The Power of SpeechSticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me

This is FALSE!• Your words are the most powerful thing you have.

• We say that words can never hurt us because we don’t want to have to admit how much power someone else can have over us.

• Never underestimate the power of emotions.

• Our emotions are strongly rooted in our experiences, culture, values, and environment.

How does this relate to us?•As customer service agents, it is our job

to communicate with a customer properly to convince them to use our services and products

•Think about it: Our entire job is communication!

•A huge aspect of our job is to understand our audience, but in order to do that, we must first understand ourselves.

What is valuable to you?•Family

•Home

•Health

•The things you have worked hard to acquire?

•The lifestyle you have made for yourself?

•What are some things that you value?

Understanding Our Audience• We all want similar things out of life but we all come

from different backgrounds.• To understand how that affects the way we interact

with each other, it helps to view each of us belonging to different demographic groups such as age, income level, and culture.

• Each of these demographic groups have different expectations and priorities when they walk through our doors

• Meeting those expectations and priorities determines whether it is going to be a positive, neutral, or negative experience.

Different Demographics•Age: young, old, prime?

•Income level: high roller, suburban middle class, minimum wage

•Culture: language, social norms, immigrant status, and gender

Age•What are some different priorities that

each age group has?▫16-25 years old: Money and poor

understanding of maintenance required.▫25-40: Higher quality customer service and

work. ▫40-55: Time is most important. Sometimes

have unrealistic expectations of time it takes for work.

▫55 and older: Trust and respect.

Income Level•What are some different priorities that

each income level has?▫Above average (doesn’t live in suburbs):

Tends to be on either end of spectrum. They always have a brand new luxury car or they keep the same one for 15 years because the seat is worn in.

▫Average (suburbs): Tends to have 7 year cars or newer. Priority is preventive maintenance.

▫Below poverty level: Over 7 year cars, spends minimal on maintenance and more on fixing it.

Culture•Encompasses a large spectrum of factors.

These are the most broad:▫Language▫social norms▫immigrant status▫gender

Language • Do you speak another language?

• Have you ever been around someone who does?

• When you are around someone that is speaking another language, how does it make you feel?

• Understand that just because they sort of understand doesn’t mean that they are comfortable speaking or fully understand.

• Priority: Patience

Social Norms• Social norms are a give and take of inside and

outside influences such as:▫Family

▫Environment in which you were raised

▫Nationality (example: What’s expected from a woman in Mexican culture versus American culture)

▫Priority: Courtesy

Immigrant Status•Have you always lived in America or even

in Colorado or are you new here?•Is there culture shock where you still

can’t figure out how the driving signs work? When is it acceptable to honk in traffic?

•Do you feel comfortable with where you are or how you need to get something done?

•Priority: Greeted at vehicle and hand shown amenities

Gender• We only have two options here: Male or Female

▫Well according to Caitlyn, we have three but we’ll leave social media deal with that

• Men▫I want you to think about how you feel when you walk

into the makeup section in the department store▫Priority: Competence

• Women▫Think about how you feel when you walk into a

mechanic shop ▫Priority: Explanation

Stereotypes•We all have stereotypes of other people

and we all have stereotypes projected onto us.

•What stereotypes do you come up against frequently?

Crash Course•Now that I have given you a crash course

on understanding your audience, how can we make it work in our benefit?

•We are going to learn about the following ways to relate to them:▫Sympathy vs Empathy▫Conflict Management

Empathy VS. Sympathy•Empathy is not the same thing as

Sympathy▫Sympathy is having compassion for another

even though you don’t know exactly how they feel

▫Empathy is deeper by having an understanding of what that person is going through. At least have similar feelings if not the same.

Why is sympathy important?•Helps us respond appropriately to

instances of: ▫Anger/Confusion

▫Language issues

▫Overcoming stereotypes

Dignity and Respect•When you walk into a store, what are

some things you view as disrespectful?•What was your response when you felt

disrespected or weren’t given the time of day?

•What can we do to show our customers respect and dignity?

Anger/Confusion• If someone is confused or doesn’t understand what

is going on, it can lead to:▫Misinterpretation

▫Mistrust

▫Anger

No matter what level of emotion that is associated to it, it will be negative.

Negative = Bad CSI = Never Coming back = $ Loss

Conflict Management• If what you are saying is not registering with the customer

and they are aggressive, do NOT be aggressive back.

• People will reflect your energy, your body language and tone.

▫ At time of encounter, Lower tone and make it sincere not angry.

▫ Open your body language, it will make you more inviting.

▫ Think about pulling the corners of the mouth up but not

necessarily smiling, it will change your facial expression to

where they think you are listening.

Conflict Management•If you are unable to dissolve the

customers fears or accommodate them in a reasonable manner, let someone else take over. ▫Be polite but Walk Away!

How to Overcome•Make them feel comfortable!!

•Comfortable = Positive Feelings = Trust = Keep them coming back = $

•Be patient! ▫This is especially important with elderly and

those with a language barrier. Just because you speak English doesn’t mean they should.

How to Overcome!•A little goes a long way

▫Discount Tire didn’t have me wait a long time to check my tire pressure whereas the other place wanted me to come back in an hour or two. When you have them in the store, KEEP them in the store.

What do you remember?•What are some examples of demographics

of our audience/customer base?•What are some different priorities of each

demographic group?•What are some ways that cause NCSI

scores to go down?•What are some things that you can do to

make their experience better?