FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Tom Ellis
February 9, 2006 Ellis Communications, Inc.
Phone: (417) 881-5635
Email: tom@elliscomm.com
PHOENIX, Ariz. – What’s getting in the way of your telecom delivering
great customer service? Poor communication could be the problem.
“A number of things can hamper outstanding customer service,
including lack of training, personality differences, lack of
management support, being too busy and frequent policy changes,” says
David Saxby, president of Phoenix-based Measure-X, a company that
specializes in helping telephone companies improve their customer
service and sales. “From my experience, poor communication is one of
greatest barriers to giving telecom customers the service they
deserve.”
Saxby outlines the following common internal communication
problems and some solutions.
Electronic Barriers
Too many employees responsible for customer service use e-mail as
their primary communication tool. Personal contact is the key to
building rapport and trust with co-workers. “E-mail and voice mail can
be great time wasters and cause people to misinterpret information,”
Saxby says. “Face-to-face communication gets the job done quickly and
helps eliminate confusion. A phone call is the next best thing if the
person you need to talk with is in a different location.”
Confusion About Expectations
Employees need clearly defined expectations. In addition to telling
them what is expected of them as they deliver your company’s service,
also tell them why it is expected. “The more clearly people understand
why they’ve been asked to complete a task, the more ownership they
will take in seeing it through successfully,” Saxby says. “But
communication is a two-way street. It is also each person’s
responsibility to ask the right questions, gain clarity and confirm
understanding of the business issue or course of action that is being
discussed.”
Timely Feedback
Employees want an opportunity to improve and develop throughout the
year with constructive feedback. “This also must be two-way
communication, not just an employee evaluation,” Saxby notes.
“Managers also need to ask for honest feedback from their employees
and be willing to act on it. Ask them, ‘What can I do to make your job
easier?’ and ‘What would you like me do more of or less of?’”
System Limitations
Your telecom may lack an effective system for getting information out
to customer service representatives and other employees in the service
area. If they have to read the annual report to learn about new
developments in the company, they will feel out of the loop and less
important in helping contribute to goals. “A weekly bulletin or
newsletter in any form that outlines what is happening at the company
will not only make employees feel as if they are part of a team, it
will help them better understand their role in the organization,”
Saxby explains.
Poorly Trained Managers
There’s an old saying that goes something like this: employees don’t
leave jobs, they leave their managers. “Not everyone knows how to
communicate effectively,” Saxby says. “These are skills that can be
learned. Communication training for managers will give them the
confidence and tools they need to bring out the best in their customer
service team.”
Poorly Trained Staff
Employees often lack the confidence and skills necessary to
communicate how they feel, give and take feedback and proactively
identify customer service solutions. “Training for effective
communication is a necessity,” Saxby points out. “With the proper
skills and tools, they can learn to communicate in both their
professional and personal lives.”
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Measure-X is a measurement, training and recognition company that specializes
in customer service and sales skills. For more information on Measure-X, call
888-644-5499 or visit its Web site at
www.measure-x.com.
