Seri Komunikasi: Verbal Communication

Verbal Communication

Whether responding to customers, other staff or visitor to the store, giving accurate and logical information is vital to ensure that a professional and positive image is projected. Answering questions well depends on how well you have listened and what knowledge you have. The accuracy of your response does not necessarily mean knowing the answer. It may mean saying you don’t know, but will find the information.

The worst response you can give is one that is not true or you are not really sure of. Whether selling a product, advising other staff, or dealing with suppliers, the same rule applies. A good technique to use is to stop and think about the question and how to answer before responding, particularly with more difficult questions.
Questions you receive on the job are many and varied, so developing your knowledge not only for products and services but also for general information is important. People who ask questions expect either answer or to be provided with information that leads them to find the answers. Whenever you reply to an inquiry containing one or more questions, answer all questions --- stated or implied. For example, a customer asking a salesperson whether the store has a particular brand of product implies that the customer wants to see the goods and is interested in buying. If the salesperson were just to answer ‘Yes, we do have that brand’ and left it at that, the sale would usually be lost. A prospective customer’s reaction to an incomplete reply is likely to be unfavourable. The customer may think you are careless or purposely trying to conceal a weak spot. In general, ‘omissions cast suspicions’, whether you are answering an enquiry about a product or recommending an appropriate way for another staff member to complete a job.
If you have no information on a particular question, you must say so clearly, instead of omitting to answer. If you have unfavourable information in answer to a question, handle your with both tact and honesty.
Customers expect staff working in any type of retail environment to be able to provide them with clear and accurate information. Failure to do this can lead to a loss in credibility and customers. When describing services it is important to stick to the point of what the customer has asked and add rather than withhold any information. All information given must be relevant and accurate.
Your role as a salesperson also requires the reporting of a number of different matters to management. You must be certain of your facts and report clearly and accurately. Most verbal reports or explanations will be regarding routine matters. When you need to report on these matters there are a number of steps that you need to remember in order for the report to be clear and concise. These are:
• Determine the purpose of the report and who the report is for. This will assist you to focus on the required content.
• Collect the necessary information to fulfil the requirements and purpose of the report. This may mean reviewing other material like record books, etc.
• Organize the material in your mind just as you would if you were writing it down.
• Present the information logically and clearly so that it flows and makes sense to the listener, ensuring all the relevant information is provided.
• Speak slowly and clearly and watch the listeners’ reactions to gauge their understanding.
• Stick to facts initially and then if discussion takes place you may offer opinions at that stage.
Good communication means talking with people at a level they feel comfortable with and understand. This is particularly the case with customers. When communicating with customers, other staff or visitor to the store is important to remember that your level of expertise may be above theirs. To ensure communication is effective you must talk to them at a level appropriate to their understanding. This does not mean talking to them like you would children, but means explaining information that may not be apparent or providing background information so they understand the information better. It may be that the visitor has a high level of understanding, which means you can put in more technical information. If you spoke simply to this type of person he or she is likely to switch off because of lack of interest.
Selecting a level entails watching for reactions, listening carefully to what the person says, which will give you clues as to their knowledge and asking appropriate questions to ascertain their level of knowledge. One example may be that of a new staff member asking for advice on a procedure. Just in the fact that he or she is asking would indicate a low level of knowledge on the procedure; however, it does not mean he or she has a low level of knowledge overall. If the procedure had to do with money handling, the newcomer may not be sure of it or may be comparing it with the way he or she did it at a previous job. An appropriate question initially to find out your colleague’s level would be to ask whether he or she has handled money before.
If you are unsure of someone’s level, ask a question and gauge the response. Jargon, technical terms and even ‘shop talk’ only serve to confuse those from outside the environment. These terms must be avoided to minimize confusion and maintain an environment where people feel comfortable. Sticking to simple terms is the easiest way to avoid confusing people. A new representative coming into the store for the first time ad being told the orders are done by the ‘system’ may not know whether that involves a person, position or machine. Saying orders are done automatically by the computer system makes it very clear and easy to understand.
Selengkapnya...

Seri Komunikasi: Context, Feedback, and Barriers to Communication

Context

As a receiver decodes a message he or she attaches a meaning (context) to the words and signal received using his or her own experiences and background. This context, as long as the receiver attaches the same meanings as those of the sender, will ensure the correct understanding of the communication. If the context varies, problem occurs. These can be sorted out by using feedback and refining the communication until both the sender and receiver are ‘on the same wavelength’ as shown in the figure.

Feedback

For communication to be successful it is necessary for feedback to occur from both the receiver and the sender. Feedback from the receiver and the sender is important to ensure that the message is understood. The receiving and giving of feedback can be a continuous process until the sender and the receiver are satisfied that the communication is clear and both have a common understanding. As each piece of feedback is received, the message is refined, added to and sent back for verification or more information to be added.

Barriers to communication

As can be seen from the communication model, the communication process in theory appears to be relatively simple. However, the experience of our day-to-day communications with people shows us that in reality this simple process is fraught with difficulties, in particular, barriers and breakdowns. Some of the more common of these include:

1. Badly expressed message. In the retail environment customers may not have a full understanding of what they want, so they tend to struggle or give incorrect information. The role of the salesperson in these circumstances is to assist and make it easier for the customer. It may also be a case of poor language skills, for example.
2. Inappropriateness in level or content for the listener. This is a trap that very knowledgeable salespeople can fall into when trying to impress customers with their vast knowledge of products. This, more often than not, can lose a sale by confusing the customers, making them feel inadequate or just stupid. Gauging customers’ level of knowledge and understanding is relatively easy by watching and listening for their reactions to what you are saying.
3. Failure to communicate all the messages. This tends to occur when we make assumptions that people have a certain level of understanding when it comes to basic information and so we leave it out.
4. Rambling. Giving too much information or going off on tangents is just a bad as not giving enough information.
5. Inattention. There are probably a million reasons for not paying attention; the point is, if you miss anything you may lose the sale, particularly if a customer notice your inattention.
6. Impatience. In the retail environment, which is often rushed with a thousand and one jobs to do; salespeople can sometimes forget their priorities, especially with the pressure of getting all those other jobs completed. The important point is that all the other jobs are connected to customers. If you start treating them poorly or rushing them, pretty soon you will have all the time in the world for the other jobs because there will not be any customers left.
7. Semantics. Words can have different meanings to different people. For example, saying ‘I’m mad about my flat’ can have vastly different meanings depending on previous experience, culture, education, etc. is ‘mad’ overjoyed or angry? Is ‘flat’ an apartment or a tire? We need to remove the ambiguity by providing extra information. This can be achieved quite simply: ‘I’m mad about my flat tire’. Never make assumptions that customers understand our meaning or we really understand theirs.
8. Critical attitudes. These are generalizations that can affect the way we treat and therefore communicate with people. For example, having the attitude that all school children steal when in shops could quickly lose sales and other customers if this sort of attitude became apparent.
9. Timing. Communicating at the right time is critical. Whether we are a sender or a receiver, if things like noise, our feelings or what the other person is doing is going to affect the understanding, we need either to wait or to control these things before we start the communication.
10. Losses by transmission and retention. When giving information we must consider how a person is going to remember. There are many circumstances in retailing where how we send a message (transmission) and how much the person will remember (retention) will be adversely affected if we don’t do anything about them. For example, when sending a message, choosing the appropriate means, whether verbal, written or combination, will be more successful than just one means, particularly if the message is complex. For example, when selling a customer electrical equipment like a sound system, only using information given verbally may overload the customer, or just giving the customer a brochure may indicate that you are not really interested. Providing both would be the preferable transmission of the information and assist with retention because the customer has written information as well.
11. Noise. This may be in the form of aural noise like traffic noise or music that is too loud. It may also be anything that interferes with the communication process.

Selengkapnya...

The elements of Communication Process

The sender and the receiver

We have two major rules in the communication process. At time we have the responsibility of being the sender/encoder. At other times we have the responsibility for being the receiver/ decoder. While both roles have distinct responsibilities, each is dependent on the other for effective communication to be established and maintained. As a sender our responsibility are to:
• Be sure what we want to say before we say it (think clearly);
• Put the information into a logical order, sift out the important from the unimportant, be precise and to the point;
• Arouse and maintain the listener’s interest by introducing what we are going to convey in a manner that catches the listener’s interest, keep on track and provide the right amount of information for the listener;
• Us a vocabulary level and terminology that the listener will understand ;
• Encourage feedback;
• Watch for non-verbal cues from the receiver (e.g. disinterest, puzzlement).
The sender also needs to be aware of the necessity to choose the appropriate time to convey the message. For example, people who are preoccupied, angry or worried will not be particularly receptive to a message. It may, if circumstances permit, be more effective to wait until their frame of mind is such that they are able to ‘hear’ your message properly. As a receiver our responsibilities are to:
• Stay tuned in to the entire message. Focusing on the speaker will ensure we receive all the message by picking up the tone and inflection given to the message and therefore fully understanding what is being said;
• Evaluate what we actually hear, not what we think we hear. We all have biases toward people which can affect listening effectively-more simply; the person speaking may have a weird haircut. These can often influence our understanding if we prejudge the speaker. We may also fall into the trap of only listening for what we want to hear;
• Clarify points that we are unsure about – if in doubt ask a question;
• Respond and give feedback by stating what our understanding of the message is and what action we will take;
• Use our eyes to watch for non-verbal cues, as well as listening to the words.

Channel

The way we choose to send a message is called the channel. We have the option of verbal communication that is, talking to the receiver, written communication in the form of a letter or memo, visual communication by diagram or picture, and non-verbal communication using gestures. When selecting a channel we need to consider the message it self. If the message is long and complex it may require a combination of all channels for an understanding to be achieved the receiver of the message. A simple message may only require the verbal channel. There are other considerations, of course; the intended receiver may not be available, so written communication may be more practical, that is, leaving a note. The means of transmission may differ according to circumstances. For example, instead of talking face to face, you may choose to use the telephone, or write a message via computer rather than with pencil and paper.
Matching the channel to the message is vital for ensuring effective communication. To give a simple but extreme example, think of how you would communicate danger to someone about to turn on an electrical appliance you know is faulty and that could electrocute him or her. Your options are to write a memo quickly or draw up a sign, to make frantic gestures and imitate someone being electrocuted or just simply to yell at them to stop. Depending how you felt about the person (this may be a barrier to communication) your answer should have been the verbal ‘yelling’ option which is immediate and therefore gets the quickest and most desired result. The main determination for using a channel that will assist the communication to be understood and be effective is to ask yourself ‘which channel will get the message across and received clearly and unambiguously?. In almost all cases the answer should be ‘all of them – and preferably at the same time!’. Bear in mind, however, that too much information can be just as bad as too little. Selengkapnya...

The Communication Process

The communication process

Communication can be simply defined as ‘what we do to secure understanding between ourselves and others’. The key word in definition is ‘understanding’. Unless understanding occurs, communication will not be successful. Effective communication is inter-change of thoughts, facts, emotions and information between two or more people which results in mutual understanding – the meeting of minds! When we communicate with someone, we usually have one or more as follow:
1. To be understood – to get a massage across to someone so that he or she knows exactly what we mean.
2. To gain acceptance – for ourselves and/or our ideas, this is particularly important in the selling process.
2. To produce action - to get others to take the action we want them to take (e.g. to buy our products and services).

A simple communication process starts with three components: a message (this could be an idea, concept, direction, etc.), someone to send the message (a sender) and someone to receive it (a receiver).
The deficiency of this process is that unless the communication is very simple there is no guarantee that understanding will have taken place. In a work environment this can have some interesting results for a company’s customers.

An effective communication model has a number of components that need to be clearly understood to complete the communication process, as shown in the following figure. These include:
• The roles of the sender and the receiver of the message;
• The channel of communication, that is, ‘how the message is sent’;
• The context of the message in both the sender’s and the receiver’s mind;
• Feedback;
• Barriers that can occur that stop or hinder communication.

Figure
Model of communication
Selengkapnya...