Customer service and sales: how to correct a crucial communication error

The walked into an office to purchase a service. The department manager, who was behind the computer in the office,  gave her a business card and said, "Email me with the details and I'll get back to you."

What happened? The prospective customer, who had been ready to buy, took the card and did not send the e-mail.

The office manager, who had the power to act immediately, was not pro-active. She did not take the prospective customer's name,  contact information,  and details, or give her the desired information on the spot. She sounded disinterested in having a prospective new customer. (If the problem was that she was busy, she did not bother to explain this.)

Instead, she expected the prospective customer to put forth more effort (by sending an e-mail) to request the service. She did not consider the number of competitors for that service that the customer passed regularly, or the other distractions competing for the person's attention. In other words, her reaction was all about her (the manager's) needs. It should have been about the customer's needs. The customer, internal or external, is the reason for the business.

This scenario also happens in another, more common, way. When a customer calls into an office, if he reaches the wrong person, that employee can either switch him to the correct person or can ask the customer to call back. The first way is pro-active, and shows great customer service. The second (reactive) way can lose a customer, or get him frustrated. How is this handled in your organization? Do all employees know how to locate the correct employee's name and phone extension, and do they get training in how to switch callers to the correct extension?

Internal customers also count; the work each employee does affects all of them in completing the finished product. (This would be a great topic to discuss when orienting new employees, or when doing the yearly talk on how the company is meeting its' goals,  to show the relationships between the various departments.)

Every customer interaction counts, and communication is vital to all of them. Make the internal or external customer feel wanted through efficient, pro-active communication and sales techniques!
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Top Nine Peeves about How Businesses Answer Their Telephones

A LinkedIn group of business professionals was asked for their "pet peeve" on how telephones are answered. Eighty-five responses came in, very quickly.

Pet peeve #9: Reaching a recording that repeats, "Your call is very important to us. We will be with you shortly". The caller was reportedly placed on hold for 45 minutes.

Pet peeve #8: The business associate who answers the call sounds irritated at being interrupted by a call, and is perceived as being disrespectful to the caller

Pet peeve #8 (a tie with the one above): When the company representative says, "Would you please hold?", and without giving the caller a chance to say anything, immediately puts him or her on hold.

Pet peeve #6:  Employee who answers a call with a script and sounds fake and excessively polite

Pet peeve #5: Answering the telephone without saying the name of the business and the employee's name

Pet peeve #4: Answering the telephone with very long scripted greetings instead of just the essentials (see # 6 above)

Pet peeve #3: Answering the telephone using a speaker phone

Pet peeve #1 (tied with the one below): When the company employee's English pronunciation is difficult to understand on the telephone and also may not understand the caller's questions.

Pet peeve #1: When the American-born customer service rep answers the telephone so fast and mumbles so that the caller cannot easily understand the greeting. The customer service rep has said this greeting hundreds of times, but it may be the customer's first time to hear it.

Customers in the USA are more diverse than ever, coming from many nations, may have a hearing loss or be speaking to you in a noisy place. Clear speech is crucial for your customers!

Business Speech Improvement provides intensive coaching in verbal skills, including professional telephone skills for understanding callers with strong accents. Check out your options now; one seminar is closing enrollment soon!

Amazing customer service - restaurant style

Maggiano's Little Italy in Durham, NC is a little restaurant with a fascinating angle on customer service. They want to make their target customers (new customers and out-of-town visitors) feel very special. They do this in a way that can be (but rarely is) used by most businesses, especially those in the hospitality and other service industries.

I recently had dinner in this restaurant for the first time. The server casually asked my guest and me about ourselves, and any dietary needs. Upon learning that my guest was visiting from another state and that we had never been to the restaurant before, the server quietly swung into action. After we were served a delicious dinner, several members of the restaurant staff visited to welcome us, and we were offered a complimentary (and wonderful) mini-dessert for us to split.
The purpose of this extra attention was of course to make us feel like visiting royalty, and naturally want to return.

Basically, the approach of this restaurant boils down to three principles that can easily be used by other businesses. First, the first person who approaches the new customer is well-trained to ask a few casual questions to search for customers with specific characteristics. Second, there is a system to discretely alert other members of the staff, who also welcome the visitor. Third, the business provides complimentary samples of additional services or products to these visitors, as a tangible welcome.

Many businesses could also offer to put the visitor on their mailing lists, and send him or her coupons for special deals or freebies throughout the next year to entice him to return. Others such as hotels maintain a database of customers' preferences (whether for types of rooms, recreational activities if mentioned, or other issues), so that they can refer to it when the customer comes again.

What is a recent example of great customer service that you have experienced, and what could other businesses do to emulate it? If you own or manage a service business, what else could you do to welcome your new customers?

Business Speech Improvement provides intensive training in communication skills. Training is offered through seminars, individual coaching and economical, practical e-books. One such e-book is Executive Communication Strategies, including tips you might wish your supervisor knew!

Telephone behaviors that are so irritating

On a LinkedIn group, I posed the question, "When you call a company, what does the other person or company do that is so irritating?" A remarkable number of people responded, very fast. Comments ranged from not speaking clearly enough so that the caller could understand the greeter, to sounding angry when answering the phone, to speaking too fast,  to being placed on hold for long periods of time, and a lot more.

Most of the respondents I presume were Americans.

What behaviors irritate you when you call a company? Please let us know your country. Irritants may be different in various countries.

Business Speech Improvement provides intensive training in verbal skills, including telephone skills.
Click here to learn about our new pre-recorded webinar on professional strategies to understand those with strong accents, and also to discreetly help customers with hearing loss!

Customer service: voice of the organization

Do your front line staff know that, to the public, they are the voice and face of the organization? Do they have the communication skills expertise to showcase your company in the most positive manner?

In an interesting interaction, a visitor to a recreation facility stopped an employee and gently and tactfully made a suggestion. "Have you ever considered having more trash cans [at a certain location in the facility]?" she asked. She explained what she had witnessed with the trash situation. The employee then stated emphatically that more trash cans would not help but that she hoped the [departing] visitor would educate the other visitors near her when they littered. The visitor, sensing the employee was very irritated, then complimented the employee on how nice the facility in general was looking, and the employee smiled slightly.

Afterwards, the visitor realized that, despite the suggestion box near (with no suggestion forms in sight), the employee did not think visitor suggestions were of value to the facility - even when the suggestions could make her job easier. The employee was basically telling the visitor that she didn't want to hear anything but praise.

A better way for the employee to have reacted would have been to write down the idea and say she would take it to her boss, sounding as if she valued the idea. The employee could then have asked which sections of the facility the visitor enjoyed most, or a similar question to keep the visitor focused on the best parts of her visit. This would not have taken long, and would have ended the visitor's stay in a very positive way.

Think about your front line staff. How do you want them to view customer suggestions - as something positive for the organization, or as a nuisance?

If you value customer suggestions, how do you let your staff and/or the customers know this?
Do you act on the suggestions and let the staff and customers know,  reward them or take other actions? Please share your ideas!

Business Speech Improvement offers intensive coaching and also an e-book on communication strategies for leadership development. Poor communication is so expensive; learn practical strategies for improving your skills!

"May I help you?" - do you care?

Today I listened to receptionists answer telephone calls for two businesses. Both had clearly been doing this all day, and may have been tired. Although they used basically the same words, one's tone of voice sounded like she clearly didn't care about the person at the other end. The other, although not enthusiastic, was more welcoming.

Tone of voice can make a difference between welcoming a prospective or current customer, and turning him or her away.
All it takes is a desire to welcome the customer and a little bit of both training and energy.

Sound like you care - every time. If you don't care, the customer may not share his time and business with you. After all, would you want to do business with a company whose first impression is of not caring?

Business Speech Improvement provides intensive training in verbal skills, from diction and sales communication to American English pronunciation and more.

Corporate voice mail message services: causing customer frustration

You call a company, and are asked to say and spell your name, address or customer number so your information can be found before transferring you to a customer service employee. Despite ultra-clear pronunciation, the machine doesn't understand you - repeatedly. Sometimes you then give up, or try to get around the system by dialing another number. Sometimes, if you wait long enough, a customer service rep comes online - and then has to calm a customer who maybe wasn't frustrated before making the call! So why do companies use these systems if they cannot recognize most names and numbers?

How do you handle it when the machine doesn't understand you?
Tell us your strategies; let's start a discussion here!

Business Speech Improvement provides intensive training in diction, accent modification, presentation skills, sales communication, and much more!

Extraordinary service - with a smile

Have you ever had extraordinary service in a store that actually made you smile? What's the best way to reward the giver of that service?

Recently a store staff member advised me on a product that was not only safer and more effective, but also much less expensive that the two I had intended to purchase. She took the time and initiative to make this suggestion. The impact of this is that not only will I save money, but the store's credibility has been greatly increased, in my opinion. In other words, I will be a much more loyal customer.

I plan to research and write her company HR director about her efforts, and ask that she be rewarded in some way. I also plan to tell her store manager.

How do you commend people for extraordinary service? Please share your favorite techniques! If you are a human resources director, how do you prefer it to be handled at your company?

Business Speech Improvement provides intensive training in many types of speaking skills, through coaching and e-books.
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Regional accents - and their impact

Many people report that having a strong regional accent, such as a strong New England, Midwestern, Southern or some other accent can impact their careers, even if they continue living in that part of the country. The reason is that they give presentations or make phone calls to people in other parts of the country, who may have trouble understanding them.

Have you had difficulty being understood or understanding someone else who has a strong regional accent? If so, what part of the country (and country) are you in? What did you have to do to communicate?

What kind of training would help in this case, if you were the speaker? Would you want regional accent modification alone, combined with customer service training or with public speaking training? Would you prefer it in person alone or in a group, in a webinar online (although you wouldn't get feedback), or in an e-book/mp3 file?

Business Speech Improvement provides intensive individual and group training, and e-books, on many topics related to communication.

Unsatisfied: What to do when the customer service is unsatisfactory

What do you do when you have a problem with a device or service and want the company to correct it?

Take these four steps: Read your warranty carefully to know what it covers. Then contact the customer service department with a clear description of the problem and supporting documentation, such as the warranty and sales receipt. Explain how you would like the problem to be resolved. Get the representative's name or number. Write down this information, the date and time you spoke to her and the suggested resolution of the problem. If she promised someone would call you back by a certain time, write that down too.

If there is no customer service rep, contact the department supervisor or headquarters with the same information. Write down what they say.

If you have difficulty speaking or hearing clearly, often customer service is available online.

If you are still unhappy, go up the chain of command. Each time, write down the person's name to whom you spoke, the time and date, what the other person offered to do, and the results.

It takes less effort to appease an unhappy customer than to get a new one, and an unhappy customer lets many others know about poor service.

Provide the facts and let the company help you get the problem resolved!

Great speech makes business sense. Business Speech Improvement provides intensive coaching in verbal skills, through e-books and in-person training.

The customer experience: the crucial first impression

When a prospective customer or client contacts your company for the first time, does she or he get a positive impression, of a knowledgeable staff member or a voice mail system that is truly easy to navigate? Try calling yourself and having others call, and see how your system rates.

Today I contacted a company, and got a temporary receptionist. Everything I said had to be repeated several times so she could write it down. She could not give me any information I needed, and could not transfer me to someone else who was more knowledgeable. When I asked, she admitted she was a "fill-in".
If only the company knew what she was costing them in lost business and a terrible first impression!

How does your company rate in its' first impression to prospective customers?


Business Speech Improvement provides intensive training in verbal skills, including sales communication and executive communication skills.