Communicating with Customers - A Process

When we communicate with customers, there are four key stages that we should progress through. These are…

Open & Initiate

Be prepared – Anticipate the needs of the customer, with information already to hand.

Welcome – Greet customers professionally and convey a positive attitude through your tone of voice, body language and general demeanour.

Position – Where you are contacting the customer, explain the purpose and benefit to them and check that they understand and agree to the conversation. Where you are being contacted by the customer, provide a clear response to acknowledge their needs and ensure you are best placed to help them.

Gather Information

Listen – Remember the facts conveyed by the customer and the feelings behind their message. Ensure you note their concerns and are able to understand and appreciate their requirements.

Ask – Question customer effectively to understand their situation and what is important to them.

Restate – Ensure customer realises you understand what is being said and agree to what is being asked where relevant

Solutions & Options

Offer Information and options – Give customer information that helps them. Provide options and choices. Use explanations that are clear and free from jargon.

Set expectations – Be clear with the customer about what you can and cannot do. Be specific.

Explore further needs and gain agreement – Ask good questions. Try to assess level of agreement. Promote the available solutions.

Confirm & Close

Ask for a decision – Ensure you clearly, precisely and confidently ask for a commitment from the customer.

Summarise and check – Review the key points with the customer and check that they are happy.

Thank them – Make your customers feel important by leaving a positive message.

Follow up – Do what you said you would do. If someone else deals with the customer further on, ensure the transition is smooth and all information is passed on.

By following this clear structure, you will ensure all of your customers receive a positive experience each and every time they communicate with you. The process is simple and the tasks within it can be learnt and applied quite easily.

This short excerpt is taken from our training course materials on, 'Communicating with Customers', which you can purchase from our website at Trainer Bubble.

Low cost, or, customer service?

So, Ryanair seem to have upset a lot of people again with their plans to charge people £1 to use the toilet on one of their flights. It begs the question, what is more important, low cost or customer service?

Ryanair would no doubt argue that the fact they charge people for heavier luggage, eating and now possibly going to the toilet, means that they can keep their low cost flights at the smallest costs possible and if people really want more than to be flown to their destination, they will have to pay for it. In a lot of ways, this is reasonable, after all you know what you are getting when you sign up and if you expect first class service, then you'll have to pay for it (with another airline).

I heard a story of a Ryanair staff member who was rude to a customer and upon complaint was told that if you wanted great service, which I guess included being treated politely, you should pay for it. The trouble as I see it is that people want both. They want to pay a cheap price for things, but when they don't get exceptional service as well (this includes the 'extras' mentioned above), they are not happy. Is this reasonable? Well, to a certain degree it has to be. After all, without customers, no company will succeed and they can always vote with their feet.

What you cannot deny though, is that Ryanair is a very successful airline. So, are they right or wrong in their approach? Well, to be honest I'm undecided. I could argue that people who book Ryanair know what they are going to get, but then in the same breath, I put my customer care hat on and say that all companies should work towards providing exceptional customer service.

Whatever my thoughts are, the ultimate truth is that the success of the company will provide the answer. Because, I suspect, people will still book flights with Ryanair and continue to complain about them...after all, we all enjoy a moan don't we?

I think the following image provides a perfect example of this...

Structuring a Difficult Message - Communication Skills

When news is communicated, it helps if there is a structure to the various elements of the news. If we structure the communication in a logical manner, we will ensure that people clearly receive the message and that there is less likelihood of misunderstanding or ‘Chinese whispers’. The order of giving the news is:

Context – What you are going to be talking about
The headline - The heading of the subject matter
The detail – The detail
The reason for the news – What’s caused it
The rationale – What led to the reason, the background behind it
The consequences – What this actually means to the individuals, what will happen
Alternative actions – What, if any, other actions can be taken

For example:

Context:

I want to talk to you about the office.

The headline:

The office is closing.

The detail:

The office is closing and merging with the office ten miles away.

The reason for the news:

It will save money by operating out of one office rather than two.

The rationale:

We’ve looked at how the loss of business is affecting us and there are a number of sites around the country where the operation can be combined.
This will save costs by reducing the number of sites we have to maintain.

The consequences:

You will need to consider any additional travelling time and distance. You will need to consider how this will affect your home life. You need to consider whether or not you want to stay with the company.

Alternative actions:

As well as staff being offered the opportunity of moving to the other office, which is being enlarged, there will be options to move to other offices if more convenient. There is also a voluntary redundancy option.

This article was adapted from the training materials for the 'Communicating Difficult Messages' workbook, which forms part of the training materials by Trainer Bubble. Visit our website to view this great resource www.trainerbubble.com

Communicating Difficult Messages - What People Want

Suppose you have a difficult subject to get over to your team; e.g. you are a manager and you need to cut hours and that means some job roles will go, this will also increase the workload on the remaining members of the team. You anticipate some resistance to this but you know it is the right thing to do as some of the work is light and there is not enough work to go around.

What people want is to feel that they have been heard and understood. What they don’t want is to sense that you are indifferent or even hostile to their feelings.

Suppose you encounter strong resistance from a member of the team during the communication. What you don’t want to do is resist your “opponent” by arguing. This will only help to add scale to the point of view, but by acknowledging from the start that the concerns are valid and showing empathy for the situation you should help to engage them and help them to recognise that their concerns are not being ignored or discounted.

So, much of communicating tough topics is about unwanted change.

There are 5 things that people want when unwanted tough topics are communicated:

• They want to talk about their fears - Let them have their say. People need to express their concerns, they need to react and articulate their feelings. Your role, as leader, is to listen and respect their views even if you think their comments are illogical and unfair.
  
• They want you to acknowledge that their concerns are valid - Never dismiss the feelings of others. Their feelings are very personal to them and by dismissing them an immediate barrier will be formed which it is very difficult to break down.
  
• They want a role in deciding the aftermath - Allow people to work out for themselves how to adapt to the situation and allow them to have input where possible.
  
• They want to hold on to the familiar - Keep as much of the familiar as possible. People will naturally want to hang on to what they know.
  
• They want a good reason for their sacrifice - Explain the decisions be they yours or the business. It helps if they can see something good from the decision so emphasise the benefits as much as possible.

This article is adapted from the trainers notes of the Trainer Bubble training material, 'Communicating Difficult Messages', which is available from http://www.trainerbubble.com/