Chapter 6

Question 1

What are the 4 stages of an ideal phone call?

Answer 1

1) Open the call
2) Establish the customer’s needs
3) Meet the customer’s needs
4) Close the call

Question 2

What actions should be taken when opening a call?

In what manner should this be in?

Answer 2

• Greeting the caller, usually followed up with your department and an offer to help
• Identifying the caller
• Identifying yourself
• Managing expectations i.e explaining the purpose of the phone call if you are making it or identifying the convenience of the time the call will take or what they may need to have at hand

Manner:
* Warm and welcoming
* Upbeat
* Positive
* Enthusiastic

Question 3

What are the overall aims to the opening of a phone call?

Answer 3

• Build a relationship/rapport
• Listen to what the customer is saying
• Seek to understand their immediate requirement
• Visualise them and their situation
• Show empathy

Question 4

A customers needs can be addressed at what 2 levels?

Answer 4

Factual
* Notify a claim
* Obtain a quote
* Find out what happens next
* Get immediate help

Emotional
* Be heard
* Vent emotion
* Have someone listen
* Feel supported

Question 5

How may a customer consultant meet a customer’s needs during a phone call?

Answer 5

• Provide a quote
• Advise the next steps of a claim
• Evidence that the customer understands information provided
• Amendments to a policy
• Register a complaint
• Answering a query
• Transferring a call
• Taking accountability

Question 6

How is a call closed effectively?

Answer 6

Ensure customer understands what is happening next and when and by who

Question 7

What skills are required during a call and in what stage do they apply?

Stages are:
Opening
Establishing needs
Meeting needs
Closing call

Answer 7

Rapport building - Opening stage
Empathising - Opening stage
Signposting - Opening stage and throughout the call
Listening - Opening and understanding stages
Questioning - Understanding and meeting needs stages
Summarising understanding, meeting needs and closing stages
Voice control - Every stage

Question 8

A rapport is where we feel that we understand someone and they understand us. What may be signals that two people have a rapport?

Answer 8

• Agreement
• Harmony
• Understanding
• Seeing eye to eye
• Making a connection
• Developing common ground

Question 9

Why are rapports important?

Answer 9

It:
* Establishes a relationship with the customer
* Can be a key differentiator of good against bad customer service
* Makes a customer feel good
* Makeds the customer feel that they are being listened to and treated personally
* Can make the job more enjoyable for staff

Question 10

What can be done to build a good rapport with a customer?

Answer 10

• Give a friendly and professional greeting
• Treat people as people
• Set the climate for the call early on
• Be interested
• Use their name
• Find common ground
• Adapt your style of behaviour to suit theirs (i.e less formal or more formal)

Question 11

What is sympathy and empathy?

Answer 11

Sympathy= showing you care or understand someones problem
Empathy = being able to understand and share the feelings of another person

Question 12

What 3 key elements are needed for empathy?

Answer 12

1) Understanding
2) Responding effectively
3) Concentrating on the unique circumstances of the person and their situation

Question 13

What 2 factors are needed for having empathetic skills?

Answer 13

1) Empathetic listening
2) Expressing empathy

Question 14

How can empathetic listening be demonstrated?

Do’s & Don’ts

Answer 14

Do:
* Set aside prejudices or biases
* Connent with anothers emotions without getting carried away
* Give people the chance to fully explain themselves
* Focus on the conversation without distraction

Don’t:
* Spend time rehersing what to say next
* Rush to advice or fix things
* Focus on certain pieces of information and ignore others
* Arrive at a conclusion before they have finished explaining

Question 15

How can expressing empathy be demonstrated?

3

Answer 15

• Ask open-ended questions using bridges such as ‘tell me more’
• Slow down allowing the customer to express their feelings
• Harness past experience whilst this can demonstrate empathy, be cautious to not make the conversation about your past experience

Using Feel/ Felt / Found may be handy to use in sentences

Question 16

What is signposting?

Answer 16

The skill of keeping the customer informed as to what is happening and what is about to happen.

It is about removing anxiety and frustration from a customer.

e.g:
* Explaining a process to a customer
* Explaining a silence may come whilst information is being updated into a system

Question 17

Who said ‘seek first to understand then to be understood’

Answer 17

Steven Covey

Question 18

How will empathetic listening enhance the customer experience?

Answer 18

• Develops and maintains rapport
• Creates a level of trust
• Creates a sense of interation
• Demonstrates how important you percieve the other person to be
• Shows are you inerested in their situation

Question 19

What are the 5 different levels of listening?

Answer 19

1) Ignoring not listening at all
2) Pretending to listen making appropriate sounds/ nods but not taking in the information
3) Selective listening picking up certain information that is important to us
4) Active listening observing words, body language and expressions and give feedback. However it is without 2 way emotional involvement. There is no engagement or symptathy with the other persons feelings or emotional needs.
5) Empathetic listening paying full attention to thoughts and feelings of the speaker and listening to all signals. See the problem, understand the effect it has on the speaker and engage empathetically.

Question 20

What signals can be picked up on that may tell us how the speaker is feeling?

Answer 20

• Tone of voice
• Verbal aspects such as pace, volume, flow, style, emphasis
• Facial expression and body language
• Culteral aspects that may affect their way of communcations and signals
• How the other person is feeling

Question 21

What are the barriers to effective listening?

Answer 21

• Environmental distractions screens, background noise, children crying or dogs barking
• Preoccupied mind thinking of other things such as work
• Filtering only listening to what you want to hear
• Making assumptions thinking you know what someone is going to say
• Mental rehersal thinking about what you are going to say in response
• Verbal skills such as accent and language

Question 22

How can we show a customer that we are listening?

Answer 22

• Encourage - ‘tell me more’ / ‘you were saying earlier..’ / ‘could you explain that for me’
• Acknowledge - ‘I understand’ / ‘I see’
• Checking - ‘you seem …’ / ‘am I right in thinking that’
• Clarifying - ‘I’m not sure i understand, did you say..’ / ‘Did you say this happened once or twice’

Question 23

What are some tips for listening?

Answer 23

• Stop talking
• Concentrate
• Ask questions
• Acknowledge and empathise
• Listen between the lines
• Be motivated to want to listen
• Take notes

Question 24

What are the different types of questions?

Answer 24

Open: requires a descriptive answer
Probing: to draw out deeper information
Closed: requires ‘yes’ or ‘no’
Hypothetical: such as ‘what if’
Rhetorical: where the answer is assumed to be obvious
Leading: phrased in a way to extract a certain answer
Reflective: used to check understanding

Question 25

How do open questions usually start? What are open questions used for?

Answer 25

'What' or 'How' Used to: * Build a rapport * Get the person to open up and discuss * Open up conversation to gain trust and confidence * Gather all relveant information to create a solution * Find out wider information

Question 26

Outline the TED technique for probing questions

Answer 26

Tell, explain & describe Tell me more about that Explain the situation to me Describe the damage to me

Question 27

What are probing questions used for?

Answer 27

* To find out more detail * Find out how the customer feels * Go deeper into the situation and build on information gained * Help the person explain more fully

Question 28

What are closed questions used for?

Answer 28

To: * clarify/ confirm details * ensure you are talking to the correct person * encourage confirmation and agreement to a solution * narrow conversation down after going off topic/ expressing anger * extract specific information quickly * test understanding by getting a 'yes' or 'no' * achieve closure or agreement

Question 29

What are hypothetical questions used for?

Answer 29

To: * overcome a difficult objection * examine possible future situations * seek solutions to a problem or seek agreement

Question 30

Why must you be weary when using a leading question?

Answer 30

Bceause you may not recieve the correct answer which could lead to a breach and problems at a later stage. You must be confident that the issue has been explored fully first.

Question 31

What is summarising useful for?

Answer 31

* demonstrating listening * maintaining rapport and developing trust * regaining control if required * maintaining a customers interest and attention * signposting what customers can expect * describing what has happened * checking both your own and customers understanding * highlighting that needs and wants have been understood * showing empathy

Question 32

What phrases could be used to summarise?

Answer 32

* So, in summary... * Let me check I have understood correctly * What you're saying is... * If i have heard your correctly then... * So what's really important to you right now is...

Question 33

The FCA are concerned about vulnerable customers and have issued guidance on their fair treatment, the guidance makes specific reference to the skills and capabilities of the staff. It requires that staff should *what*? ## Footnote 2

Answer 33

* Understand how their role affects the fair treatment of vulnerable customers * Have the necessaryu skills and capabilities to recognise and response to a range of characteristics and vulnerability ## Footnote In additon: firms must be able to offer pratcical and emptional support to frontline stagg dealing with vulnerable customers

Question 35

The FCA suggests that *what* signs may indicate that a customer is vulnerable? ## Footnote Payment behaviours, Phrases and other signs

Answer 35

**Changes in payment behaviours** * Payments stopping suddenly * Late or missed payments * Regular or unarranged overdrafts and charges * Unusual account activity **Phrases** such as: * I cant pay * I'm having trouble paying * Mention of breathing spcae or debt advisors * I cant read my bill * I cant understand the letter you sent me * I cant hold on all day * I hate these press buttons **Other signs** staff should be on the lookout for: * Shortness of breath or agitation * Asking for repitition (not retaining information) * Signs of confusion * Mention of medication

Question 36

What kind of calls may be considered challanging to make?

Answer 36

* Chasing an outstanding debt * Declining a claim * Having to ring someone with a difficult personaility such as agression or asking lots of questions and going off topic * Contacting someone who is very update and distressed (e.g recent bereavement) * Contacting someone who has made a complaint

Question 37

What is the behaviour cycle and when is the opportunity to make a change?

Answer 37

* How someone behaves towards us * How we think and feel **Opportunity to change the behaviour cycle** * How we behave towards them * How they think and feel *repeat*

Question 38

How may an agent successfully deal with a challanging call?

Answer 38

**Prepare** When the agent is going to make the call they have the opportunity to prepare in advance. * Read the notes and files to know relevant information in advance * Set out objectives of the call * Anticipate difficult areas * Think about the person, what is known about them, have you spoken before? Can anything be used to build a rapport * Consider the timing of the call and when will be optimal for both agent and person * Planning questions that need to be asked **Approach** Remain calm and professional **Listening** Empathetically will ensure that other person is aware that you are listening **Empathy** Empathise with the customer's situation **Understanding the issue** To be able to help, questions will need to be asked and answers listened to to identify the real issue behind the emotion **Agreement** The intention is to reach a point where an agreement with the customer is possible on how the matter can be resolved and what the next steps will be. This will also make the customer leave feeling satisfied that they have been listened to and that their issue is being resolved.

Question 39

What are 3 non- verbal elements of communication?

Answer 39

* Body language * How we use our voice * Use of positive language

Question 40

Albert Mehreabian found that what percetages account for verbal, vocal and non verbal factors in communication?

Answer 40

Verbal = 7% (the words) Vocal = 38% (the way words are said e.g tone) Non-verbal = 55% (facial expressions and posture)

Question 41

What factors of body language should be considered when communicating with a customer?

Answer 41

**Eye contact** Tells customer you are listning but should not be prolonged as could be misinterpreted **Facial expressions** Be mindful not to let a natural frown be defaulted to in a conversation and smiling during a call can help create a positive tone **Distance** Acquintaces usually accept 1.25-2 metres (those you dont know well may feel any closer is invading their personal space) Those you know well usually accepts 45cm-1.25 metres **Negative body language** * Face touching = unsure or hesitant * Poor eye contact = disintersted * Fiddling with clothing = unsure or uncomfortable * Fidgeting with objects = distractions that will stop others lisetening * Shuffling around = uncertaintly and desire to be on the move

Question 42

How can our voices be adapted to conversations?

Answer 42

**Volume** loud enough to be heard and not misunderstood **Pace or speed** Not too fast or slow as people will struggle to understand or lose interest in listening **Clarity** Without mumbling or muttering **Variety and tone** Monotone voices are difficult to concentrate on andf listen to whereas a warm hello will make a customer feel valued

Question 43

How may positive and negative language impact a customer conversation?

Answer 43

**Positive language** * tells the customer what can be done * suggests alternatives and choices available to the recipient * sounds helpful and encouraging * Stresses positive actions and consequences that can be anticipated **Negative language** * tells the recipient what cannot be done * has a subtle tone of blame * includes words like can't/ won't * does not stress the positive actions or consequences

Question 44

Why is communication ideally two-way?

Answer 44

* It ensures that the sender receives the feedback * It confirms that there is a mutual understanding if the communication is one-way, there is no feedback mechanism

Question 45

Communication involves a message or information being sent by one party to another. Once the message is sent, it is potentially subject to interpretation as a result of *what* factors?

Answer 45

* Jargon being misunderstood * Lack of clarity * Values and beliefs of the recipient may mean they interpret the message in a certain way * Information overload * A lack of attention to detail * Correspondance may not be recieved by its intended recipient

Question 46

An organisation will want to check how effectively it is communicating with its brand. To do this, they use research by getting feedback on what 2 areas?

Answer 46

* **Brand awareness and recognition**: are people aware of the brand and do they recognise it? * **Brand association**: what do people associate with the brand? e.g excellent customer service or trust and honesty.