how to improve my soft skills?
Posted by admin | Under soft skills Tuesday Dec 1, 2009sometimes i find myself in such a strange situation when i don’t have any reply to my customer’s question. I donot know what to say and at that time customers lose confidence on me and they ask for my supervisor. My supervisor asks me why can’t i deal with the irate customers. I always want to evade those kind of situations. How to talk diplomatic and talk in such a manner that i don’t have to hide from those situations. I need some help to develop my soft skills. Thanks for your suggestions.
When customers ask questions to you, they consider you as an authority in the product that you are selling. What this means, whether you like it or not, you are the authority in answering the question. The key here is that you answer IN THE BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE. Most of times, you can only help as much as you know how. So, whether you understood the question or the customer’s intention fully or not, you just have to blup out answers.
For the irate customers, they are angry and frustrated for certain reason. They are not angry about you. They are only trying to communicate to you that they are the ones that don’t understand what is going on with the product or situations. In other words, they are claiming that they are stupid. So all you have to do is impart your knowledge of the product, once again, AS BEST AS YOU CAN. The key element being transfered back and forth between you and your customers is INFORMATION. You are not responsible as a counsellor or therapist. You MAY feel sympathetic and attempt to sooth them so how, but not many human beings have the ability to dissect the emotional rupture. You are simply an informant, and if the customer is not satisfied with your answer and continue to be frustrated, you should try again in calm manner, and then talk to your manager about it.
You are a good person, it seems. It is something that you should not lose, but concerning your JOB, you should only be concerned about information transfer. I hope this thought helps.
I work too and i find myself in situations such as yours also. The one thing i just remember is to stay calm and not even think of situations like that. When he/ she asks you questions think it over in your head, have a feel for what you want to say, and then say it. Good Luck!
References :
When customers ask questions to you, they consider you as an authority in the product that you are selling. What this means, whether you like it or not, you are the authority in answering the question. The key here is that you answer IN THE BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE. Most of times, you can only help as much as you know how. So, whether you understood the question or the customer’s intention fully or not, you just have to blup out answers.
For the irate customers, they are angry and frustrated for certain reason. They are not angry about you. They are only trying to communicate to you that they are the ones that don’t understand what is going on with the product or situations. In other words, they are claiming that they are stupid. So all you have to do is impart your knowledge of the product, once again, AS BEST AS YOU CAN. The key element being transfered back and forth between you and your customers is INFORMATION. You are not responsible as a counsellor or therapist. You MAY feel sympathetic and attempt to sooth them so how, but not many human beings have the ability to dissect the emotional rupture. You are simply an informant, and if the customer is not satisfied with your answer and continue to be frustrated, you should try again in calm manner, and then talk to your manager about it.
You are a good person, it seems. It is something that you should not lose, but concerning your JOB, you should only be concerned about information transfer. I hope this thought helps.
References :
If you are not face to face, tell them that you have access to the answer, but it wil take a few minutes to find. Use this as a stock response. It will buy you time, and allow you to continue to hunt for the answer to the question. If you need to look on a computer or somethng, maybe make a little bit of small talk while you search for the answer. Don’t give them that pause, and if you absolutely cannot find the answer, tell them that you need to leave your station to go get the answer, and if you are in a call center, there are probably a couple managers or upper levels wandering about to aid you if you need help.
If you are in an office setting face to face, use the same strategy while you hunt for the answer, and if you absolutely can’t find it, expain that you need to leave the office a minute to go get it, and then go ask a supervisor, and then bring back the answer.
References :