Familiarity breeds contempt or so they say. At GA Training we have often had a debate about when it is appropriate to use familiar terms like mate. My own personal opinion is that no matter how friendly a customer appears to be you should never use the phrase mate as it is a little too [...]
Archive for November, 2009
Body Language on the telephone
When talking with someone face-to-face many of us are aware of body language, both ours and other people’s. However, most of us don’t often consider our body language when we are talking on the phone but it can make a huge difference to how we come across. A good place to start is with a [...]
Handling complaints – getting the tone right
No matter how good we are we all have to deal with complaints from time to time. The following tips will help you to get the tone of your responses right when you are dealing with written complaints. When we speak, our tone of voice affects what we say and produces different reactions. We may [...]
Controlling the call and getting the facts
In order to control a call and get the facts you need to display active listening. Effective listening is an essential skill in all aspects of customer service but it is particularly useful when managing difficult situations. Listening is often seen as a passive skills because people don’t actively show that they are listening, or [...]
Giving bad news in customer service
Everybody would like to say yes rather than say no however there are some times when it is impossible to say yes so follow these simple guidelines to help you give bad news when you can’t avoid it. Don’t avoid it The longer you leave it, the harder it is for you. The customer may [...]
Preparation for a call
In order to make sure that you are able to answer calls in an efficient and professional manner at all times it is essential to make sure that you are prepared for each and every call. The old maxim rings true – “if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.” The following are some [...]
Unscrewing the leg in customer service
A three legged stool can only stand up if all three legs are working. Think of your customer service teams as three legged stools for a moment. If one leg decides to unscrew itself or worse still it tries to unscrew one of the other legs the net result is that the stool will fall [...]
Handling difficult people over the festive period
Yesterday the shopworkers union released data that showed that up to 1 in 3 shop staff have been verbally abused in the last month alone and perhaps more shocking is that 1 in 10 staff have been physically abused. In the lead up to the festive period USDAW released their findings and claimed that members [...]
The need for consistency in customer service
In a great deal of our meetings and training needs analysis with prospects and clients we always come across the same theme. Every customer service function within every organisation we deal with often has one overriding desired outcome and that is the need for consistency. You could of course argue that some of the service [...]
Three key customer service questions
Have you ever been served by someone either over the phone or face-to-face and thought to yourself “how an earth did you get through an interview for this job?” and “why did you apply for this job in the first place when you are clearly not suited to it?” You know the type of person [...]
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