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Customer Service: Communicating
Unit 1. Getting Your Message Across
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1. Getting Your Message Across
 1.1 The Tone of Your Delivery 1.1.1 Keeping Pace 1.1.2 Pump Up the Volume, or Down 1.1.3 Paint with Inflection 1.1.4 Levels of Intensity 1.1.5 Watch Your Attitude 1.2 What Gestures Can Say 1.3 The # 1 Capital Offense 1.4 Unit 1 Summary Have you ever been in a situation where if the customer would only listen to you, his problem would be solved? You probably wondered what prevented that customer from paying attention to your words. Many times, the most important thing is not what yousay, but how you say it.Researchers have discovered that in actual face-to-face contact, the success of communication is broken down into three components — words, tone of voice, andgestures or body language.Conversations with your customers are like concert performances — preparing your delivery, tone of voice, and gestures helps your audience, your customer, take aninterest in what you're saying. Preparing your style will make interactions with your customers positive and focused.In this course, you will learn tips for improving your communication with customers,including adjusting your tone of voice, using meaningful words, recognizing customers'styles, resolving conflict, and writing with a purpose.In this unit, you will learn about how important your tone of voice, gestures, and promises to your customer are.After completing this unit, you should be able to:
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Describe how to modify your tone of voice to match the customer and thesituation
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Recognize common negative gestures to avoid
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Identify the customer service representative's worst offense
 
 Topic 1.1: The Tone of Your Delivery
*Your Tone Is Important
Think of your voice as being the music played by your vocal cords. The tone of your voice is like the tones in music. Customers will be able to identify the mood you are inand the message you are trying to convey by your tone.
*Elements of Your Tone
These are the critical elements that affect the overall tone of your voice:
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Pace
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Volume
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Inflection
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Intensity
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AttitudeLet's take a look at these elements.
Topic 1.1.1: Keeping Pace
*Pacing Your Speech
How you pace your speech helps to paint a picture in your client's mind.Speaking too fast is an indication that you want to get off the phone and you really don'tcare whether the customer understands you.What you may consider as speaking too slowly may be considered as too fast by peoplefrom different parts of the country and world.
*Matching the Pace
It's important that you match your pace to the pace of your customer.If you and your customer are both communicating at different rates, the communication probably isn't going to be successful.
Topic 1.1.2: Pump Up the Volume, or Down
*Not Too Loud, Not Too Soft
Your volume needs to be adequate for you to be clearly understood, not over-exaggerated or yelling.
 
However, raising your voice, modestly, at certain times serves as a tool for reinforcing atheme and expressing enthusiasm for an idea.
Topic 1.1.3: Paint with Inflection
*Monotones Are Boring
Would you want to listen to someone who spoke in a constant monotone?Your words can paint pictures for people and convey reassurance or helpfulness throughyour voice
inflection
— the highs and lows in your voice.
*Not Inflected
Imagine hearing this phrase with all the words being communicated the same way...."I really like you."
*Inflected
 Now, imagine hearing the same phrase with the word
really
being said in a manner thatreflects a stronger sense of urgency....I
really
like you!
*Inflection Conveys Interest
Inflected words indicate your level of interest in the customers' problems. Use a varietyof inflections to adequately paint the picture you want your customer to see. Inflectionis another way to convey your interest in your customer. Do you see and hear thedifference between the inflected and uninflected?
*Inflection
 A good customer service representative adjusts her pace or speed of talking to match the pace of the customer.She adjusts the volume to ensure the message is heard, uses
inflection
to signify highsand lows, maintains intensity to give the highs and lows the proper effect, and makessure her attitude is proper at all times.
Topic 1.1.4: Levels of Intensity
*Emotion
 Different situations call for different levels of emotion.A customer who has just had a catastrophic experience with your product will probablyshow a great deal of emotion.If you respond in a really low-key manner, your customer may think you don't care.
*Match Level of Emotion
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