3 Ways to Achieve Exceptional Customer Service

If you want your business to grow, you must have outstanding customer service for your customers before and during the sale as well as afterwards. To compete with the countless other businesses in existence, you should raise the standards for your customer service. Here are three ways to do that.

Create a Seamless Customer Experience

Customers often get frustrated when dealing with a customer service agent or even the entire process. They don’t like being left on hold if they call in or the delay in an answer if they fill out a form. They dislike trying to understand someone who speaks with an accent or doesn’t have the answers they need. Customers also hate to have to repeat themselves to multiple people as they are moved from one agent to another.

You can prevent many of these problems by creating a process that works. First, figure out how to cut down on the time a customer must be placed on hold or how many steps they must take to get to a person. Then, train your staff on how to respond appropriately to the customer. You may need to hire a business speech coach who can train your employees on how to speak clearly and professionally. At the same time, they can be warm and cordial to make the customer feel like they are important and their concern is a priority.

Get Your Customer’s Perspective

Take the time to learn from your customers. Create short surveys which address certain aspects of the customer service process. Once they fill out the surveys, use this information to improve what you do.

Let your customers know the reason you’re making changes is because of what you learned in the survey. This will help them feel like what they have to say really matters. They will be more likely to continue to respond in the future if they feel their concerns are heard.

Reward Your Agents

By rewarding your customer service agents for the best job they can do, they will be more likely to continue to improve their skills. The result is happier customers who enjoy talking to your agents.

You can create a reward system for the most responses or the best outcomes, depending on how you measure your customer service. Perhaps you reward someone who receives a positive response from a customer. You may have customers fill out a survey after speaking with an agent to tell about their experience. Only agents who receive a specific result will get the reward.

Go beyond regular customer service and seek out ways you can take it up a notch. Exceed your customers’ expectations and they will come back the next time they need your product or service. Work to get all of your customer service agents motivated to go the extra mile to see the customer satisfied. When everyone works together and attempts to meet the customer’s need, the result is that everybody wins and the business continues to grow.

What to Consider When You Outsource Work

If you’re a business owner or manager, you may be considering outsourcing some tasks or even positions to an independent contractor. There are many benefits to this option, including the ability to find better skilled people when location doesn’t limit the applicant search. However, there are also some things to consider, especially if you are expanding your search outside of your region or country.

Cost Efficiency

In many cases, outsourcing work can be the most cost-efficient thing to do. However, some jobs are better handled in-house, which means it will be more costly to outsource. You need to weigh the cost of hiring someone against the cost of paying an independent contractor and the profits gained by each option to determine your best option.

Independence

Some tasks can be handled without a lot of oversight. These are the ones most suited to outsourcing, especially if the person is in a different time zone. You will have limited supervision if the person is not in the office, but it becomes an even bigger issue if they are working when you are asleep. Not only should the task be one that can be completed with minimal supervision, but the person you hire should require no hand-holding.

Communication

Communicating with staff in-house can be difficult, but the issues are even more pronounced when someone is half a world away. You may have difficulty scheduling meetings that work for both your schedules. This becomes an even bigger issue if the meetings involve other people.
Another problem with communication is understanding the other person. If someone is from another country, you may have problems understanding what they say if they have a heavy accent. They may also have the same problem with you. An accent reduction coach can help with this situation because they teach you how to speak clearly without a heavy accent.

Risk

You must consider the risk of hiring someone who is not under your direct supervision. No, they may not be a scam artist or trying to gain access to your company for negative purposes. However, you do still carry some risk as to the quality of work they will do. Since you won’t be able to watch as they work, you must trust that they can meet deadlines and that their quality of work meets the company standards.

The person may turn in an outstanding portfolio of work, but does this represent the quality of what they do day in and day out? Or is it a selection of items where they worked to impress a new client before falling off on the quality?

Outsourcing work can be a great benefit for a company. However, you must make sure that the arrangement will work for both you and the contractor. Take the time to think through all aspects of this scenario before you proceed. You want to ensure you are protecting your company from any negative consequences that could happen when you work with someone who is not under your direct supervision.

3 Types of Business Communication and How to Master Them

If you work in almost any type of business, you’re going to be communicating with other people. It may be customers and co-workers or staff and vendors. There are three main ways of communicating in the business world, and you must know how to use all of them and when to use each one.

Verbal Communication

Verbal communication has been around forever. It includes in-person meetings, phone calls and one-on-one interviews. One of the reasons it’s so popular is because you can see the person and get cues from facial expression and gestures as to what they’re really saying.

It’s often the most effective method of communicating, but you can still have issues if one person has a different style or a strong accent. In some cases, especially when delivering sensitive information, another type of communication is better.

Written Communication

For certain situations, written communication is the preferred method. You can be more concise and provide specific information without waiting for someone else’s response. It provides a record of what was said and when so there are fewer issues. There is less room for error when giving factual information.

The downside of using written communication is you don’t have the opportunity to clarify issues or answer questions immediately. Because the person doesn’t hear your tone of voice or see your facial expression, they may misunderstand your intent behind the message. Remember that anything written can be used for legal purposes, so you must be careful in what you write.

Electronic Communication

More businesses are relying on online or electronic communication because they are operating globally. Even those with local employees may have people who work from home or a remote location. Instead of trying to get everyone together, they use technology to schedule online meetings.

While electronic communication saves time and helps more to get accomplished, it can cause some issues as well. Depending on the quality of the internet connection and hardware being used, it may be difficult to see or hear another person as clearly as if they were standing in the same room. People from other countries or even other regions of the same country may have a different accent which can be enhanced online.

If someone doesn’t speak up clearly, others may not hear what they have to say. There may be misunderstandings or even lost information that could be pertinent to the successful completion of a project or task.

Regardless of which type of communication you use in your business, you must learn how to speak clearly to be effective. If you notice struggles with others to understand you or each other, it may be time to work on your speaking skills. You can hire a business speech coach who will not only help you enunciate more clearly for others to understand, they can help you present information in a better way.

Learn how and when to use all three forms of business communication to accomplish your goals.

Do You Need a Speech Coach If You Don’t Do Public Speaking?

If you don’t have a job which requires you to speak in front of a group, you may not consider hiring a business speech coach. Many people assume they are a resource for those who must give professional speeches, such as a consultant or motivational speaker. However, hiring a speech coach might be beneficial even if you never have to do any public speaking.

You Speak with People in Other Regions

Thanks to the advances in technology, more companies hire remote workers or use independent contractors. What this means for you is you may be working with people from all over the world. If you have a strong accent, it may be difficult for people in other regions to understand what you’re saying. An accent reduction coach can help you enunciate more clearly so your accent doesn’t get in the way of your message.

This training becomes even more important when you’re speaking over the phone or through a video app. Even the slightest distortion can be made worse if you don’t speak clearly. A speech coach can help you overcome any issues so that you’re understood no matter where you live in the world.

You Speak to Customers

If your job includes speaking to customers on a regular basis, you may benefit from hiring a speech coach. Whether in person or on the phone, improving your speech can help you get your message across better. Customers quickly become frustrated when they feel someone else doesn’t understand what they’re saying or if they can’t understand the other person.

When you hire a speech coach to help you with your speaking ability, you can improve your customer service. This will make you more valuable to your company and can improve the feedback you receive from customers.

You Lack Confidence

Even if you don’t have a strong accent or you don’t have to speak to customers on a regular basis, a speech coach can help you develop confidence with whomever you speak to. You may have a problem with shyness or anxiety when speaking to people even if it’s one-on-one. A coach can help you learn how to control that anxiety so you can deliver any communication with confidence.

You may talk to co-workers and supervisors every day, but it’s not something you enjoy. You can learn how to speak better and fake confidence so people will be more likely to listen to what you have to say.

Even if you don’t have a job that requires you to do a lot of speaking to groups now, you can hire a speech coach to help you in this area. As you develop better speaking habits and are more easily understood, you become more prepared for promotions which may require you to do more speaking.

Consider hiring a speech coach to help you improve your speaking ability so that you can get promoted to your dream job or to a position with more prestige. Don’t let your qualms about public speaking keep you from excelling in your career.

Accent Reduction – How to Lose Your Accent

You may be hoping for a promotion at work or just want to fit in with your new friends. For whatever reason, you’re hoping your accent diminishes, but you don’t want to wait for time to make a difference. Here are some ways you can work to make your accent less pronounced.

1. Hire an Accent Reduction Coach

If you want to learn something, you work with someone who knows how to do what you want to know. An accent reduction coach can tell you exactly how to lose or modify your accent. They will listen to you speak and can tell you what you need to work on. This is the best way to reduce your accent.

2. Practice and Practice Some More

Your accent reduction coach will likely tell you some tips to work on when you are on your own. The most important thing is to practice as much as you can at not speaking with an accent. Work on it every day. Be more conscious of how you speak and sound. Practice makes perfect.

3. Read Aloud

One of the best ways to get more practice in is by reading aloud. Pick a story or article you haven’t read before so you’re working with something that is unfamiliar. You’ll pay more attention and take things slower, which will help you with your speech.

4. Speak Slower

Learn to speak more slowly all the time and not just when you’re reading. People who speak slower are easier to understand even if they don’t have a strong accent. If you naturally speak fast, you may need to work on this habit. Have your friends and family tell you to slow down when you speak too fast even if they can understand you.

5. Imitate Others

Listen to native speakers and copy the way they say certain words and phrases. Notice where they put emphasis on words. Listen to the local news or radio stations to get used to hearing native speech so it becomes more familiar to you.

6. Listen to Yourself

Record yourself reading or speaking a short passage. Listen to how you speak and pay attention to areas where you need to improve. Don’t try to do it all at once but select one area where you need help and focus on that. It may be a single sound or even a single word, but you can make improvements if you’re more aware of what you should be doing.

7. Don’t Get Discouraged

Just as babies and children don’t learn to speak in one day or even one month, you can’t expect to change overnight. It takes time to reduce your accent, so just keep at it and notice improvements along the way.

Accent reduction doesn’t happen immediately even if you hire an accent reduction coach, but you can begin making improvements right away if you get started with someone who is experienced and understands the need for a reduced accent.

How to Avoid Making an Embarrassing Mistake as a Public Speaker

Let’s face it. If you speak often enough in groups, at seminars or even just in your own company’s board meetings, you’re bound to make a mistake. It happens to everyone at some point if they speak in front of other people. However, you can avoid many of these situations by following certain tips.

Get Plenty of Rest

Many mistakes are made because someone is too tired to pay attention to what they are saying. They may misuse a word or substitute one word for another. Sometimes it can be silence in your speech because your mind is suddenly blank. It’s a lot more difficult to think clearly if you are tired.

Memorize Stats

If you will be including statistics in your speech, work on memorizing them or have a cheat sheet in front of you with the information. Many speakers mix up statistics and say things that don’t make sense. If you mess up numbers, your audience just might notice. You’ll also want to remember names and locations because this is another area where people forget what they meant to say. They may say something like “Welcome to Houston, Arkansas” instead of Texas because they were tired and just got mixed up.

Enunciate Clearly

You also need to work on enunciating all your words clearly. Avoid mumbling or rushing your words. You may want to hire a business speech coach to help you learn how to speak properly so you can be understood. A coach can listen to your words and note whether certain words are more difficult for you to say well enough to be understood. While this may be an issue for those with a heavy accent, it can be a problem for anyone.

Check Your Research

Sometimes mistakes in public speaking aren’t as much about messing up your words and phrases as providing inaccurate information. Perhaps you relied on outside research on a topic and get called out on a fact that is inaccurate. Maybe someone else did your research and they used a less-than-reputable source. This is one mistake that is hard to overcome. Whether you get called out during the speech or later in a newspaper or online, it’s a mistake that is difficult to overcome.

Unlike other errors in your speech, this is one that can haunt you forever. People may see you as someone who is untrustworthy or unreliable because your information wasn’t accurate. Take the time to recheck all facts or important data so you know that what you’re telling people is true.

When a mistake happens – and it will, don’t dwell on it. Move on. In some cases, it may be appropriate to make a joke to lighten the mood, but at other times, you just want to keep talking and not refer to your error. Know that mistakes happen in public speaking. Do your best to avoid them, but deal with them when they happen and you’ll continue to grow as a public speaker.

3 Tips to Help Businesses Work with Global Workers

As more companies outsource some of their jobs to independent contractors, the need for improved business communications continues to grow. It can be confusing for one outsider from another part of the nation or another country to understand the language and culture of the company. The business employees must also learn how to work with someone who has no shared history with the company. Here are three tips to help make the relationship go smoothly.

1. Hire an Accent Reduction Coach

If your staff speaks with accents, it may be necessary for one or two of them to take classes with an accent reduction coach. This course helps them learn how to speak more clearly and enunciate their words correctly.

Reducing a heavy accent allows people from other parts of the world to understand your words. Most cultures have specific ways of saying certain words that make them difficult to understand. Accent reduction focuses on teaching students how to use their mouth, tongue and voice in the correct way.

2. Select Specific Employees as Go-betweens

Limit the chance of miscommunication between the company and the independent contractors by choosing only two or three people to work with them. Have them handle all communications after teaching them proper procedures. Just make sure they report in to you on a regular schedule so you always know what’s going on.

When contractors work with the same people, it increases efficiency, which decreases cost for the company. It also reduces the chance of errors because of miscommunication. The contractor can feel more comfortable communicating with someone they are used to working with. They know who to go to when they have problems, and they are more likely to understand instructions from the same person.

3. Create Written Procedures and Processes

Larger companies aren’t the only ones hiring outside contractors. Small companies also benefit from outsourcing work. However, they often don’t have written procedures for every detail. They haven’t needed it in the past since they have fewer workers and do most of their communication verbally.

Once you start working with people who aren’t employees, you need to make sure all processes are clearly explained. Since your company likely won’t be the only one the contractor is working with, they need to have written instructions so they don’t forget or mix anything up with another client.

You must also remember to limit their access to other areas of the company. Even a trustworthy contractor can be a liability if they accidentally share confidential information or fail to protect their own technology sufficiently.

Hiring independent contractors for your business can save your business money. However, this process also presents its own set of challenges. Learn how to communicate with your contractors to ensure your business continues to operate smoothly and efficiently. With the right processes in place and people on your team, you can enjoy the benefits without the concerns that come with outsourcing certain components of your company.

3 Keys to Working Globally

If you are part of a large corporation or even a medium-sized company, you probably have some interaction outside your local city base. In fact, you may sell items or work with vendors from other parts of the world and even hire people remotely who are based in another country. There are several essential keys to making a global enterprise work. Here are three of them.

Learn How to Communicate

Communication is often considered the key to success in the business world. You must learn how to communicate with customers, employees and partners to ensure your business continues to grow and thrive. However, communicating with someone around the world is quite different from talking to someone who is from the same city or state as you.

You must learn how to speak clearly so you are understood. A speech coach can be helpful in this area. A business speech coach can help you learn how to enunciate better so you are more easily understood by people whose first language is not English.

In addition, you must learn how to say what you mean in clear terms. Many Americans use slang or local phrasing that is unfamiliar to those from other areas. A phrase may be misunderstood or taken literally when you mean it figuratively. Be careful to avoid local colloquialisms and other phrases that may not make sense to people outside your area.

Consider the Time

Time differences can have a big impact on meetings, especially when it is daytime in your location and night somewhere else. You will want to schedule video conferences and phone calls for the beginning or end of the day to be considerate of others.

You’ll also want to think about national holidays in other countries that may be observed in the business world. It will be important to communicate your days off due to holidays as well so that they know how and when they can reach you.

Think about the Culture

It’s all too easy to offend someone without meaning to when they come from a different culture than you. This can be a problem not only with employees based in other countries but with customers. When you create advertising and marketing promotions, you want to make sure you not only avoid any negative connotations but also create something that is relevant.

It’s important to learn about a culture where you will be marketing or doing business. You want to avoid being offensive with your words or actions. Even simple gestures can have different meanings in various countries. It’s often helpful to study a country’s culture before you begin doing business in that area.

Thanks to technology, the world has become much smaller. It’s common for businesses to interact with customers, employees and others from one or more countries. However, cultural and language differences still exist. To be successful on a global level, you must learn how to understand these other cultures and communicate with people from around the world.

How Effective are You at Business Communications?

The ability to communicate effectively in the business world is a key component of how valuable you are as an employee. Whether you’re an entry-level employee or a senior-level manager, you need to be able to get your message across to your audience. If you’re lacking in this area, you may need to take classes or hire a business speech coach to help you improve.

Listen as Much as You Talk

When someone is trying to give instructions or get an important message across, they usually focus on what they’re saying. However, the more important the message is, the more they need to focus on listening to ensure others understand what they’re saying.

Miscommunication is one of the biggest issues in workplace interactions. One person says something, and the second person hears something else. Sometimes, it can be a difference in personality. Other times, an accent may be the cause of the issue. Whatever the reason behind the miscommunication, it can be prevented by listening to how others respond to what you say.

Communicate with Tact

How you say something is just as important as what you say. While cultural differences are one instance of where you may need to be careful with how you communicate, you need to be mindful even when talking to co-workers or employees in the same office.

Most people don’t try to be insensitive, but they may fail to understand how their words impact someone else. Pay attention to how your words could hurt someone even if that’s not your intent. A speech coach can help you learn how to use the right words and avoid those with negative connotations.

Speak Positively

Even when you must deliver negative information or news, you should try to be as positive as possible. When this negative information is about the listener, it’s called constructive criticism when delivered correctly.

Most people are more open to what you have to say if you handle it in the right way. If you’re one of those people who always see the glass as half empty, you may need to work on your positive speaking. However, you will find you’re more effective in your communications once you master this skill.

Be Specific

To prevent miscommunication, you need to say what you mean and mean exactly what you say. Too many times, people are general in their conversation. They may not realize others don’t know what they’re talking about or they may not want to be too direct. However, you leave room for interpretation if you aren’t specific enough in what you say.

If you want to be more effective in your communication with co-workers, employees, customers or vendors, you should follow these tips. Avoid a lot of misunderstandings and get more accomplished when you learn how to communicate better. If this is an area where you struggle, you may want to consider hiring a business speech coach who can work with you on speaking more effectively.

What an Business Speech Coach Can Teach Your Company

If you’re looking for classes, seminars or training for your employees to further their skills, you may want to consider hiring a business speech coach. They can provide training for your employees to help them be more effective and motivated.

Better Speaking Skills

A speech coach teaches people how to speak more clearly so they can be understood. They help them learn how to enunciate their words, which clarifies their message to the listeners. All employees can probably benefit from improved speaking skills.

Your employees don’t have to get up in front of a crowd to utilize speech skills. They will do better work as customer service agents and even speaking with co-workers or vendors as they learn how to improve their speaking ability.

Improved Communication

When your staff members learn to speak so they can be understood, it improves their communication with each other and outside people. Misunderstandings often occur because someone heard something different than what was said. If someone can learn how to speak so they are understood, it lessens this problem.

Employees who are confident in their speaking ability will be more direct and confident. They may speak up more and portray the company in a better light with customers and other contacts.

More Cohesiveness

You may have an employee who comes from another region of the country or another country. They speak with a heavy accent, making it difficult for others to understand them. The result is that they stay quiet and seldom speak up in group meetings. They may appear to be loners on breaks or at lunch because they don’t socialize with other staff members.

What you may not realize is they feel isolated because they have trouble communicating with their co-workers and being understood. An accent reduction coach can help them learn to speak clearly so everyone can understand them. This will make it easier for them to do their jobs and to socialize with their co-workers, forming a stronger bond to the staff and the company as a whole.

Investing in Your Employees

Like with any good training, you’re investing in your employees. The ability to speak well is not a skill limited to one profession or one company. This training is something your employees can take with them wherever they go. You may wonder why this is important for you as a business owner. Employees who feel the employer cares about them and their own development will be more content working for the company. They will be loyal and work hard to do a good job.

Public speaking is an important skill to learn in any job, whether the person gets up in front of an audience, participates in meetings or just speaks to customers and others one-on-one. Working with a speech coach can be a great training tool for your employees and help your business grow and improve at the same time. This makes it a win-win situation for everyone involved.