In today’s business environment, we seem to have regressed to the old social norm which was applied to children, where our customers are being seen and not heard. Is this because of the culture of SWAG?

I came across this rather tongue-in-cheek US military term, SWAG, and it dawned on me that we live in a culture of SWAG here in South Africa. SWAG?

Scientific Wild-Assed Guess!
In the business community, our sales representatives and our customer service agents live by this culture of SWAG. They have been so well trained in their respective product offerings, their deliveries are based purely on a series of assumptions. They hear the first inkling of the customer’s circumstances and jump to conclusions. Isn’t that why we have so many customer complaints – customers feeling that they aren’t being heard? If our sales representatives and service agents are smart enough to make these scientific wild-assed guesses, then surely they can be equally well trained to spend time with each customer, and thoroughly understand the customer’s needs and circumstances before delivering the solution?

This approach may seem to take longer, but be assured: if a customer is heard and fully understood, there is less likelihood of comebacks and complaints.

Training has historically addressed the conventional ‘open ended’ and ‘closed ended’ questions and for the most part this is useful at the level of building awareness with learners. We have found however, that we need to assist learners, and work with them in order to draft a series of questions that will extract useful information from the customer.

Once again because of the keen focus on product knowledge, sales representatives and service agents seem to approach their customers using a ‘check list’ approach. This results in a series of closed ended questions being asked. The effect on customers is that they are being interrogated and are not given the opportunity to enter into a two-way conversation with the person who is aiming to assist them.

So to move away from this very directive approach to understanding our customers, it is suggested that teams spend time working together to generate possible questions which will allow customers to respond freely, and to give them the necessary information that is required.

In preparation for a planning session like this, think about providing a conceptual model within which to work. This will give the conversation form and direction. For example, using an image to start with (the big picture) and working down to the intricate detail will enable a sales person or service agent to understand the customer’s requirements more comprehensively. Big picture, open ended questions might include “What is the strategic plan for the department in the next 18 months?” or “Tell me about the circumstances in which this problem occurs.” Each business will have its own conceptual structure and clusters of information that will work in its environment. Planning will be the only way to facilitate this session effectively.

A second skill that sales people and service agents need to master is that of ‘cocktail conversation’. A true master at a cocktail party will be able to keep the conversation alive by effectively using listening and questioning skills.

Nobody wants to be inflicted with yet another monologue of your latest adventure, they would rather talk about themselves! People leaving cocktail parties will have had a wonderful time if someone has taken an interest in them and listened attentively to what they have been saying.

This skill can be more widely applied than simply in sales or service environments, but for now, let’s keep these environments our focus. If our staff are asking open ended questions within the conceptual framework, once again they cannot adopt the ‘checklist’ approach. These pre-planned open ended questions are simply the starting point of the conversation. They need to be listening attentively to the customer and ask the next logical open ended question. These questions might take on the form of “what do you mean by that?” or “how has that impacted you?” or “what were the outcomes of that?” One or two closed ended questions may be necessary at this point to confirm some of the details or to check the agents understanding. Once the topic has been fully explored, it is time to pose the next open ended question from the conceptual framework.

These skills might seem obvious or natural to some, however in our experience of delivering sales and customer service training, we find that these skills are the toughest to master. The result of a skilled person communicating with a customer is that customers feel like they are being heard and understood. There is no room for assumptions or guessing. So, let’s start asking questions and leave SWAG to the US military.

About the authors: Lorna Phipps, of The Skills Studio, is an educationalist and businesswoman. The Skills Studio’s specialty is delivering sales training to all levels of sales, including sales management. They have consulted to companies on sales forecasting strategies, sales strategies, sales processes and sales management.
Choose your attitude is Kerry Anne Law’s motto and this forms the foundation of her company, Skill Junction. Kerry Anne’s focus is building basic business skills into the African marketplace where customer care, management and coaching skills are in short supply.
In a joint venture agreement, The Skills Studio and Skill Junction’s aim is to build up African communities to become economically competitive and on a level with the rest of the world

• Add New

Comments (0)

Write comment

Name:

Email: do not notifynotify

Website:

Title:

Message:

Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.