Customer Service.pptx

What is Customer Service?:
Customer service is the act of taking care of the customer's needs by providing and
delivering professional, helpful, high quality service and assistance before, during,
and after the customer's requirements are met.
“Customer service is the direct one-on-one interaction between a consumer making
a purchase and a representative of the company that is selling it.” ~ Investopedia
“Customer Service is the interaction between the buyer of a product and the
company that sells it.”
Customer needs are the named and unnamed needs your customer has when they
come in contact with your business, your competitors, or when they search for the
solutions you provide.

Customer Needs: Types
Definition: Customer needs are things that a customer wants, needs or
expects in a product or service.
 Functionality: Customers need your product or service to function
the way they need in order to solve their problem or desire.
 Price: Customers have unique budgets with which they can purchase
a product or service.
 Convenience: Your product or service needs to be a convenient
solution to the function your customers are trying to meet.
 Experience: The experience using your product or service needs to
be easy -- or at least clear -- so as not to create more work for your
customers.
 Design: Along the lines of experience, the product or service needs a
slick design to make it relatively easy and intuitive to use.
 Reliability: The product or service needs to reliably function as
advertised every time the customer wants to use it.

 Service Needs:
Empathy: When your customers get in touch with customer service,
they want empathy and understanding from the people assisting them.
Fairness: From pricing to terms of service to contract length, customers
expect fairness from a company.
Transparency: Customers expect transparency from a company they're
doing business with. Service outages, pricing changes, and things
breaking happen, and customers deserve openness from the
businesses they give money to.
Control: Customers need to feel like they're in control of the business
interaction from start to finish and beyond, and customer
empowerment shouldn't end with the sale. Make it easy for them to
return products, change subscriptions, adjust terms, etc.
Options: Customers need options when they're getting ready to make
a purchase from a company.

 10. Empathy: When customers get in touch with customer service,
they require empathy and understanding from those people
assisting them.
 11. Fairness: From pricing to terms of service to contract length,
customers expect fairness from a company.
 12. Transparency: Customers expect transparency from a company
they're doing business with. Service outages, pricing changes, and
things breaking happen, and customers deserve openness from
the businesses they give money to.
 13. Control: Customers need to feel like they're in control of the
business interaction from start to finish and beyond, and customer
empowerment shouldn't end with the sale. Make it easy for them
to return products, change subscriptions, adjust terms, etc.
 14. Options: Customers need options when they're getting ready
to make a purchase from a company - offer a variety of product,
subscription, and payment options etc.

Performance: The product or service needs to perform
correctly so the customer can achieve their goals.
Efficiency: The product or service needs to be efficient for the
customer by streamlining an otherwise time-consuming
process.
Compatibility: The product or service needs to be compatible
with other products your customer is already using.
Information: Customers need information, from the moment
they start interacting with your brand to days and months after
making a purchase. Business should invest in educational blog
content, instructional knowledge base content, and regular
communication so customers have the information they need
to successfully use a product or service.

16. Accessibility: Customers need to be able to
access your service and support teams. This means
providing multiple channels for customer service.
We'll talk a little more about these options later.

Customer Service Channels
The communication channel your team uses to respond to
customer needs plays a major role in their ability to resolve
problems.
Some customer needs are time-sensitive and require immediate
interaction via phone or chat. Others are less critical and can be
resolved at a more casual pace.
The types of customer service channels and how each optimizes
your team's ability to fulfill customer needs:
Email: Email is one of the most fundamental forms of customer
service. It allows customers to fully describe their problems and
automatically records the conversation into a resourceful thread.
Customers only have to explain their issue once, while reps can
reference important case details without having to request
additional information.

Email is best used with customer needs that don't need
to be resolved right away.
Customers can ask their question, go back to work, and
return to the case once the service rep has found a
solution – no need to wait idly while a rep finds an
answer
a limitation of email is the potential lack of clarity.
Customers might have trouble describing their
problem, whilst some service reps struggle to explain
solutions. This creates time-consuming roadblocks
when the issue is overly complex.
Use email for simple problems that require a brief
explanation or solution.

 Phone: When customers have problems that need to be answered
immediately, phones are the best medium to use.
 Phones connect customers directly to reps and create a
human interaction between the customer and the business-
parties hear each other's tone and can gauge the severity of
the situation.
 the human element is a major factor in creating delightful
customer experiences.
 Phones are most handy most when there's a frustrated or
angry customer. These customers are most likely to churn
and require your team to provide a personalized solution.
 Soft communication skills can be used to appease customers
and prevent costly escalations.
 Responses appear more genuine over phones because reps
have less time to formulate an answer. – Major flaw is with
phone support is the wait time. Customers hate being put on
hold, and it's a determining factor for customer churn.

Chat: Chat is one of the most flexible customer service channels.
It can solve a high volume of simple problems or provide detailed
support for complex ones.
 Businesses continue to adopt chat due to of its versatility
and the improvement in efficiency it provides for
customer service reps.- chat can be used to solve almost
any problem.
 Simple and common questions can be answered
with chatbots that automate the customer service
process. Also, reps can integrate customer service
tools into their chat software to help them diagnose and
resolve issues.
 Limitations of chat are similar to those of email but since
the interaction is live, lack of clarity between parties can
drastically impact troubleshooting.

Social Media: Social media is a relatively new customer service
channel, though it's been around for over a decade, businesses are
now beginning to adopt it as a viable service option.
Social media lets customers immediately report an issue - and that report is
public, customer service teams are more motivated to resolve the
customer's problem.
Its an excellent channel for mass communication, which is particularly useful
during a business crisis – in a crisis, your customers' product and service
needs become the primary concern of your organization.
Social media is an effective tool for communicating with your customers in
bulk. With a social media crisis management plan, your team can continue
to fulfill customer needs during critical situations.
Social media empowers the customer the most. Customers tend to have
more urgent needs and expect instant responses from your accounts. While
this type of service presents an enormous opportunity,
It places tremendous pressure on your reps to fulfill customer demand. Be
sure your team is equipped with proper social media management
tools before you offer routine support.

In Person: As the oldest form of customer service, you're probably
familiar with working in person with customers.
Brands with brick-and-mortar stores must offer this service for
customers living near their locations.
Fulfil the convenience need as customers can purchase and return
a product without having to ship it back to the company through
an online service.
This service is great for businesses with strong service personnel
Needs a dedicated employees customer service team to fulfill
your customers' product or service needs.
Successful teams have reps who are determined to
provide above-and-beyond customer service.
omni-channel experience : create an omni-channel
experience for your customers which will keep them coming back
for more. When used together, each medium compliments the
other and optimizes your overall performance.

Question: when goods are purchased, technology used,
or there is a sign up for services, what would prevent the
customer from achieving ultimate value?
Inconsistent company wide-messaging
Inadequate instructions for easy adoption
Lack of avenues for customer feedback
Distancing or incapability to nurture customer
relationships
Improper identification of customers’ real needs
Solving Customer Needs

Offer Consistent Company-wide Messaging: Too often
customers, get caught up in the "he said, she said" game of
being told a product can do one thing from sales and another
from support and product.
Ultimately, customers become confused and are left with the
perception that the company is disorganized.
Consistent internal communications across all departments is one of
the best steps towards a customer-focused mindset.
The entire company should understand its goals, values, product, and
service capabilities, then the messages will easily translate to meet the
customers need.
Try to get everyone on the same page, organize sales and customer
service meetings, send out new product emails, provide robust new
employee onboarding,
Require quarterly trainings and seminars, or staff host webinars to
share important projects.

Provide Instructions For Easy Adoption: Customers purchase a
product because they believe it will meet their needs and solve
their problem.
Make sure the adoption set-up stages are clear. Right from the start specify
clearly the set-up so that the customer can see value right away and you
automatically gain trust.
A well-thought post-purchase strategy will enable your products or
services to be usable and useful – companies can gain their customers'
attention by providing in-product and email walkthroughs including
instructions as soon as the customer receives a payment confirmation.
Limit the confusion, technical questions, and distractions from the
immediate post-purchase euphoria with timely and clear instructions e.g.,
provide a customer education guide or knowledge base to deliver proper
customer adoption and avoid the ‘floundering effect' when customers are
stuck.
Some companies provide new customer onboarding services, host live
demos and webinars and include event and promotions in their email
signatures. E.g., Microsoft, Adobe Acrobat, Financial Investor Account
Setup

Ask customers for feedback: Lean into customer complaints and
suggestions and it will change the way you operate your business.
 Criticism often times has negative connotations, but flip problems to
opportunities and improve your business to suit the customer's needs.
Take customer suggestions seriously and act on the recommendations to
improve design, product and system glitches.
Customer support success metrics is paramount to the customer
experience and this mentality should trickle down to every aspect of the
organization.
Track the feedback - companies track and gain their feedback
through customer satisfaction scores, customer surveys, exploration
customer interviews, social media polls, or simply a personal email can
grab helpful candid customer feedback.

Nurture Customer Relationships: When a customer buys a
product or service, they want to use it right away and fulfill their
immediate need.
Extend the new purchase delight for more than the first hour, week, or
month- constantly think about their future needs.
Proactive relationship-building is essential to prevent customers from
losing their post-purchase excitement and ultimately churning. If
customers stop hearing from you and you don't hear from them this can
be a bad sign that their lifespan is in danger.
Solve for customer relationships with a combination of customer service
structure and communication strategies.
Look to long-term customer need and create a customer service team
dedicated to check-ins and customer retention,
Show appreciation with rewards and gifts to loyal customers, host local
events, highlight employees that go above and beyond and communicate
product updates and new features.

Solve For The Right Customer Needs: Excluding customers
from your cohort of business can seem counterintuitive to
solve for your customers' needs.
Understand whose needs you can fulfill and whose you cannot i.e.,
solve the right problems. All customers' needs can't be treated
equally and a company must recognize which problems they can
solve and ones that aren't aligned with their vision.
Identify the right customer priorities, create ‘buyer personas’ and
uncover consumer trends,
look at customer's long-term retention patterns, establish a clear
company vision, provide premier customer service to valuable
customers
communicate with your ideal customer in their preferred social
media space to capture questions, comments and suggestions.
**Successful startups, brick and mortar shops, including Fortune 500
companies alike all solve and prioritize customer needs to stay ahead and
establish industry trends.

What Are Customer Service Skills?
That set of behaviours relied upon when interacting with a customer / client
Technical
Communication
To effectively solve problems, you will likely need to know a bit of technical or industry
knowledge to help them resolve the issue at hand.
Patience Clients and customers might ask several questions, be unhappy or ask you to repeat
instructions several times. Patience is important to keep the conversation on track, remain
personable and provide a positive experience.
Communication You will need to be responsive in a timely manner. You will need to communicate with
them in a clear, easy-to-understand way to solve the problem.
Empathy Your interactions may begin with someone who is frustrated or unhappy. It is important
that you understand and identify with the feelings of others and communicate accordingly.
Curtesy & Follow-Up They can also be useful when following up after an initial conversation includes Civility and
good etiquette

Customer Service Traits
Be Friendly
Respond In A Timely Manner
Know Your Product Or Service
Listen To Your Customers
Say Thank You
Get To Know Your Customers
Ask For Feedback
Use The Feedback You Receive
Focus On Relationships

 Be friendly: Greet customers with a smile and
always be courteous and respectful. Be proactive
by paying attention to the customer’s needs and
offering help or recommendations before they ask.
It is important to always remain kind and
empathetic to your customer, even through
stressful or contentious situations when they are
disappointed or angry.
Respond in a timely manner: Another factor in
good customer service involves the timeliness of
your responses. Customers appreciate a speedy
response to their inquiries, especially when they
have a request that is time-sensitive. For good
customer service, try to return all phone calls and
emails within 24 hours. Let customers know how
long it will take you to assist them.

Know Your Product Or Service:
• In order to offer your
customers excellent service,
you should know every aspect
of the product or service you
are selling. - be able to discuss
its features and uses, show
your customers the advantages
they get from using your
product or service and
troubleshoot anything that is
not working correctly.
Listen To Your Customers:
• By listening attentively, you can
understand exactly what your
customer needs from you.
• They might have a valid point
that you can use to improve
your product or service.
• Sometimes customers just need
to be heard….so be sure
to actively listen to what they
have to say.

Courtesy / Gratitude: A simple “thank you” can go a long way when providing customer service. Customers
often remember sincere gratitude, and it reminds them why they hired your company or shopped at your
store. Saying thank you after every transaction is an easy way to provide excellent customer service. Here are
a few other ways you can thank customers for their business:
Send a handwritten thank you note. Sending a handwritten thank you note is a personalized way to show
you appreciate them, sending a card through the mail adds a special touch, birthday greetings have been
quite effective.
Provide free samples. Giving your customers free samples is a great way to say thank you because it has
two benefits. First, customers often feel appreciated when they receive something for free. Second, if you
are looking to promote a new product, a free sample is a great way to get it in the hands of the customers
most likely to buy it.
Include something extra. Adding something extra to your customer’s bag or package is a nice way to say
thank you. Options can include small bags of candy, stickers or promotional materials.
Offer a special discount. If you are interested in thanking loyal customers - consider giving a special
discount. This could be immediately a purchase is made… it can also encourage another sale.

 Get to know your customers: Providing great customer service means knowing
who your customers are and what they want. When you have a better
understanding of your customers and what drives them, you’ll find it easier to
offer them the customer service they need. Here are a few tips on how you can
get to know your customers better:
Ask them. Asking your customers a few simple questions is the easiest way to
get to know them. This is also a great way for you to find areas where you can
stand out from your competition.
Use social media. Many social media platforms provide insights into what
your customers like, their habits and what they are buying. You can also use
posts on your own social media pages to get to know your customers better
and to find out what they like and do not like about your products or services.
Conduct a survey. Surveys are a good way to get honest feedback from your
customers and gain specific information about their wants and needs.

7. Ask for feedback: Asking your customers for feedback
shows them you care about their opinion and want to be
helpful. Giving them the opportunity to provide feedback
can make them feel appreciated. You can use feedback
forms, customer surveys, questionnaires or first-hand
feedback when customers are completing their orders to
find out what they need and what they think of your
business, products or service.
8. Use the feedback you receive: Once you have feedback
from your customers, you should make use of it to improve
your customer service process. You can take time regularly
to review the feedback you are getting so you can identify
areas where you can improve and note any specific changes
you can make.

Focus on relationships:
A positive relationships with your customers will reinforce their willingness to do
business in future.
It serves to inspire loyalty and appreciation – e.g., offer personalized service, greet them
by name and make notes of previous conversations so you can reference such info next
time.

Dealing With Angry Customers
Remain calm. When a customer starts yelling or being otherwise
rude, there is nothing to be gained by responding in a similar manner.
In fact, that will probably escalate hostilities. Maintain control of
yourself, even if the customer’s tirade makes you feeling like yelling
yourself.
Don’t take it personal. Remember, the customer is not angry with
you, they are displeased with the performance of your product or the
quality of the service you provide. Set personal feelings aside.
Use your best listening skills. The first thing an angry customer wants
is to vent. To do so, they need someone to listen—and, for better or
worse, you are that person. Listen patiently, Hear them out!, summarize
what you’ve heard and ask any questions to further clarify, Body
language can be critically important here, Keep eye contact, Stand or sit
up straight, Keep arms uncrossed, Show how closely you’re paying
attention to their problem.

Actively sympathize. After the customer vents, he wants to know you understand
where he’s coming from and how he or she feels. Express sympathy for their
unpleasant customer experience. Respect and understanding go a long way toward
smoothing things over.
Apologize gracefully. Whether the customer’s complaint is legitimate or not is really
irrelevant. To retain customer-ship, express an apology for the problem they are
having (or perceive to be having). A simple, - “I’m sorry you’re not happy with our
product. Let’s see what we can do to make things right.”
Find a solution. Understand why your customer is unhappy,…offer a solution. Ask
what the customer feels should be done or put forward your own fair and realistic
answer to the problem. Often, the customer is merely looking for some degree of
satisfaction.

 Take a few minutes on your own.
After the situation has been resolved and the
customer is on her way, it’s helpful for you to take
your own “time-out.”
Even if you’ve handled the situation in the most
professional way possible, it’s still a stressful
experience.
Rather than let that stress linger inside you, take a
short walk, treat yourself to a snack or find someone
to talk to who makes you laugh. Then you’ll be ready
to once again engage with your customers.

‘Costs’ of Customer Satisfaction
there are customer service issues for which human interaction is indispensable,
creating a competitive advantage.
Courteous and empathetic interaction with a trained customer service
representative can mean the difference between losing or retaining a customer.
Creation of ‘word of mouth references’ that serve to further attract more
customers.
Negative publicity
Growth, Innovation & Retention - Loss of clientele leading to impact on
profitability

Communication
the act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or behaviors to express or exchange information or to express
your ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc., to someone else
3 parts to a communication:
• Sender
• Message
• Recipient
The sender ‘encodes’ the message - usually in a mixture of words and non-verbal communication.
It is transmitted in some way (e.g. - by speech or writing), and the recipient ‘decodes’ it.
Recipients can be one / more thus the complexity of communication means that each one may receive a slightly different
message e.g., 2 people may read very different meanings into the choice of words and/or body language.
It is also possible that neither of them will have quite the same understanding as the sender.
In face-to-face communication, the roles of the sender and recipient are not distinct.
The two roles will alternate back and forth between two people talking.
Both parties communicate with each other, even if in very subtle ways such as through eye-contact (or lack of) and general
body language. In written communication, however, the sender and recipient are more distinct.

The Skilled Communicator
Communication Skills: Definitions and Examples
Communication skills allow you to understand and be understood by others. These can include but are not limited to effectively communicating ideas to others, actively
listening in conversations, giving and receiving critical feedback and public speaking.
What are communication skills?
Communication skills are abilities you use when giving and receiving different kinds of information. Some examples include communicating ideas, feelings or what’s
happening around you. Communication skills involve listening, speaking, observing and empathizing. It is also helpful to understand the differences in how to
communicate through face-to-face interactions, phone conversations and digital communications, like email and social media.
Communication skills examples
There are different types of communication skills you can learn and practice to help you become an effective communicator. Many of these skills work together, making it
important to practice communication skills in different contexts whenever possible.
Active listening
Active listening means paying close attention to the person who is speaking to you. People who are active listeners are well-regarded by their coworkers because of the
attention and respect they offer others. While it seems simple, this is a skill that can be hard to develop and improve. You can be an active listener by focusing on the
speaker, avoiding distractions like cell phones, laptops or other projects, and by preparing questions, comments or ideas to thoughtfully respond.
Adapting your communication style to your audience
Different styles of communication are appropriate in different situations. To make the best use of your communication skills, it’s important to consider your audience and
the most effective format to communicate with them in.
For example, if you are communicating with a potential employer, it’s better to send a formal email or call them on the phone. Depending on the situation, you may even
need to send a formal, typed letter over other forms of communication. In the workplace, you may find it’s easier to communicate complex information in person or via a
video conference than in a long, dense email.

Friendliness: In friendships, characteristics such as honesty and kindness often
foster trust and understanding. The same characteristics are important in workplace
relationships. When you’re working with others, approach your interactions with a
positive attitude, keep an open mind and ask questions to help you understand
where they’re coming from. Small gestures such as asking someone how they’re
doing, smiling as they speak or offering praise for work well done can help you foster
productive relationships with both colleagues and managers.
Confidence: In the workplace, people are more likely to respond to ideas that are
presented with confidence. There are many ways to appear confident, including by
making eye contact when you’re addressing someone, sitting up straight with your
shoulders open and preparing ahead of time so your thoughts are polished. You’ll
find confident communication comes in handy not just on the job but during the job
interview process as well.
Giving and receiving feedback: Strong communicators are able to accept
critical feedback and provide constructive input to others. Feedback should answer
questions, provide solutions or help strengthen the project or topic at hand.

Volume and clarity
When you’re speaking, it’s important to be clear and audible. Adjusting your speaking voice so you can be heard in a variety of settings is a skill, and it’s critical to communicating effectively. Speaking too loudly may by
disrespectful or awkward in certain settings. If you’re unsure, read the room to see how others are communicating.
Related: Soft Skills: Definition and Examples
Empathy
Having empathy means that you can understand and share the emotions of others. This communication skill is important in both team and one-on-one settings. In both cases, you will need to understand other people’s
emotions and select an appropriate response. For example, if someone is expressing anger or frustration, empathy can help you acknowledge and diffuse their emotion. At the same time, being able to understand when
someone is feeling positive and enthusiastic can help you get support for your ideas and projects.
Respect
A key aspect of respect is knowing when to initiate communication and respond. In a team or group setting, allowing others to speak without interruption is seen as a necessary communication skill tied to respectfulness.
Respectfully communicating also means using your time with someone else wisely—staying on topic, asking clear questions and responding fully to any questions you’ve been asked.
Understanding nonverbal cues
A great deal of communication happens through nonverbal cues such as body language, facial expressions and eye contact. When you’re listening to someone, you should be paying attention to what they’re saying as well
as their nonverbal language. By the same measure, you should be conscious of your own body language when you’re communicating to ensure you’re sending appropriate cues to others.
Related: Nonverbal Communication Skills: Definition and Examples
Responsiveness
Whether you’re returning a phone call or sending a reply to an email, fast communicators are viewed as more effective than those who are slow to respond. One method is to consider how long your response will take: is this
a request or question you can answer in the next five minutes? If so, it may be a good idea to address it as soon as you see it. If it’s a more complex request or question, you can still acknowledge that you’ve received the
message and let the other person know you will respond in full later.
How to improve your communication skills
With experience and practice, you can learn and improve on communication skills. Start by identifying your strengths and then practice and develop those areas.
•Ask a close friend or colleague for constructive criticism. It can be hard to know how you are perceived as a communicator. To get an objective opinion, ask a trusted friend for their honest feedback. Understanding your
areas of improvement for communication can help you identify what to focus on.
•Practice improving communication habits. Many communication skills are habits you have developed over time. You can improve those skills by practicing new habits that make you a better communicator. That might
include being more responsive to communications when they are sent, reminding yourself to give eye contact, practicing giving positive feedback and asking questions in conversations.
•Attend communication skills workshops or classes. There are several online and offline seminars, workshops and classes that can help you be a better communicator. These classes may include instruction, roleplay,
written assignments and open discussions.
•Seek opportunities to communicate. Seek out opportunities both on and off the job that require you to use communication skills. This will help you keep good skills fresh while also allowing you the opportunity to practice
new skills.
Related: How to Improve Communication Skills

Effective Communication in The Workplace
Be clear and concise.
Make the message as easy to consume, thus reduce the chance of being
misunderstood, speed up projects and assist in quickly understanding your goals.
Practice reducing your message down to its core meaning.
Better to give the most necessary information when trying to communicate your
idea, instruction or message.
Practice empathy.
Understanding your colleague’s feelings, ideas and goals when you communicate
with them.
E.g., you might need help from other departments to get a project started.
Practicing empathy to help position your message in a way that addresses their
apprehension.

Assert Yourself.
At times, it is necessary to be assertive to reach your goals whether you are asking for
a raise, seeking project opportunities or resisting an idea you don’t think will be
beneficial.
Present with confidence but be respectful.
Keep an even tone and give sound reasons for your assertions will help others be
receptive to your thoughts.
Be Calm and Consistent.
In a disagreement or conflict, do not bring emotions into your communications.
It is important to remain calm when communicating with others in the workplace.
Be aware of your body language by not crossing your arms or rolling your eyes.
Maintaining consistent body language and keeping an even tone of voice can help you
reach a conclusion peacefully and productively.

Use and read body language.
Body language is a key part of
communications in the workplace.
Pay close attention to the messages people
are sending with their facial expressions
and movements.
Pay close attention the way you might be
communicating (intentionally or not) with
your own body language.

Categories of Communication
The different categories of communication include:
Spoken or Verbal Communication, which includes face-to-face, telephone, radio or
television and other media.
Non-Verbal Communication, covering body language, gestures, how we dress or act, where
we stand, and even our scent.
Many subtle ways that we communicate (perhaps even unintentionally) with others.
E.g., the tone of voice can give clues to mood or emotional state, whilst hand signals or
gestures can add to a spoken message.
Written Communication: includes letters, e-mails, social media, books, magazines, the
Internet and other media. - Today, we can all write and publish our ideas online, which has
led to an explosion of information and communication possibilities.
Visualizations: graphs and charts, maps, logos and other visualizations can all communicate
messages.

The Communication Process
A message or communication is sent by the sender through a communication channel to a
receiver, or to multiple receivers.
The sender must encode/ package the message being conveyed in a form that is appropriate to the
communication channel, and the receiver(s) decode the message to understand its meaning and
significance.
Misunderstanding can occur at any stage of the communication process.
Effective communication involves minimizing potential misunderstanding and overcoming any barriers to
communication at each stage in the communication process.
An effective communicator understands their audience, chooses an appropriate communication
channel, hones the message to this channel and encodes the message to reduce misunderstanding by
the receiver(s).
They will also seek out feedback from the receiver(s) as to how the message is understood and attempt
to correct any misunderstanding or confusion as soon as possible.
Receivers can use techniques such as Clarification and Reflection as effective ways to ensure that the
message sent has been understood correctly

Decode
Encode
Encode
Decode
Channel Recipient
Sender

Common Barriers to Effective Communication:
The use of jargon. Over-complicated, unfamiliar and/or technical terms.
Emotional barriers and taboos. Some people may find it difficult to express their emotions and some topics
may be completely 'off-limits' or taboo. Taboo or difficult topics may include, but are not limited to, politics,
religion, disabilities (mental and physical), sexuality and sex, racism and any opinion that may be seen as
unpopular.
Lack of attention, interest, distractions, or irrelevance to the receiver. (See our page Barriers to Effective
Listening for more information).
Differences in perception and viewpoint.
Physical disabilities such as hearing problems or speech difficulties.
Language and linguistic ability may act as a barrier to communication.

Physical barriers to non-verbal communication. Not being able to see the non-verbal cues, gestures, posture
and general body language can make communication less effective. Phone calls, text messages and other
communication methods that rely on technology are often less effective than face-to-face communication.
Language differences and the difficulty in understanding unfamiliar accents.
Expectations and prejudices which may lead to false assumptions or stereotyping. People often hear what
they expect to hear rather than what is actually said and jump to incorrect conclusions. Our page The Ladder of
Inference explains this in more detail.
Cultural differences. The norms of social interaction vary greatly in different cultures, as do the way in which
emotions are expressed. For example, the concept of personal space varies between cultures and between
different social settings. See our page on Intercultural Awareness for more information
Attitudinal Barriers: may result from personality conflicts, poor management, resistance to change or a lack of
motivation. To be an effective receiver of messages you should attempt to overcome your own attitudinal
barriers to to help ensure more effective communication.
Common Barriers to Effective Communication: Contd’

Other Barriers to Communication
Psychological Barriers: The psychological state of the communicators will influence how the
message is sent, received and perceived. E.g Anger, anxiety, stress
Physiological Barriers: a receiver with reduced hearing
Physical Barriers: geographic distance between the sender and receiver(s).
Systematic Barriers: may exist in structures and organisations where there are inefficient or
inappropriate information systems and communication channels, or where there is a lack of
understanding of the roles and responsibilities for communication. In such organisations,
people may be unclear of their role in the communication process and therefore not know
what is expected of them.


Listening Principles
• When somebody else is
talking listen to what they
are saying, do not
interrupt, talk over them or
finish their sentences for
them. Stop, just listen!
• When the other person has
finished talking you may
need to clarify to ensure
you have received their
message accurately.
• Focus on the speaker.
• Clear your mind - The
human mind is easily
distracted by other thoughts
– what’s for lunch, what time
do I need to leave to catch
my train, is it going to rain –
try to put other thoughts out
of mind and concentrate on
the message being
communicated.
• Help the speaker to feel
free to speak.
• Remember their needs and
concerns.
• Nod or use other gestures or
words to encourage them to
continue.
• Maintain eye contact but
don’t stare – show you are
listening and understanding
what is being said.
Stop Talking Prepare to Listen: Ease

• Focus on what is being said.
• Don’t doodle, shuffle
papers, look out the
window, pick your
fingernails or similar.
• Avoid unnecessary
interruptions - these
behaviors' disrupt the
listening process and send
messages to the speaker
that you are bored or
distracted.
• Understand your clients
person’s point of view.-Try
perceiving from your client
perspective
• Let go of preconceived ideas
– have an open mind in
order to empathize with the
speaker… If you disagree,
then wait and construct an
argument to counter what is
said whilst, you keep an
open mind to the views and
opinions of others.
• A pause, even a long pause,
does not necessarily mean
that the speaker has
finished.
• Be patient and let the
speaker continue in their
own time, sometimes it
takes time to formulate
what to say and how to say
it.
• Never interrupt or finish a
sentence for someone.
Focus Empathize Be Patient

• Try to be impartial
• Don't be irritated and don't
let the person’s habits or
mannerisms distract you
from the message. -
Everybody has a different
way of speaking –
• Focus on what is being said
and try to ignore styles of
delivery.
• Volume and tone both add
to what someone is
saying.
• A good speaker will use
both volume and tone to
their advantage to keep an
audience attentive;
everybody will use pitch,
tone and volume of voice
in certain situations – let
these help you to
understand the emphasis
of what is being said
• Get the full picture, not
just isolated bits and
pieces.
• Maybe one of the most
difficult aspects of listening
is the ability to link
together pieces of
information to reveal the
ideas of others. With
proper concentration,
letting go of distractions,
and focus this becomes
easier.
Personal Prejudice Listen to the Tone Listen for Ideas

• for Non-Verbal Communication
 Gestures, facial expressions,
and eye-movements can all be
important.
 Listen with our ears & eyes –
watch and pick up the
additional information being
transmitted via non-verbal
communication.
Wait and Watch

HURIER Model of Listening
…model was developed by Judi Brownell of Cornell University
H – Hearing
‘Hearing’ is used here in a very broad sense. Not only does it refer to the physical act of
hearing, but also to picking up on non-verbal and other signals; tone of voice, body language
and facial expressions, for example.
U – Understanding
Once the message has been ‘heard’, the next step is to understand. This means tying together
all the element of ‘hearing’ to create a coherent understanding of what was
communicated. Factors like language and accent may affect your understanding.
R – Remembering
Remembering requires focus. An effective listener needs to be able to remember the message
they are receiving in its entirety.

HURIER Model of Listening
I – Interpreting
Interpretation of the message builds on, and enhances, understanding. Interpretation
means considering factors such as the context in which the message was sent. Importantly,
here the listener also needs to be aware of, and avoid, any preconceptions or biases that
they may hold that may affect how the message is interpreted.
E – Evaluating
Evaluating requires that the listener keeps an open mind on the messages they are receiving
and doesn’t jump to conclusions about what is being said. Evaluate all the information and
only then start to formulate a response.
R – Responding
Finally, your response should be well-measured and demonstrate that you have understood
what was communicated. It may be necessary to use techniques such
as clarification and reflection as part of the response.

Improving Business Language Skills
Increase Your Vocabulary
Improving vocabulary is key to mastering specialized words used in specific
business contexts.
You can easily improve your vocabulary through training software that offers
a comprehensive range of exercises.
Learning commonly-used business idioms and abbreviations also enhances
your vocabulary.
Furthermore, you can do research on the Internet in order to find the
terminology used in the specific field that you are currently employed in.
It is important that you adopt an inquisitive approach towards learning, and
find the meaning of any business word that you are currently unfamiliar
with.
A business dictionary can prove to be particularly helpful, since you'll be
able to find the complete meanings for new terms and their relevant usage
within business communication.

Read Business-Related Material
Enhance your vocabulary by reading a wide
variety of material related to your field or
business.
Reading business information and current updates
will not only allow you to remain abreast with the
recent changes in the business environment but
also allow you to keep up with any changes in
terminology.
This knowledge can prove to be essential when you
are communicating with third parties or working on
customer contracts.

Play Games
You can even learn business language by playing games like crosswords and
word search games.
games can enhance your business vocabulary & ensure the learning process is fun
and engaging. Business-themed language games e.g. crosswords based on
financial terms and important concepts, or word search games with banking &
industry terms, use of free word-search puzzle generators to create your own
games, if you can't find one specific to your field.
Watch Business-Oriented Programs
Watch programs that focus on business. - people in those programs will be
using key terms frequently and correctly.
Experts in the field host these programs - f valuable information and
knowledge as well as vocabulary terms. Business terminology is naturally
used on these programs and merely watching them attentively can help you
grasp terms that are part of business communications.
these programs enable familiarity with new words but also learn their
correct pronunciation and usage.

Practice:
Learning new business terminology will not impact your
communication skills until and unless these terms are
used correctly in daily conversation.
Use as many relevant words as possible during
conversations with colleagues and peers.
Learned business terminology can and should be
incorporated into the presentations you give, so that you
are able to gain confidence in your ability to use the
terminology.
Practice your business language skills by writing business
letters (emails) and memos.

Marketing
Definition: Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for
creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for
customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
“Marketing is what you say and how you say it when you want to explain how
awesome your product is and why people should buy it.” ~ By Michael Brenner;
Insider Group
… includes advertisements, brochures, a press release, a Facebook page or a
Twitter account.
“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the
product or service fits him and sells itself.” ~ Peter F. Drucker

Marketing Mix: 4Ps & 4Cs
The marketing mix is a blend of marketing variables that determine the level of
marketing efforts on the target market. 4P’s and 7P’s of the marketing mix are –
People, Product, Price, Promotion, Place, Process and Physical Evidence. 4C’s –
Customer, Cost, Convenience, Communication; fit marketing mix perfectly.
The marketing mix is the mixture of controllable marketing variables that the
firm uses to influence and pursue the sought level of sales in the target market.
It is the tools use to influence or persuade the wants, needs, and demands of
the customer for PSI (product, service, or information).
In simple terms; the marketing mix is the tool that is used to influence the
target market and its demand for product, service, or information.
Usually; the marketing mix describes the combination of the 4 inputs which
constitute the core of a company’s marketing system: the product, the price
structure the promotional activities, and the distribution system.

P’s of Marketing
Product.
Price.
Place.
Promotion.
Modern marketing has added 3 new P; making it 7p;
Place.
Process.
Physical Evidence.

Product
The product is something like good, service, information, etc. that satisfies the wants of a
company’s target market.
Products must follow a logical product lifecycle and marketers or producers need to
understand and plan for the stages of the product lifecycle and their core challenges.
The product must answer some questions, for example, what problem the product will solve, is
the consumer or customer needs the product, and/or what will be the components of the
product?
Price
Price means the number of dollar customers or consumers must pay to obtain/use the
product. It is the amount paid by the customer to a business.
For example, a bottle of Wine that may cost $100.
Prices set by the business depend on the business policy those it may be adjusted through
discounts, allowances, and/or credit terms.
P’s of Marketing

Place
Place indicates the company activities that ensure a product or service available to
target consumers.
It includes all activities like distribution channels, logistics, transportation, and locations
offered by the company.
A company may have many stores offering its products across the United States, but
there may still locations where customers or consumers will not access that company’s
products.
This is a great loss for the company. So that it must ensure that products are available
to target customers or consumers.
Promotion
Promotion refers to the activities that communicate the merits of the product to target
customers and influence to buy it.
One of the major factors of promotion for products or services is advertising.
P’s of Marketing

People: Indicates the employees representing the company. They interact with
clients or customers for various purposes.
Process: The process is the procedures, mechanisms, and flow of activities by
which the service is delivered to the clients/ customers.
Physical Evidence: Physical evidence refers to the area or space where the
company representatives will interact with the customer. It works as a tool for
reassuring our customers.
For example, a company might have impressive buildings, a well-trained staff,
great website. Considerations include furniture, signage, and layout.
P’s of Marketing

C’s of Marketing
 Customer.
 Cost.
 Convenience.
 Communication.

Customer
Cost
Convenience
Communication
C’s of Marketing

The C’s & P’s Mix
When the company/rep thinks about the product consider what solutions it is
providing for its customers/clients.
In thinking about the price, consider what cost the customer is willing to pay
how convenient is it for their customers to find, buy, and get the product.
In planning consider the type of communications customers prefer and through
which channels they will be most receptive.
Conclusion: P’s and C’s of the marketing mix are – People, Product, Price, Promotion,
Place, Process and Physical Evidence whilst the C’s – Customer, Cost, Convenience,
Communication; fit marketing mix perfectly.
The marketing mix is crucial for creating a plan that increases sales and profitability,
customer satisfaction and brand recognition

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
The approach adopted in managing a company's interaction with current and
potential customers.
Utilises data analysis about customers' history with a company to improve
business relationships with customers, specifically focusing on customer
retention and ultimately driving sales growth.
“The strategy employed by an organization to maintain initial and on-
going levels of engagement with its audience. This management can occur
between a business and its customers (business to consumer [B2C]) or between
a business and other businesses (business to business [B2B]). ” (Wikipedia)

Understanding Relationship Management:
Relationship management involves strategies to build client support for a business and
its offerings, including an increase brand loyalty.
A business may hire a relationship manager to oversee relationship building or it may
combine this function with another marketing or human-resources role.
Maintaining communication with consumers lets a company identify potential problems
before they come to a costly head.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Customer Relationship Management (CRM): (B2C)
B2C businesses rely on customer relationship management (CRM) tools to build a
solid rapport with their customers. CRM involves a significant amount of data and
sales analysis as it seeks to understand market trends, the economic landscape,
and consumer tastes. CRM also can include marketing techniques and a post-
sales support program.
Typically, a CRM program will consist of written media (such as sales
announcements, newsletters, and post-sale surveys), video media
communication (such as commercials), and tutorials. Ongoing marketing is
critical to a business, as it is more costly to acquire a new customer than it is to
maintain a current customer. Marketing helps a business to gauge consumers'
interests and needs, and develop campaigns to maintain loyalty.

Business
Relationship
Management
(BRM): B2B
B2B relationships with vendors, suppliers,
distributors, and other associates can also
benefit from relationship management.
promotes a positive and productive
relationship between a company and its
business partners.
seeks to build trust, solidify rules and
expectations, and establish boundaries.
Assist with dispute resolutions, contract
negotiations, cluster marketing and cross-
sale opportunities.
• B2B: Business to business

Benefits Of CRM
Enhanced ability to target profitable customers.
Integrated assistance across channels.
Enhanced sales force efficiency and effectiveness.
Improved pricing.
Customized products and services.
Improved customer service efficiency and effectiveness.
Individualized marketing messages also called
campaigns.
Connect customers and all channels on a single
platform.

Improve Customer Services: In general, customers would have some questions,
concerns or requests. CRM services provide the ability to a company for producing,
allocating and managing requests or something made by customers. For example, call
center software, which helps to connect a customer to the manager or person who
can best assist them with their existing problem, is one of the CRM abilities that can
be implemented to increase efficiency.[32]
Increased Personalized Service Or One-to-one Service: Personalizing customer
service or one-to-one service provides companies to improve understanding and
gaining knowledge of the customers and also to have better knowledge about their
customers' preferences, requirements and demands.
Responsive To Customer's Needs: Customers' situations and needs can be
understood by the firms focusing on customer needs and requirements.[33]
Customer Segmentation: In CRM, segmentation is used to categorize customers,
according to some similarity, such as industry, job or some other characteristics, into
similar groups.[34] Although these characteristics, can be one or more attributes. It can
be defined as a subdividing the customers based on already known good
discriminator.
Benefits Of CRM

Improve Customization Of Marketing: Meaning of customization of marketing is that, the firm or
organization adapt and change its services or products based on presenting a different and unique
product or services for each customer. With the purpose of ensuring that customer needs and
requirements are met Customization is used by the organization. Companies can put investment in
information from customers and then customize their products or services to maintain customer
interests.
Multichannel Integration: Multichannel integration shows the point of co creation of customer value
in CRM. On the other hand, a company's skill to perform multichannel integration successfully, is
heavily dependent on the organization's ability getting together customer information from all
channels and incorporate it with other related information.[35]
Time Saving: CRM will let companies to interact with customers more frequently, by personalized
message and communication way which can be produced rapidly and matched on a timely basis, and
finally they can better understand their customers and therefore look forward to their needs.[36]
Improve Customer Knowledge: Firms can make and improve products and services through the
information from tracking (e.g. via website tracking) customer behaviour to customer tastes and
needs.[37] CRM could contribute to a competitive advantage in improving firm's ability of customer
information collecting to customize products and services according to customer needs.
Benefits Of CRM

Components of Organisational CRM
Verbal
Communication
Internet
Email
Advertising
Telephone
Marketing
Data Classification
Data Composition and insertion into the Organisational Database
Collection of the analysed Data
Information Dissemination to Various parts of the Organisation
Support Selling Marketing Management

Fortuna Favi et Fortus Ltd.,
118 Old Ewu Road, Aviation Estate, Lagos.
+234 703 253 0965 (Nigeria), +1 416 262 7271 (Canada)
www.ffavifortus.com info@ffavifortus.com
Sourced & Compiled by: Olufemi Feyisitan

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