3
Communicating with Others

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

• Discuss the various factors that impact two-way communication.

• Enhance interpersonal communication through use of your verbal skills.

• Use verbal strategies to improve customer interactions.

The exact words you use are far less important than the energy, intensity, and conviction with which you use them.

Jules Rose
Vice President, Sloan Supermarkets

THE IMPORTANCE OF EFFECTIVE INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION

Communication happens all day long—some of it is effective and some not so effective. As a service provider, you are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that each customer contact is positive and effective to the best of your ability. In part, a major determinant in whether this occurs is your ability to conduct two-way communication. You have already read about the role of attitude in communicating. In this chapter, you will explore some specific elements of the interpersonal communication process along with strategies and techniques for improved effectiveness. To get you started in recognizing effective communication, complete the following exercise. Use the information learned to identify potential areas for self-improvement.

THE TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION MODEL

To have effective two-way communication with your customers, you must have several elements present, each working appropriately (see Exhibit 3–1). The challenge is to overcome obstacles that sometimes inhibit effective communication (e.g., language barriers, hearing and speech disabilities, background noise, terminology, and customer education and knowledge). Take a look at the elements that make up the Two-Way Communication Model so that you will have a better understanding of their role and why each is important to ensure the effective delivery of messages.

• Environment.  The environment is your surroundings—the call center or wherever your conversation is occurring. If there is a lot of background noise being picked up by your headset, the customer may not be able to hear effectively and you may not be able to hear him or her. Some possible solutions to this situation is to remind coworkers to reduce unnecessary noise level, avoid distractions (e.g., radios), increase the volume on your headset, and if necessary, speak with your supervisor or team leader for guidance and possible alternative solutions.

• Sender.  Without a message sender (the person who originates a message), there is obviously no conversation. Your primary role in this step is to communicate effectively with your customers using short, clear sentences, avoiding technical terms that might be misunderstood, asking appropriate open and closed end questions to gather information, and to provide appropriate feedback to your customer.

• Receiver.  As with the sender, you must have a receiver (someone to listen) in order to have a two-way conversation. This person must be an active participant who practices the listening skills described in Chapter 4. As a receiver, it is crucial that you stop talking and openly listen to what the customer is saying. Often this phase breaks down because a service provider tries to interrupt or deliver a preconceived solution to a customer’s problem or question.

• Filters.  Factors such as attitude, beliefs, values, interests, abilities, education, biases, and knowledge can act as a filter to prevent accurate and open reception of a customer message. For this reason, you should strive to self-identify as many of these factors about yourself as possible. By recognizing them, you can potentially prohibit their blocking or corrupting of incoming messages from your customers.

• Message.  The message is the idea, concept, or information that you are transferring as the sender or that your customer is relaying to you. Before ever getting connecting with a customer you should be sure that you have the knowledge, information, and skills to effectively deliver your message. This would include being able to answer customer questions. Additionally, if you are contacting customers (e.g., sales, follow-up, marketing, or collection calls) you should have all the information about the customer’s account or the product, service, or situation involved before making a call.

• Channel.  The channel is the method or conduit through which you communicate. In a call center this is often the telephone, however, you may be interacting with internal customers face-to-face or with external customers using other types of technology. The key to effective communication in the call center is to remember that the technology is only a means of getting your message to the customer; it is the interpersonal aspect of the communication that typically determines the outcome of the contact.

• Encoding.  As you evaluate the information and messages that you plan to send, you must decide the best way in which to communicate. The key to successful transmission is to ensure that the format that you choose addresses your recipient’s ability to translate and understand what you sent. Your customers must recognize the words, symbols, and gestures that you use to effect your message delivery. Other considerations involve choosing the best channel, the most appropriate time to deliver the message, and the appropriate person to whom you should deliver the message.

• Decoding.  After you (or your customer) receive a message, it must then be decoded. This involves translating the content back into language, symbols, or meaning that you can understand. You can then interpret and respond appropriately.

• Feedback.  A crucial element in the two-way communication process is feedback. Without it, there is no way for you to know that your customer got the message and interpreted it as you intended. Without feedback, you have a monologue or self-talk (see Exhibit 3–2 for basic tips for providing effective feedback).

• Noise.  Psychological and physiological factors (e.g., lack of attention, medical condition, physical capabilities related to speaking, listening and other internal factors) can help or hinder effective communication. You should strive to reduce as many of these distractions as possible before dealing with customers.

INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS

To communicate well with customers you must continually hone you communication skills. Your verbal skills are crucial when getting and giving information to others.

Verbal Skills

You ability to express yourself clearly and succinctly, to ask questions well, and to provide regular and appropriate feedback are the basis of sound customer service delivery. Each of these factors is a skill that requires practice to improve. There is continual opportunity for improvement in each of the areas.

Vocal Cues

As discussed in Chapter 2, attitude can be projected or perceived through the tone of your voice. For that and a variety of other reasons, you should strive to speak in a professional manner, using vocal qualities that encourage customer support and buy-in. There are numerous factors related to your voice that can send either positive or negative messages to your customer. Five of the more prominent factors include:

• Pitch. The highness or lowness of your voice is known as pitch and can add vocal variety to information provided to others (in singing pitch is described in terms of alto, bass, soprano, and so on). For example, you can add the sound of enthusiasm or excitement to your voice by vocally punctuating statements or questions. Raising the voice at the end can indicate a question mark. Lowering pitch can indicate a period or statement.

Generally a lower pitch is effective for business since higher pitches can sound emotional. Also be careful to use pitch appropriately to avoid confusing your listener. Many people (especially women) have a tendency to raise the pitch of their voice at the end of a statement. By doing this, they in effect put a vocal question mark making a statement sound like a question or as if they are unsure. This can confuse listeners.

If you have a tendency to raise your pitch (try tape recording conversations with friends or relatives to determine) ask others in the workplace to identify examples when they hear them. You can then consciously work to lower your pitch.

• Inflection. Vocal variety is added through inflection or changing your voice pitch usage as you speak. Inflection is the vocal punctuation you add to emphasize points (exclamation point), show pause (comma), ask a question (question mark—raised pitch at the end of a sentence), or make a statement (period—lowered pitch at the end of a sentence). Failure to use inflection is described as a monotone voice (flat or unenthusiastic), that can bore or lose your listener.

Try to use inflection techniques described in this chapter as you read the following: “That’s great! Would December 2nd work or would you rather have it sooner? I’m sure we can meet your needs in either case.”

• Volume. Another voice quality that can aid or detract from your message is volume. Speak loud enough to be heard, but not so loud that it hurts someone’s ears and possibly causes them to be distracted and to stop listening.

To ensure that the volume is appropriate when using a new headset in a new environment, test it with a coworker or friend before taking customer calls.

• Enunciation. This voice quality is sometimes referred to as articulation. In effect it is your ability to properly speak each word and pronounce each syllable of the word. If you tend to slur or garble your words by running syllables together or mispronounce words (e.g., guv-ment, sorta, ex-cape) or to drop endings from words (e.g., doin’, gettin’, seein’), you can cause misunderstanding of your message. This is especially true if you are speaking with someone who has a hearing deficit or who speaks English as a second language. Work on improving by slowing down and stressing each syllable. Practice by placing a pencil lengthwise between your front teeth and speaking slowly. Enunciate each syllable of your words.

• Rate of speech. The number of words that you speak per minute is known as your rate. Various studies have found that the average adult in the United States speaks at approximately 125 to 150 words per minute. Depending on the region of the country or the culture in which you were reared, your emotion, and the situation, you may use a different rate.

Speaking too fast or too slow can cause someone to stop listening to you. When speaking to a customer, listen to his or her rate and try to somewhat match it. Keep in mind that your listener must decode the message you send.

Questioning Skills

To be able to adequately determine a customer’s needs, objections, or issues, you must learn to ask effective questions. Too often, service providers ask the wrong questions, then get frustrated when the customer does not give them the information they expected or needed. This often leads to the provider sounding annoyed, which in turn angers the customer who retaliates in kind. The situation can deteriorate from that point.

There are many types of questions, however, they generally fall into two types—open-ended and closed-end.

• Open-end questions. Generally, open-ended questions are best for encouraging customer involvement. They often start with words such as what, when, how, and why. Such questions allow you to gather information that will later be used to resolve issues, encourage buying decisions, and better understand customer needs.

Open-ended questions can be used to:

allow a customer to share ideas, comments, complaints, views, or information

uncover hidden agendas, issues, or information that a customer has not disclosed

encourage dialog or exchange of information

identify customer needs

uncover objections during sales calls or when trying to up-sell or cross-sell a customer on another product or service

Some examples of open-ended questions follow:

What do you think is causing this problem?

What are some suggestions you have for resolving this issue?

When can we expect payment?

When would be a good time to follow-up with you?

How can I assist you?

How can we better serve you?

Why do you believe that?

Why are you calling today?

• Closed-end questions. Unlike open-ended questions, closed-end questions do not give much opportunity for the customer to talk. In fact, if you use only closed-end questions, you do most of the talking and the customer simply responds with one word or short answers (e.g., “Yes,” “No,” “Fine,” “Okay”). The real challenge with using closed-questions exclusively is that you may never really get the customers viewpoint or concerns. You may actually escalate their emotion and create a negative situation with which you or someone else will later have to deal. On the other hand, closed-end questions are a good way to control a call, halt a rambling customer, or get a quick response.

Closed-end questions typically start with verbs (e.g., do, did, will, can, may, are, should, or were) and can be used to:

verify information already heard or agreed upon

clarify a point

gain quick agreement or consensus

get a buying decision in sales

control the conversation by asking primarily short-answer closed-end questions

Some examples of closed-end questions follow:

Do you have a copy of your warranty handy?

Did you speak with someone else about this issue earlier?

Will you be able to send in a payment this week?

Can I call you back at 10:00 A.M. tomorrow?

May I have your membership number?

Are you sure that the batteries are in properly?

Should I call you back to ensure you received the items?

Were you trying to reach the sales department?

Verbal Content

Many times, the words you use can either build relationships with customers or create opportunities for communication breakdown. The latter occurs when you use negative words or phrases or negative questions (see Exhibit 3–3). To help prevent customer conflict and relationship failure, remain conscious of the words you use when speaking with others. Avoid negative terminology, jargon (technical or industry specific terminology) and words that might suggest you disagree with or are talking down to a customer.

Negative leading questions can also frustrate and anger customers. These are questions that start with a negative word and try to guide a customer to a decision that you feel they should make. Here are several examples:

Don’t you think this is a great deal?

Wouldn’t you rather have ... as opposed to the one you originally asked about?

Can’t you see yourself using one of the products I’ve described?

EFFECTIVE CUSTOMER SERVICE COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

To deliver quality service, it is important to remember that the customer may not always be right, but he or she IS always the customer. Your success and that of your organization hinges on your ability to keep an open line of communication with customers in order to determine and satisfy their needs. Taking the time to listen and interact appropriately with customers on an individual level will do much to enhance your image in their eyes and to make life a lot easier of you and them.

The following are techniques that can help project a professional, caring, customer service attitude when communicating over the telephone, face-to-face, or when using other technology.

• Prepare for your customer interactions. Before you come into contact with a customer, be prepared to deal with him or her. This can be done by preparing and using a standard greeting, knowing how to handle a variety of questions and situations, and allotting adequate time to respond appropriately. Additionally, continue to improve your interpersonal communication skills and use them as you interact with customers.

•      Make the customer feel welcome. Treat people who contact you as you would a guest in your own home and make them feel welcome. For example, when answering a telephone, consider using a greeting that includes a salutation (“Good morning/afternoon”), your organization/department name (“ABC Sales”), your complete name (“This is Kathleen Mallory”), and an offer to assist (“How may I help/assist you?”). By providing such a greeting, you deliver a lot of basic information that can make people feel good about the call.

It may also prevent someone from beginning a conversation with you only to find they have the wrong person, organization or department. If you are dealing with someone in person, smile upon meeting, greet him or her pleasantly, and offer to assist. If appropriate, shake hands during the greeting.

• Paraphrase the customer’s messages. This technique involves summarizing what you understood the customer to say in your own words, followed by a closed-ended question to ensure you interpreted correctly. For example, a customer calls you and says, “I called five days ago and spoke with Racelle about an error on my latest billing statement. There are two charges that neither I nor my husband made for products that we don’t even use. She said she would check into it and call me back and I still have not heard from her.” You paraphrase might be, “So if I understand correctly, there was a billing problem that you reported to Racelle, which she was going to handle, but you have not heard from her on the status. Is that correct?”

• Take ownership for the customer situation. You can do this by using I and we messages. This simply means being assertive (not aggressive) and taking ownership for each customer situation. Instead of saying “I’ll try” or “I’ll do my best,” state “I’ll personally take care of this.” Instead of using language like “They didn’t tell me about this type of situation when I was hired,” try “We have never had this situation before, however, I’ll be happy to assist you.” This strategy projects a much more positive and proactive approach to the situation.

• Build rapport with customers. You can often do this with small talk in which you communicate on a personal level. For example, if a customer mentions that it is her birthday, congratulate her and ask if she is doing anything special to celebrate?

• Use simple language. Many interpersonal impartation decompositions can be ascribed to one singular customer service professional fallacy—that all customers can discern the significance of the employee’s vernacular. Simply stated—Many customer service professionals fail to use language their customers can understand.

When communicating with customers, ensure that you choose words and communication techniques that your customers will understand. Listen carefully for their response to your messages. If you detect uncertainty in their voice, excessive pauses, sounds of confusion, or hesitancy. Stop and ask an open-ended question to ensure they are following your message. Failure to do so only raises the possibility that they will not get the message you intended and can lead to service breakdown.

Your ability to understand and use the Two-Way Communication Model can lead to successful customer interactions and assist in building ongoing relationships with your customers. Each of the model’s elements play a crucial role in transference of messages between you and your customers.

A crucial part of your job in a call center involves communicating with people over the telephone. To do this, you must practice positive message delivery and continually strive to improve your verbal communication skills. Recognizing the vocal cues you use—pitch, inflection, volume, enunciation, and rate of speech can significantly impact how a message is delivered and interpreted and is a key step toward improved interpersonal communication.

Along with vocal quality, your ability to effectively ask open- and closed-ended questions is important in determining the outcome of many customer service interactions. By using questioning effectively, you can determine customer needs, objections, or issues. Of the two types of questions open-ended are usually best for getting customers to talk and share information with you. Closed-end can be used to control the conversation and to verify or clarify information.

Your verbal strategies also play an important role in helping your customers understand your message meaning, getting information, and building rapport with customers.

The key to your interpersonal communication success is to use all of these techniques and anything else you can do to ensure that information exchanged with customers is accurate and delivered in a positive and effective manner.

1. The model used to show the process of interpersonal communication between two people is known as:	1. (c)
(a) Effective Communication Model.
(b) Two-Way Interaction Model.
(c) Two-Way Communication Model.
(d) Interpersonal Communication Model.
2. Pitch, inflection, volume, enunciation, and rate of speech are known as:	2. (b)
(a) speech mechanisms.
(b) vocal cues.
(c) communication vehicles.
(d) message conduits.
3. The average rate of speech for adults in the United States is _________ words per minute.	3. (a)
(a) 125 to 150
(b) 150 to 200
(c) 200 to 250
(d) 250+
4. Which of the following is an example of an open-ended question?	4. (d)
(a) Do you understand.?
(b) Are you ready to make a decision?
(c) Can I answer any questions for you?
(d) What do you think of what I just said?
5. Using a salutation, giving your organization and department name, and using your complete name are strategies for:	5. (d)
(a) preparing for your customer encounters.
(b) paraphrasing your customer’s message.
(c) taking ownership for the customer situation.
(d) making the customer feel welcome.