Communication

Communication may take place several forms
 Oral
 Written
 Non-verbal
 Using body language
It may be face to face, over the phone, or by mail or internet. It may be formal or informal. Whatever the content or form of the message or the media used, the essence of communication is given by what the recipient has understood as being communicated.
It is important for a business to choose how and when it will send messages to intended receivers.
Communication process

i. Source: As the source of the message, the agent must be clear about why she is communicating, and what she wants to communicate, and confident that the information being communicated is useful and accurate.
ii. Message is the information that one wants to communicate.
iii. Encoding is the process of transferring the information one wants to communicate into a form that can be sent and correctly decoded at the other end. Success in encoding depends on how well one is able to convey information and eliminate sources of confusion. For this it is necessary to know one’s audience. Failure to do so can result in delivering messages that are misunderstood.

iv. A Message is conveyed through a channel, which has to be selected for the purpose. The channel may be verbal including personal face-to-face meetings, telephone and videoconferencing; or it may be written including letters, emails, memos, and reports.
v. Decoding is the step wherein the information gets received, interpreted and understood in a certain way, at its destination. It can be seen that decoding [or how one receives a message] is as important as encoding [how one conveys it].
vi. Receiver: Finally there is the receiver, the individual or individuals [the audience] to whom the message is sent. Each member of this audience has his own ideas, beliefs and feelings and these would influence how the message has been received and acted upon. The sender obviously needs to consider these factors when deciding what message to send.
vii. Feedback: Even as the message is being sent and received, the receiver is likely to send feedback in the form of verbal and non-verbal messages to the sender. The latter needs to look for such feedback and carefully understand these reactions as it would help to determine how the message has been received and acted upon. If necessary the message could be changed or rephrased.

Non-verbal communication
Let us now look at some concepts that the agent needs to understand.
Important
Making a great first impression
We have already seen that attraction is the first pillar of any relationship. You can hardly expect to get business from a customer who does not like you. In fact many individuals need just a quick glance, of maybe a few seconds, to judge and evaluate you when you meet for the first time. Their opinion about you gets based on your appearance, your body language, your mannerisms, and how you are dressed and speak. Remember that first impressions last for long. Some useful tips for making a good first impression are:
i. Be on time always. Plan to arrive a few minutes early, allowing flexibility for all kinds of possible delays.
ii. Present yourself appropriately. Your prospect, whom you are meeting for the first time, does not know you and your appearance is usually the first clue he or she has to go on.
 Is your appearance helping to create the right first impression?
 Is the way you dress appropriate for the meeting or occasion?
 Is your grooming clean and tidy – with good haircut and shave, clean and tidy clothes, neat and tidy make up?
iii. A warm, confident and winning smile puts you and your audience immediately at ease with one another.
iv. Being open, confident and positive
 Does your body language project confidence and self-assurance?
 Do you stand tall, smile, make eye contact, greet with a firm handshake?
 Do you remain positive even in the face of some criticism or when the meeting is not going as well as expected?
v. Interest in the other person - The most important thing is about being genuinely interested in the other person.
 Do you take some time to find out about the customer as a person?
 Are you caring and attentive to what he or she says?
 Are you totally present and available to your customer or is your mobile phone engaging you during half your interview?

1. Body language
Body language refers to movements, gestures, facial expressions. The way we talk, walk, sit and stand, all says something about us, and what is happening inside us.
It is often said that people listen to only a small percentage of what is actually said. What we don’t say speaks a lot more and a lot louder. Obviously, one needs to be very careful about one’s body language.
a) Confidence
Here are a few tips about how to appear confident and self-assured, giving the impression of someone to be seriously listened to:
 Posture – standing tall with shoulders held back.
 Solid eye contact - with a "smiling" face
 Purposeful and deliberate gestures
b) Trust
Quite often, a sales person’s words fall on deaf ears because the audience does not trust her – her body language does not give the assurance that she is sincere about what she says. It is very important to be aware of some of the typical signs that may indicate when one is not honest and believable and be on guard against them as listed below:
 Eyes maintaining little or no eye contact, or rapid eye movements
 Hand or fingers are in front of one’s mouth when speaking
 One’s body is physically turned away from the other
 One’s breathing rate increases
 Complexion changes colour; red in face or neck area
 Perspiration increases
 Voice changes such as change in pitch, stammering, throat clearing
 Speech – slow and clear with tone of voice kept moderate to low
Some body movements that indicate defensiveness and non-receptivity include:
 Hand/arm gestures are small and close to one ‘s body
 Facial expressions are minimal
 Body is physically turned away from you
 Arms are crossed in front of body
 Eyes maintain little contact, or are downcast
If your customer expresses any of these, perhaps it is time you checked yourself and paid more attention to what is going on in the customer’s mind.

2. Listening skills
The third set of communication skills that one needs to be aware about and cultivate are listening skills. These follow from a well-known principle of personal effectiveness – ‘first to understand before being understood’.
How well you listen has a major impact on your job effectiveness, and on the quality of your relationships with others. Let us look at some listening tips.
a) Active listening:
It is where we consciously try to hear not only the words but also, more importantly, try to understand the complete message being sent by another.
Let us look at some of the elements of active listening. They are:-
i. Paying attention
We need to give the speaker our undivided attention, and acknowledge the message. Note, non-verbal communication also "speaks" loudly. Some aspects of paying attention are as follows:
 Look at the speaker directly
 Put aside distracting thoughts
 Don't mentally prepare a rebuttal
 Avoid all external distractions [for instance, keep your mobile on silent mode]
 "Listen" to the speaker's body language
ii. Demonstrating that you are listening:
Use of body language plays an important role here. For instance one may:
 Give an occasional nod and smile
 Adopt a posture that is open and draws out the other to speak freely
 Have small verbal comments like yes and uh huh.
iii. Provide feedback:
A lot of what we hear may get distorted by our personal filters, like the assumptions, judgments, and beliefs we carry. As a listener, we need to be aware of these filters and try to understand what really is being said.
 This may require you to reflect on the message and ask questions to clarify what was said
 Another important way to provide feedback is to paraphrase the speaker’s words

Yet a third way is to periodically stop the speaker and make a summary of what the speaker has said and repeat it back to him or her. Example
Asking for clarity - From what I have heard, am I right in assuming, that you have issues about the benefits of some of our health plans, could you be more specific?
Paraphrasing the speaker’s exact words - So you are saying that ‘our health plans are not providing benefits that are attractive enough’ – have I understood you correctly?
iv. Not being judgemental:
One of the biggest hurdles to active listening is our tendency to be judgmental and biased about the speaker. The result is that the listener may hear what the speaker says but listens according to her own biased interpretation of what the speaker might be saying.
Such judgmental approach can result in the listener being unwilling to allow the speaker to continue speaking, considering it a waste of time. It can also result in interrupting the speaker and rebutting the speaker with counter arguments, even before he or she has been able to convey the message in full.
This will only frustrate the speaker and limits full understanding of the message. Active listening calls for:
 Allowing the speaker to finish each point before asking questions
 Not interrupting the speaker with any counter arguments
v. Responding appropriately:
Active listening implies much more than just hearing what a speaker says. The communication can be completed only when the listener responds in some way, through word or action. Certain rules need to be followed for ensuring that the speaker is not put down but treated with respect and deference. These include:
 Being candid, open, and honest in your response
 Asserting one’s opinions respectfully
 Treating another person in a way you would like to be treated yourself
vi. Empathetic listening:
Being empathetic literally means putting yourself in the other person’s shoes and feeling his or her experience as he or she would feel it.

Listening with empathy is an important aspect of all great customer service. It becomes especially critical when the other person is a customer with a grievance and in a lot of pain.
Empathy implies hearing and listening patiently, and with full attention, to what the other person has to say, even when you do not agree with it. It is important to show the speaker acceptance, not necessarily agreement. One can do so by simply nodding or injecting phrases such as "I understand" or "I see."