use disclaimers. Disclaimers are the opening of statements and they sound something like this, “Now don’t take this the wrong way” or “don’t get mad when I say this” Those disclaimers actually call attention to the negative possibilities. So avoid disclaimers.

What if when I’m giving criticism the other person breaks down in tears?

This is an extreme reaction of Flight. The person is completely running away from the criticism. So, what you want to do is wait; when somebody is crying, you just need to let the conversation stop. You could even make an appointment and say lets resume in 30 mins. Now, you need to return with that person and stay with the issue of criticism; don’t let them escape even though the tears have gotten in the way, if it is a significant issue stay with it.

Is it possible to give criticism to my boss or someone else in a higher position?

Yes it is. This is criticizing in the awkward direction, so you want ask yourself some key questions. “Is the issue important? Does it affect my work? Can I state the criticism in a way that it does not challenge the authority of the person I am talking to?” Here is a actual example. We’ll call this man John. John was giving many request from his boss to write reports. We would write the report and submit them and hear nothing in return; he was not getting any feedback. So he did not know if they were good or bad report. John felt very critical of his boss’s management style. Here is what he decided to do. The next report he submitted he said, “if I call you in a week, could you tell me two or three things you like about the report and two or three things you do not like.” He called in a week and he got the feedback. His technique worked. Now, that was giving criticism with finesse because he was really asking for what he wanted.

Is there a best time to give criticism?

Timing is everything in communication. So, you want to communicate soon; after you have seen the negative event, communicate soon. I mean within 24hrs. Within that 24hr time frame, you still have some choices; select the time when the other person will be more receptive. Just think about it, Is this person a morning person, or Is this person an afternoon person? Are times when the person is swapped with work and really could not pay



attention? So, you want to select a time when the other person is likely to be receptive and open-minded.

If I have many issues in my criticism I’m giving, where should I start?

Pick the priority. Lets say you have 17 or 18 negative things to tell somebody. If you would tell them all those points at once, the person would feel – I’m dumped on. So pick out the priority, what matters the most right now. Help the person listening to you focus on the criticism; you’d probably get better result.



SUPERIOR CUSTOMER SERVICE: KEEPING CUSTOMERS COMING BACK

An extract from the video training program by Bryan Tracy.



Introduction The Purpose of a Business:

Profit: The First Sale

The Second Sale

Sometimes I ask my business audience this question, “what is the purpose of a business?” Through the audience they would come up with the answers, “Its to make a profit,” “Its to kill the competition,” “Its to grow” and so on. “No”, I then tell them that the purpose of a business is not to make a profit; it is to create and keep a customer. To create and keep a customer.

The result of fulfilling this purpose in a cost effective way. All you have to do is to look at everything that is done within a company, and it is aimed at creating and keeping customers. Profits are the results for doing these in a cost effective manner. Now, in selling, the first sale is always the hardest and the most expensive to get. The first sale can be made with effective advertising and effective selling techniques. Aggressive, competitive, intelligent advertising techniques, good advertising; good selling, good promotion, a good office and everything else; the first sale you can get. But, the first sale is when you exchange promises about your product or services for money. This is very interesting because when a person gives you money for your product or service, they don’t know how it going to turn out. Everything that happens after there, after that point is critical to the future of your relationship and to the future of your business. The second sale is the most important sales. The first sale is the most difficult but the second is the one that’s most important. Why? It’s because the second sale is the proof that you delivered on your promises. The second sale is the proof that or the customer put their stamp-of-approval that “you did do what you



Focus Of Customer Service

said you would do to induce me to buy the first time” The second sale actually determines whether you would stay in business. There are many companies who don’t realize this; they focus on the first sale that they don’t realize that no company can exist; no sale person can exist with only a single sale. The first sales from a single customer are far too difficult, too expensive to get. The only way you can survive is if you keep your customer for life; keep your customers coming back over and over. For that reason, the entire focus of customer service must be on achieving the second sale. And the third sale, and the fourth sale; but everything you do have to look beyond the current sale to the second sale and the third. Sometimes it takes 10x to 15x as much to get a new customer as to keep the old customer. If you look at those numbers, you simply cannot afford to lose your customers once you get them.

The entire focus of customer service must

be on achieving the second sale.

A new customer today costs 3x to 5x the amount it takes to service or to

resell an existing customer.



Customer Retention

Satisfied Customers

Dissatisfied Customers

Most Expensive Customer

Customer retention is the true measure of business quality – both of business quality for your products and for your services. Your ability to retain customers, repeat customers business is the way you can tell if you are doing what you promised you will do; if you are actually fulfilling your responsibility in your business. Now, we know that satisfied customers today tell 3-8 people; they mention it in passing that they shop there and it was a good experience. Dissatisfied customers tell 8-13 other people; some tell as many as 20-30 people. Some dissatisfied customers make it a life-long job to tell other people not to buy from you. You cannot afford to nerve-driving people like this in your market place. The most expensive customer of all is the one who just walks away and never comes back. The customer who does not complain, 95% of customers don’t complain, they just have a bad experience, they raise an eye-brow or attempt to bring it to your attention, and if there is no response they just walk away and they never come back. And that customer can kill your business.

Customer Retention:

is the true measure of business quality – both product and services

1. satisfied customers today tell 3-8 people

2. Dissatisfied customers tell 8-13 other

people; some tell as many as 20-30



Reasons for Customer Defections

Now there is lots of studies and follow-up research to customers who defected, and we found out that the reason for customer defections are basically these:

1. Indifference on the part of someone in the company (68%). Sometimes I ask the audience what is the opposite of “love”? Often they would say the opposite of “love” is “hate”. NO! Both love and hate are very intense emotion and they are very close together. The opposite of love is indifference; the opposite of caring is indifference. 68% of the customers who walked away, walked away not because of dissatisfaction over your product or services; its because they felt they were being treated indifferently on the part of someone in the company. Think about that.

2. Passivity – taking the customer for granted.

Another reason is Passivity, which is just taking the customer for granted. You get the customer, you serve the customer, the customer goes away, and you sort of assume that’s your customer. And then you find that they had gone to someone else because someone else went and ask them. Taking customers for granted is one of the biggest problems that we have in our businesses today, even our very best customers.

3. Lack of responsiveness to customer concerns The third reason that customers defect is lack of responsiveness to customer concerns. You see, customers don’t like to complain; they don’t like to fight. So if they do raise their hands and express a concern and nothings happens, they’re out of here.

4. Poor quality, high price

#4 reason that people walk away is because of poor quality, or high price, or both, but its less than 20% of the reason for customer defections. In fact we found that customers will continue to buy a product or service that cost more and that may not be as good because they are comfortable shopping with you as long as you take good care of them.



Rules for Customer

Key Elements of a Customer Service Strategy

The customer is always right. Your life, your survival, your success, your profit, your business, and your future depends upon you recognizing that whoever you need to buy your product or service is right. Companies are in trouble whenever they start to talk about the customer in disparaging terms; when they start to think of the customer as a problem rather than as an opportunity. Excellent customer service begins with a customer service strategy, which is a vision of ideal service. It’s a vision in your own mind, in the mind of everybody else of what “we would look like if we gave superb customer service”. You can develop you own customer service strategy very simply.

1. Begin with your own experiences. Ask yourself what are the best customer service experiences that you have had. Think of the stores, think of the places, think of the people, and think of the companies that have really taken wonderful care of you and made you feel really good about yourself.

2. What do your excellent customer experiences have in common? What do your excellent customer experiences have in common? What is it about them? I can promise you that its usually present people, its quick responses, its treated

Two Rules for Customer Service:

Rule #1 The customer is always right Rule #2 When in doubt, refer back to Rule #1



courteously, its making you feel important and so on. What are the very best policies of the best companies out there? Remember you have got to be the best in the business if you want to be the best in the business.

3. How do you want to be talked about, described by your customer? So, here is a good question. How do you want to be talked about? How do you want to be described by your customers in terms of customer service? What are the exact words you would like your customer to use when they talk about you and they way you take care of them? You would like them to say that you are warm, friendly, kind, quick, generous, responsive, easy to get along with, cheerful, pleasant; positive? What kind of words do you want your customer to use? And then of course what can you do everyday to make sure that your customers use those words?

4. What aspects of your service do customers value the most? The #4 key is to ask yourself what aspect of your service your customer value the most. What are the aspect of your service that customer compliment you the most? The flip side of the compliment is what do they complain about when the service is lacking a particular item? Both of those tell you what your customers value the most and how you could make a lot of progress by satisfying and serving them.

5. How could serve your customers better than any competitor? The #5 key to a customer service strategy is to ask how you could serve your customers better than any competitor. Remember you only have to be a little better to make an enormous difference. How could you be better? In what one area could you jump ahead of your competitor and give them something that is faster, cheaper, better, friendly, easier, more convenient than anyone else. That’s the key.

6. What is your customer service quality ranking? Here is a good question. What is your customer service quality ranking? If someone were to come into the market place and do an analysis of the companies in your business, and ask thousands of customers where they rank you amongst all the other companies in terms of quality service, where would you rank? Would you be #1, would you be #2 or #5 or #10? Where would you rank?



How to Build Customer Loyalty: Methodology for Handling Customer Complaints Effectively

Knowing where you ranked is more important than knowing where you are. So let us say you are #5, what is your goal? Your goal then is to be #4, and you have to ask yourself not how to go to #1 but how do you go from #5 to #4 because the companies that having the highest customer service ranking in the market place have the most loyal customers, the most repeat sales, the greatest profitability, and the fastest rate of growth.

Customer complaints represent a great opportunity to build customer loyalty. Here is what we found about customer complaints – don’t avoid customer complaints.

1. If customer complaints are dealt with immediately the customer will buy from you again more than 90% of the time. The key word is immediately.

2. A customer whose complaints are handled quickly and

efficiently is usually more loyal than a customer with no complaints.

So, it’s very important that when a customer complains, you recognize this as a customer service excellence opportunity, and here is the point, there is a specific methodology for handling customers’ complaints efficiently and well.

1. Make it easy to complain: Invite feedback by asking and listening to what people say. Some of the best companies that I know of, not only have little cards, customer comment cards that they hand out everywhere, but they actually call you up afterwards and they ask you, how everything was; if there is there anything they could improve or do better next time. It’s the most remarkable thing because it builds tremendous loyalty when they take the time to phone and ask you for your opinion.

2. Hear it completely: So, when your customer complains,

hear it out completely. Don’t defend or explain. Just hear it out, hear it out, and hear it out completely.

3. Ask for complete details of the complaint before

answering: Get the more details. The more the customers can express themselves and give you details of their complains, the more the energy drains out the more calm they become and the more open they are to what to do next.

4. Apologize personally: When a customer complains,



apologies personally. Don’t say “the company is sorry” or “we are sorry” but say “I am sorry that happens”.

5. Seek first to understand the customer: Here are some

wonderful words that you can use in any situation where a person is upset for any reason. Just say the words “I understand exactly how you feel. If I was in your situation I would feel the same way. ” This tells people that you empathetic, and you are sensitive and it calms them down completely.

6. Offer to resolve the problem or complaint immediately:

When a customer complaint offer to resolve the problem immediately. Speed is of the essence. Jump on it quickly. Most of the best companies authorize their people to resolve a customer complains immediately with no reference to a third party.

There is a famous story of Federal Express that promised that a package would absolutely, positively be delivered by 10.30 the next morning, and there was a snow storm and the roads were snowed under and the federal express delivery man chartered a helicopter for $7500 to make sure that that package was delivered to a mountain place in Colorado rather than break the guarantee. That’s the kind of legend that customer service organizations develop.

7. Ask, “what would you like us to do?”: When you get a complaint, and you listen to it clearly, you have agreed to respond to it immediately and say that you are sorry, then ask “what would you like us to do?” “Tell us anything you would like us to do. We would do anything it takes to satisfy you” Often the customer’s response would be reasonable.

8. Reward the customer: When a customer does complain

and you resolve the complains, do something extra for the customer; do something the customer has not expected; give them something extra that is in addition to making it right. You would bind the customer to you with hooks of steel; it would be loyalty on the part of the customer that would come back to you over and over again in the form of return sales.

The return on investment in customer by the way, in terms of additional sales and profits, is calculated by Fortune Magazine to be as high as 400%. In other words, customer service hotlines, customer service departments, customer service budget, customer



R.O.I “The Test” Top Service Companies

service training yields a return of the bottom line of about 400% or $4 for every $1 spent in satisfying customers. It’s not an expense department; it’s a proactive department because it repeats sales. Problems of customers today are “the test” of your business and the customer relationship. They are the test of whether or not you are really serious about this customer. If you pass the test, they (customers) will return to you and they will tell their friends. Customers describe top service companies in surveys in three ways:

1. They are really nice people: this is the #1 thing customers say with regards to the service companies; and by “nice” they mean cheerful, they are just friendly.

2. It is really a pleasure to do business with them: the #2

thing they say is this. They just get a happy feeling when they do business with your company. They walk out feeling that they have got more than their money’s worth.

3. I get the feeling that they really care about me and my

situation: “Caring” is the critical element in building long term business. The more they feel that you care about them, the more likely it is that they are to come back over and over again.

1. Your customers are so happy with your service that they buy again and again: If your customers don’t buy again and again, you’ll soon be out of business. If they customer buys again and again, the cost of serving each additional sales, the cost of acquiring each additional sale goes down and your profitability goes up.

2. Your customers are so happy that they tell their friends

to buy from you: the #2 key determinate of your success in business is that your customers are so happy that they



Most Important Determinates of Long Term Business Success Rules for Creating Customers for Life

tell their friends to buy from you. Your customers are continued source of referrals. Do you know that “word of mouth is 84% of the reasons people buy today; that means somebody tells that your product and services, your company is good, and you need to have every customer out there selling for you. Do everything possible to get your customer selling for you every time they talk to someone who can use your product or service.

1. Practice the Golden Rule with every customer. 2. Treat every customer exactly the way you would like to be

treated if the situation were reversed. Treat each customer as if he/she was your mother or father. Treat them as though they are very, very important to you. Be sensitive and patient exactly if they were one of your parents. You would be amazed how this changes your attitude to your customers.

3. Always be pleasant, positive, and cheerful, no matter what

is going on your life. People love to buy from happy, positive, cheerful people; and they hate to buy from negative, angry, pessimistic people who don’t smile. There is a Chinese expression which said “a person without smile should not open his door.” A person without a smile should not be face-face with customers.

4. Treat each person you meet like a “Million Dollar

Customer!” Treat each person as though this person has the capacity of buying a million dollar worth of product from your company. Treat them as if they are the most important customer in your company or in your world, and you would be surprise how many small customers grow and becomes big customers for you because of the way you treated them when they were little customers.

5. Say “Thank You” as many ways as possible. Every time

you say “thank you” to a customer raises their self-esteem; it improves their self-concept. It makes them happier and they feel happier about you. Always be looking for ways to say “thank you”; a note that says “thank you”, a phone call that says “thank you”, a little gift or present that says “thank you”.

6. Respond and react quickly to customer complaints. When a customer complains, remember this is the testing time; this is the opportunity for you to show what you are made off; this is the chance for you to demonstrate to the customer



that you really care about them and you really want their business.

7. Continually look for ways to build customer loyalty, and increase customer retention. Every minute, everyday, ask your self:

• What can I do to increase my customer loyalty to me?

• What can I do to reward my customers? • What can I do to show my customers how much I

appreciate them? • What can I do everyday to get customers for life?



SUPERIOR CUSTOMER SERVICE – MAKING CUSTOMERS HAPPY Extracts from the video tape on Making customers happy by Brian Tracy Introduction The Problem Solver Everyone Has A Customer

Everybody that is working has one job; everybody’s job is problem solving. Everybody reading this is in the job of solving problems because that is what you do all day long. If what you do could be mechanized or automated, and done by a machine, they would not need you. So you are problem solver. The only question is “how good a problem solver are you?” and that determines how far you rise and high you go in your life. In addition, one can say, “No what your job title or description, you are also in the business of

customer satisfaction” Everyone, according to Roberthood Stephenson, earns their living by selling something to someone; by satisfying someone somehow. You are in the business of customer satisfaction. In fact, “Your ability to serve and satisfy your customers better than someone

else is the key determinant of your success in work. This is because if someone else can satisfy your customers better than you can, they will also always have an edge over you. Live is a game of Leap-Frog - they get better than you, you get better than them, , you get better than them, they get better than you; and its leap-frog one step at a time. You always have to be looking for ways of doing it faster and better than someone else is willing to do it. Here is the rule: everyone has at least one customer. Sometimes its people on shipping docks; sometimes its people in accounts; sometimes its people in administration that feel that they do not have any customer. This line of thinking is wrong and can be fatal to your career. Remember, it’s not what a person knows that hurts them; it is what they know that is not true. Here are your two customers – the person that depends on you, and the person that you depend upon.



The Person Who Depends On You

The Person That You Depend On

Generally speaking

Levels Of Customer Service

1. First of all, the person who depends on you. The person who depends on you includes your customer in the market place, your boss, your staff, your co-workers, any body within your business life who depends on you to do your job so that they can be successful in doing their job or getting their result is your customer. Its very important to look round you and realize that there are a network of people who are your customers.

2. The second general customer you have is the person that

you depend on. The person you depend on for sales, for income, for promotion, for security, for love; anyone that you depend on for the quality of your life either your work or Christian life, is your customer, because satisfying this customer is absolutely indispensable to your long-term happiness and success.

When you are not serving the customer directly, you better be serving

someone who is. If you work in a department within a company, remember that there are people who are in the front line, dealing face-face with customers. If you are not dealing face-face with customers, you had better be helping in supporting someone who is dealing face-face with customers – the people upon whom the company depends and the people who depends on the company. There are four levels of customer service in the market today, and this is very interesting because most people just think of customer service as one big lump, but its not.

1. Level One (1): Meet Customer Expectations This is the basic level of customer service and it ensures survival of the company. Meeting customer expectations is sort of like having your noise above water; you can breathe, you can survive. Many companies think this is an accomplishment – we meet customer expectations. This is not an accomplishment. This is the barest minimum for survival.



Three Rules Of Customer Service

2. Level Two (2): Exceed Customer Expectations The second level of customer service is when you exceed customer expectations. This means you do more than the customer expects. This allows you to grow. This is like having your whole head or half of your body above water. It does not guarantee your future, at least it allows you to grow; it gives you breathing room and room to move.

3. Level Three (3): Delight Your Customers

The third level of customer service is when you delight your customer. When you delight your customer so, after dealing with you, they are happy, they are pleased; they are delighted; they feel good about having chosen you. They will ensure a more rapid growth in the market place than people who are just meeting or exceeding.

4. Level Four (4): Amaze Your Customers

The highest level of customer satisfaction however is when you amaze your customers. Amazing your customers and finding ways to amaze them is the key to market leadership. Your job must be always to move through from meeting to exceeding to delighting to customer amazement. That’s the key to the future.

1. Rule 1: Meeting expectation is the basic minimum Meeting expectations today is the basic minimum. This is just the minimum. This just gets you a seat at the table; this gets you into the game; this does not ensure survival. Meeting customer expectations just allows you to stay in business.

2. Rule 2: Exceeding customer expectations soon becomes

the minimum Exceeding customer expectations, which is what enables you to grow, soon becomes the minimum. Why? Its because if you exceed customer expectations, your competitor will copy you and offer the same level of satisfaction. That then becomes the minimum again that you will have to meet to stay in business. And we know that what you did to exceed customer expectations in the past is today the basic minimum. It gets you no points. Well, people might say that last year people were happy about it. That was last year. Now, they expect something more because of the next rule.

3. Rule 3: Your Competition Sets the Minimum Standard

You must Meet



The Key Commodity – A Perceived View Of Your Products /Services What is a Commodity?

This rule states that your competition set the minimum standards that you must meet. You do not decide what customer service is and what customer service excellence is. Your competitors decide. The rule is that you must be equal to and better than your competitors if you want to survive and thrive in a competitive market place. That’s the key.

The key of success in competitive

market is your ability to differentiate yourself from all of

your competitors Your ability to stand out, as some how different, better, superior, unique, excellent, somehow, you stand apart from your competitors; creating this differentiation is the key to the future for your business and for yourself. Now, must product and services in the market places are perceived initially as commodity.

Most Products/Services Are Perceived Initially as Commodities In other words, the customer looks in the yellow pages and there are all the companies in your business that offers the same products and services. As far as the customer is concern, when they approach you or you approach them, you are all the same. You are just like a big jar of marble; you can reach in and pick any one of them. How is a commodity defined? You may not like this definition, but here it is – A commodity is defined as “just the same as everyone else, completely undifferentiated, no special qualities or abilities that sets it apart, and it is sold solely on the basis of price.” This is why customers say “How much is it?” “How much is it?” Because until you can somehow differentiate and show that your product/service is somehow vastly different or better than your competitors, this is the initial approach of your customers.



Quality A Reputation For Service Excellence

Quality service ratings:

What is a “Quality Rating”?

According to the studies at Harvard University when they asked thousands of customers “what is quality to you?”; the answer was this “quality is defined by customers as a combination of the product/service and the way it is delivered” Example: Imagine going to a very expensive restaurant, absolutely beautiful food, exquisitely displayed on the plate; but the waiter is rude, the table cloth is messed up, the silverware is dirty, and when they bring you the plate they drop it in front of you and walk away. Notice: the décor is there, the prices are there, the food is there, but the way it is served is everything in terms of whether or not it is a quality experience. A reputation for service excellence allows you and your company to:

1. Charge more (for your product/services) 2. Get more – to get more when you sell them (product/services) 3. Increase market share more rapidly 4. Enjoy higher profit margins – it enables you enjoy higher

profit margins

1. When people feel that you are excellent at what you do, you differentiate yourself by that degree from your competitors, and

2. Sometimes, excellent quality service is the only way that you can stand out because you can not change your product/service dramatically enough to make a difference.

According to the studies in Harvard University that has to do with your “Quality Rating”, their conclusion was that your “Quality Rating” determines your sales and your profitability. If you were to take all the companies in your industry in the market place and you were to bring in an outside company and go around and ask hundreds of customers, “On your perception, what are the highest quality companies in this market place?” And you give out the list of major companies and ask they be rated from 1 to 10. Well, your customers, in their perception, in their feelings, in their intuitions, would rate every company in the market place, and you would be somewhere in that rating. Here is what we know: the



The Starting Point

company that is rated #1 in the market place by reputation is always the one that has the highest sales, and the greatest profitability; the company that is rated #2 has the second highest sales and profitability; the company that is rated #3 has the 3rd highest sales and profitability, etc. Your question is, on the scale of 1 to 10, where do you rate in the market place? Whatever you rate, you goal must be to develop a strategy to bring up your perceived quality rating. What is quality?

QUALITY = What the customer says it is.

Quality is what the customer says it is. Quality is not what you say it is. Quality is what the customer says it is. And the customers are very specific and they are always changing. So the very companies are always asking their customers want do you want and what do you want more off; what do you like, and what don’t you like? How can we serve you better?

Quality service is always relative to what your competitors are offering

Quality service is always relative to what your competitors are offering. So, what do you do about this?

• Shop your competitors – One of the best things that you can do is “shop your competitor”. Go to your different competitor; go through their stores; look at how they lay things up; call them up and see how they answer the phone; invite their sales people to call on you and see how they sell; Find out what you have to compete against; find out who you have to be if you want to improve your quality rating in the market place, and especially if you want to be the best the market place.

Practice the “Moment of

Truth” approach to all customer

relations.



To Practice the “Moment of Truth” Approach to all Customer Relations

Here is a good starting point – practice what is called the “Moment of Truth” approach to customer relations. What is a “Moment of Truth”? A moment of truth is ANYTIME that a customer comes into contact with any part of your business; a moment of truth is when they see the advertisements; when they call your office; when somebody calls on them; when they receive a letter; when they get your products or services; when they use it or have problems with it.

Every time your customers comes in touch with any part of your business is a moment of truth.

It is called a moment of truth because it is the combination of these moments that leads to your success or non-success. And the secret is to make EVERY customer contact enjoyable and memorable. Make sure that every single time the customer bumps against your firm; he experiences a happy and positive experience leading to greater customer loyalty, and greater sales in the future.

1. Appearance: the first part of moment of truth is the appearance. The appearance of your people; the appearance of your facilities; the appearance of your materials; make sure they are clean, sharp, modern, polished. Just the very fact that your place of business, and your people, and your materials look good is a real positive moment of truth.

2. Reliability: this is another moment of truth. How dependable,

how accurate, and how consistently reliable are you in the market place? Nothing makes customers happier than no surprises. Customers will actually shop with you over and over again even if there are better and cheaper people out there if your service to them is excellent and consistent over time. People fall into comfort zones, and when they become comfortable with no surprises approach to the way you deal with them, they will come back to you over and over again.

3. Responsiveness: How responsive are your people with regards to these moments of truth? Are they pleasant, and positive and cheerful? Do they come back and are they are appreciative and thankful? Are they happy and nice on the telephone? Do you know that often the most important person in your company is



the person who answers the phone? Do you know that 99% of your contact, of your customers can sometimes be by telephone? And the person who is really great on the phone has tremendous impact on how that customer feels about you and your products and services. We feel that companies that have the nicest people probably have the best products and the best prices.

4. Empathy: This is another part of the “Moment of Truth”.

Empathy means when a customer has a question or a concern, that you express kindness, caring, and sensitivity. You’d address the emotional component of the customer, the customer’s feelings – that’s a key moment of truth, especially if they have a difficult of some kind and they need your help or they need a revolution.

5. Assurance: this is the final moment of truth. Assurance is

contained in the knowledge and competence of your employees. There is nothing that makes a customer feel happier than to know that she is dealing with a company and people that are really good at what they do. So, continue to emphasize that, ask good questions, listen carefully to the answer, make good recommendation, and move quickly on customer needs. It builds those moments of truth and that customer loyalty that is worth all the antiques in China.

Imagine, for a moment, that you are the President of you own personal services corporation. Remember that you attitude towards what you do, your attitude towards your customers, your attitude towards your job, determines your approach; it determines how you walk and talk, it determines how you respond; it ultimately determines your whole life.

Your Long-term success depends on

satisfying your customers.

Your long-term success, whatever you do, depends on satisfying customers. Here is an interesting point. The number 1 reason for failure in American is what is called “poor social skill”. Its people just simply do not have the personality, or they do not care enough to really make the effort to satisfy their customers or to be nice to people upon whom they depend, and who depend on them. So, see yourself, see your life as a process, an on-going process of really being really nice to your customers.



EXERCISE

• Here is an exercise. If customers are coming to your company,

imagine that every customer who calls on you is a “mystery shopper”. Do you know what a mystery shopper is? Well, there are companies that would send people to patronize a firm, and these are “mystery shoppers”. These are people, who are writing up reports that would go into national publications like consumer reports, in terms of what kind of company this is; what kind of people they are; how they treat their customers when they come.

A mystery shopper is the kind of person who can send back a report to headquarters, if you like, that can have enormous implications. And sometimes, mystery shoppers are trained to be difficult, to be demanding, to be uncooperative, and to be sometimes unreasonable. These are tests, almost like when you take a car out on a test track and you run it at full throttle for a long period of time to test the engine; often a mystery shopper would come along and run you at full throttle to see how deep your commitment to customer service is. So, treat like a mystery shopper, and no matter what they ask, treat them well.

• Another thing you could do is: imagine that every customer

has a “$50,000” sign on his/her forehead. A friend of mine has one of the most successful stores in America. It’s visited by companies from all over America and other countries. They have some of the highest square-foot sales of any store in the world for their product; and every single person in the company is trained to see every single customer as having a $50,000 sign on their forehead. So, whenever a customer has the slightest of a problem, he is treated as though he is a $50,000 customer. Simple rationale by the way. They concluded they if a customer buys from them they spend $100 per week, and they will usually come 50 weeks a year, and they will usually be customer for 10 years. 100 x 50 x 10 =$50,000

With regards to your customers, always do more than you are paid for.

Always do more

than you are paid for

Always do more than the customer expects; always meet, exceed, delight and amaze your customers



Factors In Customer Service The Golden Rule

Time: A Vital Factor in Customer Service Time is a vital factor in customer service. You have heard the line “a rose in time is more valuable than a dozen roses too late”. So,

1. Use time as competitive weapon in service excellence. And here is one of the easiest ways of all, say “Sure, right away” to any customer request. “Sure, right away”. Customers love it when company say “sure, right away”. Or you can say, “We’ll get started on this right away.” Customers love it when company and people offer to do things right away because time is terribly valuable.

2. Move quickly on customer requests and inquires

3. Move fast on customer complaints. Respond to them and

resolve them quickly. Often you can take a customer who is angry and turn him around completely by just reacting quickly to a need or problem that they have.

4. Always be seeking faster ways to serve your customers better

than anyone else. Always be looking for better ways. Always be looking for ways to give your customers more than your competitors are offering.

Here is a very important part of customer service- Practice the Golden Rule in all your customer interactions: The Golden Rule is simply this – Make your customers feel important. The desire or the need to feel important is the deepest single craving in human nature. Make them feel important.

The Golden Rule Make All Your Customers Feel Important

Five Ways to Make Your Customers Feel Important:

1. Acceptance. Smile. Make them feel welcome, even on the telephone, smile into the phone, and make it clear that you are happy that they phoned. When they come in, make it clear that you are happy that they came in. Always be nice to your customers.



Summary

2. Appreciation. Customer’s self esteem goes up; they feel more important when you say, “Thank you” in as many different ways that you can. Always be saying “Thank You”; sending “thank you” cards; giving them little things to show that you appreciate them. Think of who your most important customers are, and what would happen if you lost them. What would you do today in terms of showing them that you appreciate them if that was the alternative to losing them? And whatever it is, do it before there is a danger of losing them.

3. Admiration. The third way to make them feel important is

admiration. Admire their qualities; admire their traits, especially admire their possession. Complement them; as Abraham Lincoln once said, “everybody likes a complement”. Give a complement on their house, their home, their clothes, their cars, their jewelries, and other things about them and things they do.

4. Attention. The fourth key to raise their self esteem is

attention. Just listen attentive to them when they have a question, when they have a concern, when they have a complaint, when they have a difficulty.

5. Dominate the listening. The fifth key to raise customer self-

esteem is to dominate the listening and let the customer dominate the talking.

Remember everyone makes their living serving someone. So, ask your self this question continually, “what can I do to serve my customers better today”. Every day, every hour be asking yourself and others, “what can I do to serve my customers better today?”, and whatever the answer to that, don’t hesitate, don’t delay, just do it!



TEN SKILLS FOR BETTER TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION Extract from the video Training tape by INTRODUCTION

Skill #1: Master the Basics

Probably the most important and over-looked piece of office equipment today is the telephone. No matter how you look at it, the telephone is an important and powerful tool. Unfortunately its too easy to take talking on the telephone for granted, because talking on the phone is so common. Now, you might be saying I don’t deal with customers on the phone, so its not that important. You know what, everyone deals with customers. They may be internal customers, external customers, clients, or even partners. No matter whom you deal with on the phone they are your customers.

Everyone deals with customers

Its up to you make sure they feel valued and appreciated. So, why do we some times make errors in dealing with people on the telephone? May be its because when we deal with people over the telephone we do so differently than we talk with them face-face. Think about it. When you are on the phone, do you shuffle papers, re-organize your desk drawers, update your roller deck? Unfortunately, many of us do. All of these things break your focus which should be on the person on the other end of the phone. In this programme, we like to provide you with ten skills that can improve the way you use the telephone. Well, we can’t guarantee success; we can guarantee that if you follow these principles you’d be well on your way to being more successful using the telephone. You need the basic fundamental of telephone usage. Typically when we talk about the basics of using the telephone, three things come to mind:

1. Answer promptly:- When you try to answer the telephone, be sure enough to answer before the 3rd ring; this shows the caller that you care enough about them to answer promptly.

2. Offer Assistance:- People use the telephone to get something done. When people call you, keep that in mind; understand that there is a reason behind every phone call, and focus on finding it.



Skill #2: Be Prepared

Skill #3: Know How To Put Callers On Hold Or Transfer

3. Put a smile in your voice:- How do you put a smile on your voice? Put a smile on your face. When you put a smile on your face, the smile on your voice naturally follows.

These three (3) really emphasize showing the caller that you care. To get the most out of every phone call, you need to be prepared; not just with what you are going to say or what you want accomplish in the call, but also your environment. Ask yourself the following questions to see if you are making the most out of your phone calls:

1. Do you open the call with a pleasant greeting? A pleasant greeting gets things started on the right foot.

2. Do you have your work space organized? You not want to be looking for things you need to refer to.

3. Are listening carefully and taking notes? Do you have pen and paper available? How many times.

4. Have you eliminated anything that might distract you? Have you closed the door and put a sign on the door indicating you are on an important phone call? Do everything you can to be completely focused on the caller.

5. Are you using the caller’s name? Try to use the caller’s name whenever appropriate. Be sure not to over use it, they will see right through what you’re trying to do.

6. Do you follow through with what you promised? Are you clear on what you have agreed to do during the phone call? Do you immediately make plans to follow through on what you promised?

By making sure you are prepared for every call using the above questions, you’d be taking important steps to maximize every phone call you make. Nothing is more frustrating than to be put on hold, transfer incorrectly, or cut off. Has it ever happened to you? I am sure it probable has, and unfortunately it would probably happen again. Holding Calls There are four steps to correctly putting people on hold:

1. Always Ask:- Some callers are not able to hold, they have a time limitation or may be they are calling long distance. So, be sure to always ask if the person would hold.

2. Explain why you’re putting them on hold:- Explain why you’re putting them on hold; explain that you need to gather information, or go to another location in order to serve their need.

3. Be Sure To Check Back Every 30 seconds:- Check back on the caller to give them an update on how you’re coming with their situations.



Skill #4: Take Complete Messages Skill #5: Use Voice Mail Effectively

4. Thank them For Holding:- When you take them of hold, thank them for holding. Its only common courtesy. They gave you the time you needed to prepare to deal with their situations, so be sure to thank them.

One last thing about putting people on the hold, if you have the hold feature on your phone, use it. Use the Hold button on your phone. If you are afraid to use technology, practice. Learn how it works before the situation arises.

Transfering Calls

Now, let’s talk about transferring. There is a right and wrong way of transfer. To properly transfer a person there are four steps:

1. Ask the caller’s permission:- they may prefer to call back at a later time.

2. Tell them who they are being transferred to :- This way they can direct future call to the proper person

3. Announce the call to your co-worker:- Brief announce the call to your co-worker, make sure they understand who is being transferred to them and why

4. Stay on the line until the transfer is complete:- The biggest mistake people make when transferring call is to be beginning the transfer process and hang up too early. This leaves the caller in limbo.

Putting a person on hold and transferring them correctly are fundamental skills that if done may go unnoticed, but done wrong are sure to make a negative impression. I know you have all heard it before; there is a proper way to take messages. Follow these five simple steps to take a complete message:

1. Get The Person’s full name: Make you get the person full name and have it spelt correctly.

2. Get the name of their company 3. Get their full telephone number 4. Find out why they are calling 5. Find a good time to call back: Find out from them when is a good

time to call them back. There has never been anything that has so drastically changed the way we use phone as voice mail. We have it at the office, at home, and sometimes even in our car. It’s a fact of life that we must deal with and use efficiently. Leaving A Good Voice Mail Message



Skill #6: Know How To Handle A

Let’s start with how to leave good messages. There are five things to remember when leaving a message:

1. Be Prepared for Voice Mail: Before a call be prepared for voice mail. Have in mind what type of message you are going to leave.

2. Keep your message short: Let your message be short and to the point, but not too short. Include the name, the department or the company with including the reason for the call, and any specific action the caller should take prior to calling you back. Make sure you have given them all the information that they need so that when they call you back, you can move forward.

3. Prepare caller for a long message: If you are going to leave a long message, be sure to prepare the caller like letting the caller know that you are about to leave along message. People really appreciate it when you give them a warning about an upcoming long message. Also along the same line if you are going to be leaving a message with more than one point, let the other party know.

4. Offer a good time to call back: the fourth telephone courtesy skill you should use is letting the recipient know when would be a good time to call you back. Offer time that is best to call you back and be sure to make yourself available at that time.

5. Mark your Calendar for follow-up: Every once in a while technology breaks down. If they lose your message, will you situation get handled? Incase something happens, mark your calendar for follow-up.

Leaving a Good Voice Mail Message for Callers Let talked about how to leave a good message for callers. Let’s start with how to create a message that encourages callers to leave you a good message. You start by creating a dynamic greeting; a greeting that would get the caller to leave you a message that would help move things along.

1. Sound Cheerful: Your greeting should sound cheerful to make the caller feel you want to hear their message, and that you will follow-up.

2. Clearly State Your Name: It should clearly state your name. Be sure the person calling fully understands that they have reached the right number.

3. Give Information about Your Availability: When appropriate, give information about your availability. If you’ll be available in the afternoon, let them know. May be they would rather call you back instead of leaving a message.

4. Ask for Pertinent Information: Asks them for any pertinent information;

5. Suggest a time you can call back: Have them suggest a time when you can call them back.



Difficult Customer

Dealing with a difficult or upset customer over the telephone is extra hard because you can’t see the other person. So, much of what we say or do is based on reading the other person’s non-verbal. Obviously over the telephone we can’t do this. This is why it’s so important to have a process with dealing with the upset customer. First realize that when you dealing with an upset customer you are dealing with two different problems.

i) Deal with emotions: the first problem is the caller’s real feelings. Its important to deal with the customer’s feel before problem #2 which is the real problem. If you rush into trying to deal with the problem before the hurt feelings, you’d be unsuccessful. Until a person’s feelings are dealt with its very difficult to concentrate on the real problem. You can do this by doing 3 things:

(a) Ask open-ended questions:- to draw out their feelings. Ask questions like, “can you tell me a little bit about this situation?” or “would you please explain the situation to me?” This help the callers vent their feelings.

(b) Listen to their answers:- after you have asked your open-ended questions. When you really listen you are telling them that you care. You find that by careful listening you start to get the information you need to deal with the real problem.

(c) Empathize with the individual:-Empathize with them, not with your verbal reactions but also with your tune of voice. Show them that you really care.

ii) Deal with the real problem:- by

(a) Asking close-ended questions - This will help you get more details

(b) Listen for details – Listen to their answers and come up with as many details as possible to help you solve the problem.

(c) Clarify understanding:- Be sure to clarify understanding. Repeat back to the customer your understanding of what they said. Ask they verify that you have a clear understanding of their issues. By clarifying, you are showing the person that you’ve really listened and that you are willing to deal with their problems.

iii) Take action: After you got the information you need to solve

the problem, determine what alternative are available and state the alternatives to the caller. If possible, let the caller choose the next step. You will find that they take more ownership of the



Skill #7: Learn How To Say No Skill #8: Use The Features Available on Your Phone Skill #9: Be Prepared For Difficult Situations

problem. iv) Do something extra:- do something extra for your customer; it

may be as simple as getting them a free promotional item or doing a follow-up call to be sure everything was resolved. By doing something extra, you will increase the chance that they will deal with you in the future.

Have you ever been put in a situation where you have to say no to a customer? You do not like it, and the caller dislike it even more but it’s a fact of life.

1. The first thing that you need to do when dealing with a situation where you have to relay bad news or say no is to take responsibility to deal with the situation in an open and honest manner. Many people try to avoid the real issue, in the long run this hurts much more than it helps.

2. Clearly state the situation to the customer and be sure they understand the situation. Usually you should try to start your statement with a positive. If you start with a positive and then get down to the real situation it makes it more acceptable to the customer.

3. After you’ve stated the situation, tell the customer what you can do, offer alternatives. Let them know you are trying to help them.

4. Finally, try to end on a positive note. It could be as simple as saying “thank you” or telling the customer how much you value their business.

Having to tell people no is no easier over the telephone than in real life, but if you understand how to do it professionally, the situation would be much easier to handle. This tip is about as simple as our earlier, “Taking Messages”. Ask yourself “Do you know how to put people on hold, transfer correctly, use multiple lines, conference call?” If you answer “no” to any of these questions, take the time to practice before you really need it; its as simple as reading the instructions that come with your phone. Occasionally, we all encounter difficult situations on the telephone. By preparing ahead of time we will be ready to deal with them in a professional manner. Let’s take a look at three (3) common situations.

1. The caller who threatens you on the telephone: If someone threatens you on the telephone, check your company policy. Does your company have procedures for dealing with this type of



Skill #10: Continuously Improve Summary

situation? If so, respond by following those guidelines. If you organization does not have guidelines, try the follow:

• Don’t take it personal. The person is probably not upset with you; they are upset with your company.

• Separate your personal feelings from the real problem. Don’t get caught up in the situation and become hostile your self.

• Think before you speak. Speak clearly and communicate that the situation is unacceptable and is not conducive to handling the real problem.

2. The caller who speaks a different language: When dealing with a

caller who is difficult to understand because he/she speaks a different, the best thing to do is to be prepared ahead of time. You may ask, “how can I be prepared ahead of time, I don’t know when they are going to call?” We are not saying you need to be prepared for each individual call, but you need to think about each possible situation in advance. Consider the types of calls you get, and who might be calling you. If you work in an industry or area where the customer or clients may speak, be prepared by:

• Find someone on your staff who speaks that language. • Try to communicate with them in their language, and do so

in a caring manner and be aware of your tone of voice and volume.

• Speak at your normal tone and inflection: often we tend to speak louder when we are trying to communicate more clearly. Instead speak normally; don’t speak louder.

• Use simple phrases and explanations. Avoid technical jargons that would only confuse the caller more.

3. Dealing With an Emotional Caller: this has to do with a caller who is too emotional to have a productive phone call. In situations as this:

• Empathize with the caller: • Be sure to state your willingness to help and pulse to let the

caller regain her composure. • If they can’t regain composure, suggest to the caller that

they call you back when they are ready to continue. The successful professional in business today is constantly improving and building on their fundamentals. Do something to make sure you remember the fundamentals, build on them, and may be put a mirror in the office to watch yourself while you are on the phone. Look for the smile in your voice or your non-verbal action. You might try to put a sign somewhere close to remind you to practice the fundamentals and consistently improve.



It does not matter what you do, it just matters that you do something. Ten Tips For Success on The Telephone

1. Master the Basics 2. Be Prepared 3. Know How to Put Callers on Hold or Transfer 4. Take Complete Message 5. Use Voice Mail effectively 6. Know How to Handle a Difficult Customer 7. Learn to say No 8. Use the Features Available on Your Phone 9. Be Prepared For Difficult Situations 10. Continuously Improve

If you concentrate on these ten tips, you will be well on your way to maximizing the use of the most important tool in your office today, the telephone.

Documents

Customer Service Exellence