Words, tones and gestures | COMMUNICATING EFFECTIVELY

To counter the barriers to communication it is necessary to adopt a number of strategies, which can be seen in Figure 1, and among these are timing, trust, empathy, repetition, feedback, etc. To help customer service representatives operate effectively it is valuable to inform them about the communication processes described here and to practise each of the elements. Many of these elements will be discussed in detail below.

 

Figure 1: Communicating effectively

Words, tones and gestures

In face-to-face communications it is not the words alone that convey meaning: it is also how we say them, eg the loudness, intonation or stress. Even though the words are the same the meaning of a sentence can differ enormously depending on the stress placed on particular words. Try speaking aloud the following sentences with emphasis on the italicized words:

• I didn’t say you stole that purse. (But someone else said that you did.)
• I didn’t say you stole that purse. (I agree with you.)
• I didn’t say you stole that purse. (I might have implied or written that you did.)
• I didn’t say you stole that purse. (I said someone else stole it.)
• I didn’t say you stole that purse. (I said you might have borrowed it.)
• I didn’t say you stole that purse. (But you might have stolen another purse.)
• I didn’t say you stole that purse. (I might have implied you stole something else.)

In addition to the impact of tone, loudness, etc on the meaning of what is said, there is also the effect of gestures and body language. How a person physically communicates can convey very strong messages too. Research conducted by Mehrabian (2007) into communication suggested that of the whole communication:

• 7 per cent of meaning is conveyed in spoken words;
• 38 per cent of meaning is conveyed in paralinguistic features: tones, loudness, stress, etc;
• 55 per cent of meaning is conveyed in gestures, facial expressions, etc. Based on this research, telephone communications can only use less than half of the communication channel compared with face-to-face interactions. Of course, Mehrabian referred to specific circumstances that don’t fully translate across to telephone interactions. However, what this research does indicate is that extra attention needs to be given so that the potential for miscommunication and misunderstandings is minimized.

The importance of tone was illustrated by research by Reed Employment Services, which revealed that the main reason for ‘phone rage’ was a perceived ‘insincere tone of voice from the person handling the query’ 

The actress Jenny Agutter, who appeared in ‘The Railway Children’ and other films, once acknowledged that conversations with her parents on the telephone were more challenging than when she was face-to-face with them. She explained that if she was in their company and they asked, ‘How are you?’ she could respond, ‘Oh, just fine.’ Even if she was unhappy her acting skills and body language could mask and hide her unhappiness. She admitted that this was much harder to do on the telephone because it is challenging to remove all underlying emotions from one’s voice.

The structure of the communication process will depend on its purpose; however, there do appear to be a number of standard elements that are included in most interactions. In this section we will consider three interactions that increase in order of complexity: directory enquiries, telephone enquiries, and a medical advice line. In each of these organizations the agent is expected to learn the general process of the conversation and use it achieve a satisfactory conclusion.

With directory enquiries there would appear to be three main considerations. The first stage is to obtain the required name and location of the person. The second is to correctly input the information into the computer in order to get the right information. The final consideration does not involve practical information but instead pays attention to the interpersonal nature of the call. Customer care training documents include a section on ‘salutations’, which are concerned with politeness and treating the customer with respect.

In the telecommunications company, Telco stated that agents had to adhere to a detailed procedure, which consisted of five tasks: ‘greet and build rapport with the customer, fact find, provide solutions, close conversation, and follow (or wrap) up’. The agents were allowed 600 seconds to complete the transaction and were monitored to ensure that this operational target was achieved; however, they were not evaluated on the quality of the call.

The third example of a call structure comes from medical help lines in Quebec. These centres were largely staffed by experienced nurses who consulted with the patient. This process followed regular nursing procedures and had four stages: assessment, planning, intervention and evaluation.

In each of these different organizations the structure of the interaction is dependent on the function required by the caller and the organization. In all the circumstances, both hard and so considerations are taken into account.

Providing a mechanical description of the communication process tends to remove some of the vibrancy and dynamic nature of an interaction between the customer and the agent. The requirements in a financial services company listed below provide a greater feeling of intimacy with the customer and there is an almost equal split between the use of the voice and managing the interpersonal nature of the call:

Call structure

• Smiling: The adviser has a smile in his or her voice.
• Pitch: A deeper pitch of voice conveys sincerity and confidence.
• Energy: There should be energy in the voice to make it interesting and a ractive.
• Volume: A balance is required to ensure that advisers are neither too loud nor too quiet.
• Pace: The adviser’s speed of speech should be neither too fast nor too slow.
• Idea: Simple words and short sentences with brief pauses in between increase understanding.
• Rapport: Building rapport with the customer will encourage the caller to listen, follow directions and stay loyal to the organization.
• Vias: This indicates where the adviser’s words say they will do something but perhaps tone or some other parallel message communicates that they won’t.
• Attention: Advisers should get and hold the attention of the caller.
• Understanding: The adviser needs to carefully listen to understand the caller’s message.
• Acknowledge: Advisers should indicate they understand the caller’s message by making acknowledgement noises. If this doesn’t happen the caller may think they were not understood.
• Space: The caller should be encouraged to enter the conversation by giving them space or asking questions. Talking over callers and completing sentences for them is impolite.
• Direction: The call has direction and the adviser and caller have a balanced exchange of information.