Service Encounter
5. Communicating with Customers
5.2. Ways to Communicate with Customers
One of the most important aspects of excellent customer care is good communication.
Unless you can communicate effectively and appropriately with customers you are unlikely to give them that service. This final module looks at communication skills in more detail and how individuals select the right method of communicating to their customers.
Communication is about getting a message across to the customer. But we don’t always manage it. Effective communication is when a message is received and understood. See Figure 5.2below.
Figure 5.2: Getting the message across
It takes time and effort to develop good communication skills and sometimes our messages are not clearly heard by the receiver due to ‘noise’ that impedes the message, see Figure 5.3.
In this section we will be looking at important communication skills:
Verbal communication
• talking
• listening
• questioning
• writing
Non-verbal communication
• using body language
• personal hygiene & grooming
5.3. Say It Right
Talking is easy for most of us or is it? Most of us have been doing it all our lives but, unfortunately, practice doesn’t always make perfect. The first rule of speaking is to think about what you are going to say before you say it. Service staff need to get that message across to their customers, they need to think about:
• what they want to say
• how they are going to say it
• whether the message is likely to get through
Is the message acceptable?
Think first! Prepare what you want to say. If you don’t, you may have to start again and that won’t build your customer’s confidence in your ability.
How do you say it? We said before that talking is not only about what you say but also about how you say it.
Do:
• speak clearly. Some customers will have more difficulty in hearing you.
• keep the volume moderate. Your voice will boom if a customer has a hearing aid.
• put expression into your voice
• watch your speed. Think about the needs of your customers.
Don't:
• let your sentences trail off. Your customers might think you are uncertain.
• use a sharp tone. You could sound aggressive.
• sound monotonous or sing-song
• speak too fast. Customers may not be able to keep up.
• speak too slowly. You could sound patronising.
5.4. Is the Message Getting Through?
Have you ever had to say to someone ‘Sorry, I didn’t realise you were talking to me’?
It has happened to most of us at one time or another. To check the message is going to get through, you must make sure your customer is ready, For example: make eye contact and ask a question ‘Could we discuss?’ ‘Is it convenient to speak?’ They may be ready but are they receiving? You need to get feedback as you go along. We have talked about this before but we will be looking at it again shortly.
It can be more difficult to get the message over on the telephone as you can’t see what is going on the other end. You may also get distracted by things going on around you.
As you can see, getting it right covers a number of things, so how are you doing?
ACTIVITY 5.1
Describe an occasion when you had to make a presentation, give a speech, have an interview. What were the things you found most difficult, and in the future, how would you do things differently with a better outcome? Make some notes below.
Classroom Activity
Classroom discussion on the challenges of giving a speech or making a class presentation. How can you improve what you do and overcome nerves?
Table 5.1 : Summarizing Active Listening
Listen: Concentrate on what is being said, not what you want to say next.
Acknowledge: Let the customer know you are listening by saying ‘yes’, ‘I see’, ‘I understand’, ‘mm’, ‘ah’.
Paraphrase content:
Summarise and feed back what the customer has said (to show you have been listening and have understood).
Paraphrase feelings:
Show you have listened to how the customer feels about
something by saying ‘You seem pleased about that’ or ‘I think you are worried’.
Observe body language:
Gauge their feeling by looking at their posture, expressions, gestures.
Use body language:
Make non-verbal gestures to encourage: eye contact, open posture, facial and hand gestures.
Now test how good you are at active listening.
ACTIVITY 5.2
1. Photocopy the assessment sheets on pages 120 and 121 and read through the instructions below.
2. Ask a classmate to help you with the activity. Give them a copy of the relevant checklists.
3. Ask your classmate to talk on a subject of their choice (or give them one of the topics below) for approximately two minutes while you listen.
4. Only ask open questions to encourage the conversation.
5. Ask another friend to observe the talk.
6. At the end of the two minutes, you should summarise the content of the talk back to your friend.
7. Ask them both to complete the assessments.
Suggested topics:
A hobby;
A favourite movie;
The weather;
Where they are going on holiday; or Something else you are interested in.
ACTIVE LISTENING: ASSESSMENT SHEET
Your classmate would like to check how effective he or she is at listening. Use this checklist to assess their listening at the end of your conversation.
All the
time
Sometimes Never
Looked at me when I was speaking Seemed relaxed and interested Summarised/paraphrased what I said Used encouraging body language (nodding, open body posture, facial expressions and gestures)
Interrupted only to ask relevant open questions
Used negative body language (closed body stance, negative expressions and gestures) Fidgeted/distracted me
Any other comments:
ACTIVE LISTENING: OBSERVER ASSESSMENT SHEET
Please observe your classmate listening to and summarising his or her friend’s conversation. Then use this checklist to assess their listening skills.
All the time
Sometimes Never
Looked at the speaker
Appeared relaxed and interested Summarised/paraphrased the content Used encouraging body language (nodding, open body posture, facial expressions and gestures)
Interrupted only to ask relevant open questions
Used negative body language (closed body stance negative expressions and gestures) Fidgeted
Any other comments:
Getting the questions right
Imagine you are working in a customer service role. If you don’t ask the right questions, you and your customer could go round in circles. We have already talked about open questions. There are some other types of questions that you might find useful:
Type Used for
Closed Check or confirm facts. Answered by ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
Reflective model Reflecting on what the customer has said. ‘So, you think this is a better wine than the first one on the list?’
Probing To try and encourage the person to open up more.
Figure 5.4 : Guest Sign (Photo: Ben Ostrowsky)
There may be times when you feel you are not getting anywhere. This could mean that there are barriers. For example:
• difficulties with language, accents or understanding
• anger, aggression, distress, dislike, jealousy, etc.
• noisy rooms, crowded shops, interference from equipment.
It is important to recognise when you have reached such a stage and:
• accept that you have a problem
• explain your difficulty to your customer
• get help (ask someone who has the specific skills to understand).
5.5. Put Pen to Paper
We may have been listening since we were babies and talking nearly as long, but we certainly don’t write as often. It doesn’t always come easily. Writing is all about the five Cs.
Table 5.2 : The Five Cs
Concise Write short, simple sentences.
Correct Check your facts.
Clear Make sure that what you write is not gobbledygook.
Complete Make sure you have included everything you need to say.
Courteous Be polite.
ACTIVITY 5.3
Ask a friend to help you with this activity. Identify something you have written recently. (This could be an E-Mail, a letter or IM.)
1 Get your friend to read through the communication and decide if you have managed to include the five Cs.
2 Then make notes below on your friend’s comments under each of the headings.
The communication:
‘C’ Yes/No Comment Conciseness
Correctness
Clarity
Completeness
Courtesy
Effective writing takes time and effort. Short emails are usually fairly easy to do. But, sometimes, you may have a more complicated job to tackle such as a report. These take a bit more thought.
Write short sentences and paragraphs. Use simple layout. If you are using a word processor use the spell check (also grammar and punctuation facilities, if available).
Get help if you need it. When you have done it, check it through or ask someone else to look at it for you.
5.6. What Communication Method?
You may have the communication skills but you need to be able to decide which method to use. You have a choice:
• the spoken word (face-to-face or telephone)
• the written word (note, memo, letter, email) or
• a combination.
In order to decide what to do, you need to think about:
• what it is you have to say, and
• what your customer’s needs are.
For example:
• Carrie is face-to-face with a customer. She is listening, speaking and questioning.
• Emer’s customer is also face-to-face, but has hearing difficulties so Emer is also writing brief notes to clarify points to the customer.
• Bill has to confirm a complicated order, so he is doing it by letter.
• Hilary has to check if a customer’s order has arrived so she will telephone him.
Your customers may make the decision for you. For example:
• some people insist on having everything in writing
• others far prefer to be face-to-face meeting
• some customers may prefer to communicate mainly in writing
• others may like to communicate by telephone or face-to-face.
5.7. Face-to-Face
Being face-to-face with customers has many advantages.
• It is personal (the customer is getting individual attention)
• It is a two-way process (you and the customer)
• It combines skills (listening, questioning, body language)
• It is immediate (solving problems, getting agreement or clarification).
There are some disadvantages. You need to:
• think on your feet
• avoid saying the wrong thing
• adapt your communication for individual needs.
Figure 5.5: Service with a smile (Photo: Ben Haley)
ACTIVITY 5.4
Think about what information hospitality or tourism staff would give to customers face-to-face? Give three examples below and say why they would use face-to-face communication in each case.
Information I would give face-to-face:
Reason
1.
2.
3.
We have said before that the telephone can have fewer advantages than being face-to-face. For example:
• it doesn’t involve body language
• it may not be suitable for all customers.
Good telephone techniques are part of good customer service. It probably won’t be long before at least some organizations will be using video telephones – then it will be like being face-to-face with your customers. Treat telephone customers as you would expect them to treat you!
Check this presentation on good telephone techniques – how to use the phone effectively: http://www.hr-services.stir.ac.uk/documents/TelephoneTechniques.ppt.
*See Appendix 1 for some good telephone techniques and phrases.
5.8. Non-verbal communication
Non-verbal communication may also be referred to as body language. It uses some signs such as facial expressions, gestures, eye movements, distance, touches, postures, body movements, appearance, sound, etc. Non-verbal communication may be affected by the genders, ages, relations and cultural backgrounds of the communicating parties.
ACTIVITY 5.5
Have a look at the photoset below, and see if you can identify four different feelings expressed in the face of the person in the photo. Make a list below the photographs.