Write a report on Communicating to Customers.
In every person’s life communication is extremely important. Every individual shares his or her feelings, thoughts, ideas, information with others. The word communication implies the art of establishing a sort of commonness with people. Communication is a two way process which can occur even without any sort of speech. Facial expressions also communicate the mood of the other person. At a time when a message is sent from a source to a receiver and a specific response is received, communication is said to occur. Communication is always a two way process. In today’s world the growth of technological aspects and social media has led to the option of easy communication. Social media is accessible to millions of registered customers. These help the people get news and information of importance easily and comfortably from their houses.
Communication skills define an individual’s progress in the personal as well as professional life. In case a person can communicate to the partners or investors the idea for a good business can be represented. The fact is most importantly true for the customers. In case a person cannot properly communicate or convince them about a product or service, it is natural that they will move ahead to other better options. In case of organisations with huge workforces and important avenues of work social media plays a very significant role. In cases of emergency or other crisis work situations it helps in having a suitable social media network of the company which helps them in communicating valuable information effectively to the employees. In case an organisation has their official page on social media, the registered users can easily remain updated about all types of information the company wishes to communicate. The effective communication skills need to be embedded in all employees of an organisation. Communication between employees helps in the sustenance of operations of an organisation (Kho 2010).
The employees of different organisations responsible for customer service face different challenges. These challenges are comparatively more in case of employees who have to deal with customers face to face. There are certain communication concepts which the organisations can follow in order to communicate effectively with the customers (Gregorio and Cronemyr 2011)
It is natural for a customer to reach out at times of being unsure, being confused or possessing any sort of grievance. At a time there might be some sort of anger because of miscommunication between the company and the customers. In understanding an finding a solution to the suitable problems it is necessary for the employees of the organisation to understand the problem and then to offer possible solutions to the issues faced. Ultimately the quality of patience will help the organisation win. Patience and capturing of the finer details need to be kept in mind at the time of dealing with problematic situations (Gregorio and Cronemyr 2011).
The time which is communicated to the customers for the planning of any service needs to be the same across all levels and all departments of the organisation. It is the responsibility of the managerial level individuals to ensure that the staff has been communicated the accurate turnaround times and it is used to set the expectations of the customers. Disparities in these requirements which have been communicated and actually given will lead to unhappy customers and this will impact the company overall (Eunson 1995) In case important news is communicated via social media, the problems or benefits as applicable to the employees can be clearly mentioned in the official page of the organisation via social media. Thus in these cases the social media is a suitable tool in the communication process.
At times of problems faced by customers when they call the employees of companies to help them in their crisis they need to be attended to at all times. In might happen in certain situations that the resolution of problems takes a certain amount of time but the customers need to be informed at all times. In cases when the customers are waiting for their responses they need to be informed of the progress in the services which are to be meted out to them. Instead of the customer contacting them for the updates time and again, it should be the responsibility of the representatives of the company to keep the customers informed and updated.
At the time of attending to a customer complaint, missing out on crucial details necessary to the customers can prove to be extremely harmful to the company. It would aggravate the situation further. Therefore the noise relating to unnecessary situations and focus entirely on the query which have been asked from them. The employees should also have pen paper and the necessary documents in order to take note of whatever the customers have been asking them (Jordan and Grant 2016).
At the time of receiving calls which are related to the customer grievances and problems it is desired that there should not be any interruption on the part of the employees. Even in cases when the customers are repeating some of their grievances they should also be patient and listen instead of interrupting them and offering quick solutions. This is due to the reason that the interruptions on part of the company representatives makes the customers feel uncared for and less valued. Thus the maximum value should be provided to the customers at all times (Fletcher and Melewar 2002).
Though there can be different types and nature of queries of customers, majority of them are related to the product they are using or the service which is being meted out to them. There is not any sort of excuse for the employees not knowing completely about the product and services which their organisation has to offer. It is the duty of the management to ensure that all the employees are well trained for proper knowledge of the products (Gustafsson, Kristensson and Witell 2012).
In every company the workers need to be aware of all the products and details of whatever the business has to offer. The customers on asking should be informed by the employees as per their knowledge on the proceedings of the company. The employees should not show their doubts in front of the customers. In case the customers can detect a sort of uncertainty in the employees of the organisation it can contribute to a negative image of the organisation (Hess and Fischer 2001)
The body language of the people communicates their earnestness. In case there is a face to face communication between the customers and the employees they should represent a body language that is confident and show their active listening capabilities. The customers should be provided the confidence that they are being cared for (Schmitt 2010).
In case there is not any appropriate means of communication of employees in an organisation with the customers, it can lead to confusion and miscommunication among them. Conflicts can arise due to miscommunication and negatives against the organisation can be reported by the customers to the employees and hence should be avoided at all costs. Due to miscommunication the customers might remain angry and they might stop trusting the company any longer. Due to negative word of mouth communication the members might inform their friends and relatives about the negatives of the company and hence the number of customers might decrease. In order to avoid this, negativity and miscommunication need to be avoided at all times.
Conclusion:
Effective communication is responsible for a company so that it can build positive relationships with its stakeholders. It is actually a two way process responsible for the interaction of the stakeholders with the company. This includes employees providing ideas for improvements and taking into account the feedback from the customers. Utilizing a mixture of formal and informal communication assists in the improvement of overall effectiveness. The internal communication strategies need to ensure the values of the company and also its culture. For the effective communication it is desirable for a company to have specific communication messages and channelize the thoughts according to the needs of the customers. There should also be a regular evaluation of internal and external communication strategies to maintain the focus on high levels of services to the customers and relations with the employees as well.
References:
Eunson, B., 1995. Communicating with customers. John Wiley & Sons Australia.
Fletcher, R. and Melewar, T.C., 2002. The complexities of communicating to customers in emerging markets. Journal of Communication Management, 6(1), pp.9-23.
Gregorio, R. and Cronemyr, P., 2011. From expectations and needs of service customers to control chart specification limits. The TQM Journal, 23(2), pp.164-178.
Gustafsson, A., Kristensson, P. and Witell, L., 2012. Customer co-creation in service innovation: a matter of communication?. Journal of Service Management, 23(3), pp.311-327.
Hess, G.R. and Fischer, R.A., 2001. Communicating clearly about conservation corridors. Landscape and urban planning, 55(3), pp.195-208.
Jordan, A.M. and Grant, R.P., 2016. Communicating Our Science to Our Customers: The Vital Role of Passionate Public Advocacy.
Kho, N.D., 2010. Content Goes Global: Communicating With Customers in Their Own Language. EContent, 33(4), pp.30-35.
Schmitt, B.H., 2010. Customer experience management: A revolutionary approach to connecting with your customers. John Wiley & Sons.
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