JUSTIFICACION DEL PROBLEMA

Customer Communication

Activity Description

Time Guideline: 45 minutes

The mood of a customer surely influences us . . . and in turn, the mood we display (consciously or

unconsciously) influences our customer. This activity uses sound bites of music that quickly communicate a mood from which participants describe the type of customer it reminds them of. A discussion takes place around the theme, “Just as our customers come to us with their tune, we are also the music that our customers hear. What tune are you playing?” Strategies are then discussed on types of music to play (moods to create) for key customer events (greetings, dealing with an angry customer, delivering difficult news, etc.), how to play your tune (maintain your mood), and how not to get hooked on theirs.

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

1. Explain how one’s mood influences customer interaction.

2. Describe what mood they usually convey with customers—when that mood is helpful and when it is not. 3. Identify an effective mood for customer interaction and describe how to display it.

4. Describe strategies to create and maintain an effective mood “atmosphere” in difficult situations.

Method of Instruction

This activity is designed for a classroom situation with small groups who experience the “mood music,” discuss it, and apply it to their work situation.

Preparation:

• Select four to five pieces of music that communicate distinctly different moods. Moods and examples of tunes include: happy/positive mood (big band), relaxing (folk, easy listening), melancholy (blues), or intense/hard-toned (heavy metal).

• Plan to play only about 15 seconds of each song—and discuss how that the tune is more influential than the words, if there are words.

• A source to download royalty-free music for a nominal fee is freshmusic.com, among others.

• Be sure to test the system you will be using to play the music—it is key that it works easily and is loud enough for everyone to hear.

50 Activities for Achieving Excellent Customer Service

74

Method of Instruction (continued)

Activity Outline:

a. Tell participants you are going to play very short clips of music that represent types of customers they deal with. They are to listen to the music and be ready to describe the type of mood that customer is in. b. Play a clip of music (fairly loudly), and ask them to describe the mood of that customer—solicit several

responses. Move on to the next clip of music, and repeat until all clips are played.

c. Ask the participants how quickly they experienced the mood of the music, which should be “pretty quickly,” and how that is similar to interaction with different moods of customers. Conduct a brief discussion.

d. Explain that just as we experience a customer’s “music,” so too, our customers experience our mood— the music we play within seconds of the interaction. Our mood impacts both the satisfaction and the productivity of the customer interaction.

e. Ask the group to discuss with one or two other people what type of music they think they play in front of customers—their “theme tune.” Also, ask them to say when that “tune” works in their favor, and when it gets in their way. (For example: Someone who is perpetually high energy can be very draining to a low- key person.)

f. Ask each participant to write down three important customer connections they have frequently on their job (example: greeting new customers, dealing with dissatisfied customers, problem solving with customers, etc.). Then ask the participants to write down what “tune” (mood) they want to portray during that interaction for the greatest productivity/satisfaction with the customer, and SPECIFICALLY what they could say and do to portray that mood. Have them share their answers with one or two other people and then ask for a few examples from the whole group to share aloud.

g. Ask the group to brainstorm common, difficult customer situations and write them down on a flip chart. Take a quick vote on which ones are most common among the group. Select the top three and for each one ask:

• What type of mood do we need to display in this situation?

• How can we communicate that mood (behaviors—what can we say or do)? • What can derail us from this and draw us into negative behavior?

• How can we stay “on tune”?

h. Repeat for the other two top priority situations.

i. Ask the group to turn to one or two other people and share what one or two things they will specifically apply to their jobs as a result of what they just learned.

Personal Information

Amy S. Tolbert, Ph.D., develops multicultural organizations and individuals by bringing cutting-edge topics, such as fun/results-

driven diversity initiatives, the leadership within, managing to style, and creating breakthrough teams, to you. She is a principal of Effecting Creative Change in Organizations (ECCO International), which specializes in creating a new sense of spirit and preparing people and organizations for sustainability in an everchanging environment through e-learning, technology, and facilitated learning. ECCO partners with businesses in the areas of diversity/cross-cultural education, leadership, communication, and bringing e-learning strategies to life.

Amy S. Tolbert, Ph.D., Principal ECCO International

1519 McClung Dr. St. Paul, MN 55112 (651) 636-0838

E-mail: Amy [email protected] www.ECCOInternational.com

Sue Stanek, Ph.D., has been helping organizations achieve their business goals through the development of people for over 20 years.

Sue combines her business experience with an M.A. in Adult Learning and a Ph.D. in Training and Development. Sue’s experience includes serving internally within two national healthcare organizations as their training and development director, working as a product manager for Wilson Learning, providing customer training and development solutions for Fortune 500 companies through BI Performance Services, and most recently, focusing her contribution to organizations as a consultant of training and organization development solutions. Sue partners with businesses in the areas of strategic planning, leadership development, team building, sales and service development, and emotional intelligence.

Sue Stanek, Ph.D. 8117 W. 96th St. Bloomington, MN 55438 (952) 943-2136

Customer Treatment

(Internal and External)

There’s an old saying that goes, “If it isn’t happening internally, it probably won’t happen externally.” We must remember that the true definition of customer does not only include the external customer, who must become the very center of our organization, but also the internal customer.

People who work for the same organization must realize that they truly are customers unto each other. Everyday in the work place there are those associates or co-workers who have an impact on us either directly or indirectly and our ability to be the best professional we can possibly be. In turn, everyday in the work place there are those who we have an impact upon either directly or indirectly and their ability to be the best professional they can