1. Getting the Most Out of Customer Interactions

2. Facilitator: Tracy Laycock
Welcome
Welcome!
Facilitator: Tracy Laycock
Welcome to today’s webinar.
The topic for today is customer service. We’ll be discussing techniques to get the most out of your interactions with customers, consumers, and coworkers.
We are going to start out by defining professionalism and good business sense.
Then, we’ll talk about the importance of making good first impressions.
Finally, we’ll talk about dealing with difficult people.

3. Supplemental Resources
Center on Community Living and Careers (CCLC) Web site
Leadership Academy Courses in OnCourse
This PowerPoint presentation and supplemental resources can be downloaded from the CCLC Web site, or though this course in On Course.

4. Professionalism and Good
Business Sense
We hear it all the time: “She is so professional,” or, “she acts professionally.” We all know that we are expected to behave professionally at work. So, what does this term really mean? How do we ensure that it is maintained?

5. Professionalism – Definition
Business Dictionary.com:
Meticulous adherence to undeviating courtesy, honesty, and responsibility in one's dealings with customers and associates, plus a level of excellence that goes over and above the commercial considerations and legal requirements.
According to Business Dictionary.com, professionalism is the meticulous adherence to undeviating courtesy, honesty, and responsibility in one's dealings with customers and associates, plus a level of excellence that goes over and above the commercial considerations and legal requirements.
Professionalism is the expertise that a professional has in a certain field. At work, professionalism refers to a person doing his or her job with sincerity and maintaining professional etiquette and professional ethics in the workplace.
Professionalism at work requires an individual to possess these characteristics:
Knowing oneself and being in control of one’s reactions and work-related antics. Losing control over one’s temper is not considered professional in a work place.
Handling constructive criticism. Constructive or not, criticism is part of any working experience and one needs to be receptive of it.
One has to be aware that workplace conflicts are natural and, hence, inevitable. It is not human nature to be around many people on a regular basis, under occasional stress, and yet manage to be conflict-free. The point is to harness that conflict into positive productivity and leave it at that.
Source: Khilawala, Rashida. Professionalism at Work. Buzzle.com, 2011.

6. Importance of Professionalism
Ensures good performance by all
Ensures good team spirit
Keeps employees motivated
Ensures justice to everyone’s efforts
Maintains the right amount of communication
Why is professionalism important in the workplace?
It is important to ensure good performance by all. If everyone is professional, everyone will do the best he or she can at his or her job.
Professionalism in the workplace is required to ensure a good team spirit. If people work professionally, they will know how to value their organizational goals, along with their personal ones.
Professionalism is required to keep all employees motivated. Happy employees are positive brand ambassadors for the organization. Keeping the employees motivated is important to keep a good reputation in the office.
It is important to ensure justice to everyone’s efforts. In a professional environment, a person’s quantity of work is taken into consideration, along with the quality of their work. This phenomenon does justice and appreciates the efforts of the employees.
Professionalism in the workplace helps to maintain the right amount of communication in the workplace. Free communication and open-door policies are all very conducive and welcoming at every workplace. It also ensures that those who require to be heard, are heard.
Source: Khilawala, Rashida. Professionalism in the Workplace. Buzzle.com, 2011.

7. Professionalism Tips Make excellence your goal Get your basics right
Take your job seriously
Switch off personal problems
Focus on your work
Be willing to learn
Be a team player
Enjoy what you do
What are some things you can do to pump up your professionalism?
Make excellence your goal. Excellence is the driving force of professionals. They live to excel at what they do and do it in the best possible way. For them, a job is more that just a means of livelihood -- it is something that overlaps with their passion.
Get your basics right. This is a consequence of the pursuit of excellence. To excel, professionals work hard on the basics that are required to do their job well. They keep polishing their basics and updating the basic skills to make them professionals.
Take your job seriously. Professionals take their job very seriously, follow disciplined routines, and take pride in their work. The seriousness is reflected in their sincerity and quality of their work.
Switch off personal problems. To be professional, one must master the art of switching off everything else when entering the workplace, including personal problems. Professionals can be caring people, but can set personal issues aside for awhile if needed.
When at the workplace, focus on your work. Professionals do not waste time at the workplace, indulging in things which are unrelated to their work profiles. They understand that they are present at the workplace to work and socialize later.
Be willing to learn. Professionals learn to identify positive, constructive criticism from their seniors and learn from it. They take negative criticism in stride and let their work do the talking. For professionals, learning is a continuous process.
Be a team player. Professionals gel in a team and are always willing to adapt according to what the team needs. They like to encourage people around them and create a positive atmosphere. They know how to handle difficult people at work. They are resourceful and help colleagues out when they can.
Enjoy what you do. The key to being a professional is enjoying and loving what you do for a job. Aligning your job with your passion and what you are good at doing is the key to becoming a professional.
Source: Pilgrim, Gray. Professionalism Tips. Buzzle.com, 2011.

8. Professionalism vs. Customer Service
Are professionalism and good customer service the same or different?
Some good customer service habits to develop include the following:
Follow up on promises
Treat the customer the way you want to be treated
Take ownership of the interaction
Provide alternatives
Express understanding
Use positive language
These good customer service habits sound much like the habits of a professional. Do you agree?

9. Barriers to Good Customer Service
Human Barriers
Environmental Barriers
We all want to provide good customer service to the consumers. Sometimes there are barriers present that may result in providing poor customer service.
The first type of barrier is a human barrier. What do these barriers look like?
Don’t care about your consumers
Dislike for job
Prolonged stress
Tired
Personal problems
What can you do to overcome human barriers? Take care of yourself if you are stressed. Get rest. Remember: a good habit of a professional is to check your personal life at the door while working. Brush up on your basic skills.
The other type of barrier is environmental. These are generally out of our control. What do these barriers look like?
Technology issues
Lack of training
Lack of knowledge
Short-staffed
Legal barriers
Issue is not your responsibility
What can you do to overcome environmental barriers? Pump up the human skills. Work around them, inform the consumer about the barrier, and give an alternative solution. The worst thing we can do is use an environmental barrier as an excuse.

10. First Impressions
Good customer service starts with making a good first impression. Let’s look at the importance of making a good first impression and how we make sure we do this with every new work-related interaction.

11. First Impressions The first 30 seconds No second chances
Some tips to remember
Focus on the other person’s needs
Demonstrate good listening skills
Check your appearance
Remember names
We have all heard the warning: “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.”
The reason why a first impression is so important is because it is hard-wired in the human brain to assess a person within about the first 30 seconds of meeting them. This is an evolutionary throwback to the days when you couldn’t be sure if the person approaching you was a friend or foe. Your first impression way back then was important because it could very well mean the difference between life or death. It may only take half that time for someone to form an impression of you.
We have evolved and generally we no longer need to know if the person approaching us is going to harm us. Today, we still retain that skill or intuition about people. In the first few seconds of meeting someone, we make judgments about one another by what we say and how we look.
Here are some tips for making your first impression strongly positive:
Demonstrate immediately that the other person, not you, is the center of action or conversation.
Demonstrate good listening skills. Use active listening skills by giving cues with head nods or verbal cues.
Appearance counts. Choose the appropriate attire for the meeting and smile when appropriate.
Use the name of the new acquaintance frequently – but not too much.
Source: Lampton, Bill. How to Make a Strong First Impression: Seven Tips That Really Work

12. Elements of Communication
Body language
Voice tone
Words
When we have a conversation with someone, we send our message using three elements: body language, voice tone, and the words we use.
If fact, according to a UCLA study conducted by a researcher named Mehrabian in 1981, in face-to-face communication, 55% of the communication comes from body language, 38% comes from the voice tone we use, and only 7% of the message comes from the words we say. If the words you are saying don’t match your body language or voice tone, what message will the other person hear – the message your body language or voice tone is sending?
Let’s see if we can demonstrate this in the picture of the little girl on the screen. Here is a little girl about 3 years old with her eyes and mouth wide open displaying an emotion of excitement or joy. I can almost hear her squealing with delight. Imagine if she is responding to this question from her mother, “Sally, do you want to go to the circus?” From her expression, I’m guessing she replied with an ecstatic “Yes.”
But what if she responded in a straight face and a flat voice tone, “Yes”. Her mother would probably respond, “why don’t you want to go,” even though Sally said yes.
Body language and voice tone can send powerful messages, negating the words we say.

13. Body Language Body language is 55% of the message we send.
Remember to meet your consumers with body language that says, “I care and I’m here to help you.” Stand straight, smile, or show concern in your facial expressions when appropriate.
Sometimes body language (e.g., facial expressions) are difficult to control. Work on keeping a positive or neutral expression as you meet with consumers.

14. Other voice tone techniques:
Three types:
Negative
Neutral
Positive
Other voice tone techniques:
Meet the pace of the consumer
Gain attention by changing your volume
Use emphasis and inflection to convey interest and concern
The tone of voice you use can influence your ability to deliver good customer service. As we demonstrated with Sally a few slides ago, tone can change the meaning of a word.
There are three types of voice tones:
Negative
Neutral
Positive
When someone uses a negative tone, what impressions do you get? The person is angry, upset, or doesn’t want to help me.
When you hear a neutral tone, what impression do you get? You don’t know how the person is feeling or that they possibly don’t care.
When you hear a positive tone, what impressions do you get? The person is friendly and ready to help me. Be careful with too much positive. This can send the message of incompetence.
Other voice tone techniques you can use to build rapport with consumers:
Meet the pace of your consumer. Slow down a little when someone speaks slowly to you. Speaking too quickly can cause the listener to distrust you.
Gain attention by changing your volume. If a consumer is angry, speak more slowly and softly. Resist the urge to match their volume.
Use emphasis and inflection to convey interest or concern. Adding emphasis or inflection on words can change how a message is received.

15. Use positive phrasing to show consumers that you care:
Words
Use positive phrasing to show consumers that you care:
Acknowledging phrases
Affirming phrases
Assuring phrases
Customers and consumers want us to do more than quote policies and procedures: they want us to show that we care. You can demonstrate caring through a series of responses that consumers will perceive as friendly and caring. Use these skills often in your interactions with consumers.
Acknowledging phrases can be used throughout the consumer interaction to tell consumers you heard what they said and you are ready to assist them. Use acknowledging phrases to respond to something the consumer says. This demonstrates that you are listening and interested.
Examples: “That’s great news.” “I can help you with this.” “I’m sorry that didn’t work out for you.”
Use affirming phrases to make the consumer feel good or smart. Affirming phrases are like compliments. If someone is expecting a compliment and doesn’t get one, he or she may end up feeling insulted.
Examples: “That was a smart thing to do.” “That’s a good question.” “You did the right thing.”
When someone has a concern that you can address, assure him or her that you will be responsible for taking care of it. Affirming phrases demonstrate that you will take ownership to resolve the situation. Be sure to follow up when promised.
Example: “I will take care of this today and follow up with you in the morning.”

16. Dealing with Difficult People
What about the times when you find yourself dealing with a difficult person? Let’s look at why people act the way they do and how we might be able to diffuse emotion in an interaction.