Weekly Digest Sept 12-18-2011

7/31/2019 Weekly Digest Sept 12-18-2011

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September1218, 2011

How to Crack a Job Interview Successfully?Are you looking for Job Interview Tips? You're about to go on a job interview real soon and you'd like some

job interview tips. It may be your very first job interview and you're in the dark as to what to do. Or, this may

be one of the several but you remember what a nightmare your last interview was and that the outcome was

not good. Too bad - These are the last words that you remember coming from your interviewer's mouth.

So,howdoyouavoidthesamethinghappeningalloveragain?

You need to put your hands on some sound job interview tips that work. Options? You could go to the person

or friend who you think has been on a lot of interviews in the past. Then, you stop and think that this fact may

not be a good thing. Why has your friend gone on so many interviews? Perhaps he or she is not the one toask.

Then your mind shifts to your parents. Surely they'll know the right thing to tell you. But hold on. It's been

years, maybe decades, since they were on an interview. Could they really have any reliable job interview tips?

Probably not - you tell yourself.

You're really not getting anywhere and you're wasting valuable time.

WheretoturnforsoundJobInterviewTips?

It's time for you to go online and use one of your search engines to track down a good guide who can offeryou trusted and proven job interview tips. Why leave such important details to amateurs? A good guide will

put you at ease and prepare you in every way for your interview.

WhatdoesagoodguidewithJobInterviewTipslooklike?

Off the bat, it should be brief, candid, and straight to the point, easy to read with some practical suggestions.

Photos wouldn't hurt either. A good guide is subjective. What appeals to you may not be the right one for the

next person. What to do? When you find a Job Interview Tips Guide that seems to be the best that appeals to

you, have a glance at the back cover or Table of Contents to get a better idea of what the guide offers. If this

still doesn't help, try asking some friends or family members for referrals to any guides that they may have

found useful or which they found vital to their interview because the guide offered great job interview tips.

Now that you realize the importance and usefulness of a guide that offers good interview tips, get cracking

and go search for the right one for you. Oh, and good luck with that job interview!


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Customer Service Top Telephone Tips and

TechniquesCustomer Service Excellence is what every organization, large or small, is aiming to achieve. We are now all

highly aware that delivering an excellent experience to all of our customers will play a large part in making our

customers keep coming back. Every telephone call is an opportunity to win or to lose Customers. Here, well

give you some of the essential Telephone skills, techniques and best practices that will help ensure that extra

positive experience for our Customers.

BeginwithaConfidentWelcome

First impressions count and that first impression takes 10 seconds on a telephone call! In Customer Service,

this means the customer will decide "I like this person", or "I do not want to deal with this person" very

quickly. Our goal in Customer Service is to capture this call positively and to set the right tone for the call

from the beginning.

We want to sound confident and welcoming. The telephone skills and techniques for doing this are -

1. Pos i t i ve Postur e Sit up straight in your chair and lean forward to take the call. Dont slouch, as this

will deaden your voice tone. Positive posture not only helps give you a richer voice tone, but also helps make

you feel more confident.

2. Gree t t he Custom er as if you are delighted that they called. Smiling on the phone really does work!

3. Get th e Custom er s name and use it. Everyone likes to be treated personally, like a human being. We

do this by giving our own name and by using the Customers name. It is important to judge which form of

the name or title is most appropriate. There are rules on this, but they differ from culture to culture. For

example, in Ireland, we use the first name in a business-to-business setting, and we use the family or

surname in a business-to-home setting. It is worthwhile to investigate the social or business norms in your

specific area or culture as being inappropriate can create a negative rather than a positive impression.

4. Give a po s i t i ve , definite first response. For example, Certainly, Ill be happy to help or No problem, I

can do that for you. A positive first response will have a reassuring effect on your customer.

5. L isten and use Verba l Nods to encourage the customer as they speak. For example, I see, sure, Iunderstand, I appreciate that. This may seem very obvious, but it is amazing how many people do NOT

use verbal nods on a phone, especially in difficult call situations. Check if you do by recording a call and

playing it back. If there are no verbal nods, the call will sound cold and officious.


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Questions - Goodvs.BadWaysofAsking

In Customer Service, we often have to ask a series of questions to establish our Customers needs. On the

telephone, we do not have the softening effect of body language and our questions can often sound

unintentionally aggressive. Something simple like, Whats your name? can be very aggressive at the

beginning of a call. Could you tell me your name, please? sounds so much better.

Always soften the beginning of the question and let your voice-tone go up at the end of the question. That

way you sound chirpy and the customer will be happy to answer. Remember to acknowledge the response by

confirming back or by giving a verbal nod - Thats great, your number is

OfferaCustomerFriendlySolutionorExplanation

Having established our Customers needs, we move to that phase of the call where we are offering a solution

or giving information or an explanation to the Customer. As we transition to this phase, we often acknowledge

the customers issue by summarizing it, and then move to introducing how we plan to address this. Thank

you for that, Mrs. Jones, you need a What I will do now is

Here are some tips and techniques for offering information or an explanation to a Customer on the telephone -

1. Use relatively short sentences with one idea per sentence. Use a step by step approach with a pause in

between the steps for the customer to catch up. First go to X. When you are at X, you are now going to move

to the next step. Long, rambly instructions or explanations are very hard to follow on a telephone.

2. Use Customer friendly language. Pitch the terms you use at the level of your customer rather than yourself.

Be very careful of jargons and 'business speak that is unique to your business or, indeed, your own Company.

If we use these terms every day, we often assume that they are widely known and acceptable. Using them

inappropriately with a customer can also sound aggressive, like you are talking down to them.

3. Use positive definite language rather than negative language. Negative language is language with not,

cant, wont, shouldnt etc. Try to switch around to what you are saying so that it will always sound

positive. I am sorry, but we cant have that for 10 days becomes I can definitely have that for you in 10

days. Do not tell the customer what cant be done without giving them a positive option at the end. I am

sorry, but I cant do . The reason is What I can do is

4. Closing the Telephone Call Positively:In Customer Service, we want the customer to go away with a very

positive impression of us. Callers remember the first impressions, and the very last impressions. As we move

towards the close, it is a good practice to summarize any agreements, and to confirm any next steps or

actions. Again, it is worthwhile reviewing HOW you do this to ensure that your language is positive and clear.

WefinishwithanicepositiveclosethatwillensureourCustomersgooffthephonehappy.


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WorkplaceEthics

Weve all heard these rules to live by: Dont hurt, dont steal, dont lie, and the more famous Do unto others

as you would have done to you. In our personal lives, most people try to follow these rules. Ethics are often

thought of by many as something that is related to the personal side of life and not to the business side. In

some businesses, having ethics may actually be frowned upon. This is usually due to the fact that business isabout doing whats best for the bottom line and not always about doing the right thing. It is commonly

understood that there are ethics and then there are workplace ethics. Often, we dont stop to realize that

there is no difference between personal ethics and ethics in the workplace; ethics are the same whether at

work or in personal life.

After all, ethics are about making choices that may not always feel good or seem like they benefit you. Ethical

choices are the right choices to make and are examples of rules to live by.

PracticalImpact

Executives typically want the answers to two key questions about ethics in their offices: How do workplaceethics apply to practical goals of my organization and the work of my employees? and Is there reliable data

to support these assertions? The Ethics Resource Center (www.ethics.org), a nonprofit organization, assists

leaders to impact their organizations by identifying ethical risks and establishing systems to emphasize higher

standards for business conduct. The Ethics Resource Center annually conducts a National Business Ethics

Survey (NBES) a rigorous telephone survey of 1,500 U.S. employees. The NBES findings are encouraging

organizations that have an emphasis on positive workplace ethics. For example, employees have high

expectations for ethics within their organizations. Nine in ten respondents say that they expect their

organizations to do what is right, not just what is profitable. This suggests that most employees are not

cynical about ethics at work. This, in turn, encourages news when considering the implementation or

development of ethics initiatives as the long term success of any program rely on the active support of

employees.

Formal ethics programs and informal ethics practices were shown to affect certain key outcomes. Employees

who work in companies with active ethics programs, those who observe leaders modeling ethical behavior,

and also observe the application of values such as honesty, respect and trust applied frequently at work,

report more positive experiences that include the following:

Less pressure on employees to compromise ethics standards Less observed misconduct at work Greater willingness to report misconduct Greater satisfaction with their organizations response to misconduct they report Greater overall satisfaction with their organizations Greater likelihood of feeling valued by their organizations


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FindingsofConcern

The NBES uncovered a substantial gap between senior and middle managers and lower-level employees. A

consistent finding with management was the perception that their organizations have a positive ethical

environment. This conflicts with the perception of lower-level employees however. This suggests that

executives may underestimate the importance of specific ethics issues and concerns facing employees. Thisdisconnect may also position executives to fail to address these issues adequately within their organizations

ethics programs. Therefore, it is important for executives to include input from employees at lower levels in

the development of ethics programs and to continue to seek out their input and feedback on a regular basis.

In addition to the communications gap between employees and executives, one in three employees believe

that their co-workers will perceive them as snitches if they report misconduct. This is roughly the same

proportion of employees who believe that management will see them as troublemakers for reporting ethical

concerns. A key element to take away from this discovery is the need to address and eliminate retaliation

systemically, at the management and peer levels throughout the organization.

QuestionsAnswered

Lets go back to our two key questions: How do workplace ethics apply to practical goals of my organization

and the work of my employees? and Is there reliable data to support these assertions? There are a variety

of practical reasons for executives to focus on workplace ethics and reliable data that supports these efforts.

The NBES findings consistently link ethics programs to more positive organizations outcomes and increased

employee satisfaction.

It would be nave to suggest that an emphasis on ethics will improve the work environment and solve the

companys problems overnight. In many cases, a well developed and organized effort to target key ethical

issues sends an important message. It tells employees that your organization is moving in a positive direction,

one that is positive for them as well as the individuals.

Establishingan

Ethics

Program

Establishing an ethics program is not an exact science. As with any organizational program, it will involve the

input and cooperation of many people. The effectiveness of any organizations approach will depend on

characteristics that are unique to its culture, the leadership styles, proper planning, and so on. Since some

people may be uncomfortable talking about the issues of ethics, it can be helpful if management first asks,

considers, and then responds to the following questions:

Why might good people in this organization do unethical things?

What are our organizations values?

Have we adequately articulated these values internally and externally?

Does our organization have written ethics policies, procedures, or structures?

To whom is our organization accountable?

What do we mean by success?


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Does the leadership of our organization support the idea of an ethical workplace?

With the feedback obtained by discussing the questions above, the management will have a better idea of the

perceptions their employees have on how the company is performing ethically. In the end, its all about

beginning with our personal and collective understanding of ethics. The second step is awareness of, and

solutions to, questions concerning ethics as applied to the workplace. Many universities are now heavily

applying the teaching of ethics to their curricula. Graduates of these programs take this information into the

workforce with the understanding that solid, positive ethics need to be applied there as well as in the private

sector. In a perfect world, corporations will be better able to avoid embarrassing scandals that appear and

reappear in both national and world-wide news scandals. Small businesses will be able to keep and attract

more clients and customers. Negotiations between businesses could be accomplished with increased

consideration for the other company. This is something for which we can all strive.

Weekly Digest Sept 12-18-2011

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Transcript of Weekly Digest Sept 12-18-2011