Question

Emily Connor was hired two weeks ago and works in the office next to yours. You can hear Emily working with customers on the phone. Although she is courteous, she often uses slang and inappropriate grammar. You have heard her greet clients by saying “Hey” or “What’s up?” and she often fails to identify herself. You are Emily’s coworker, not her supervisor; but you want to help her succeed. What advice can you give Emily to improve her customer service skills?

Answer 1

If I am Emily’s coworker, then I may probably give her a polite friendly advice in a tactful manner that may not hurt her self-esteem and at the same time, make her open to the thought of improving her skills.

I could start with complementing her for courteous behavior with not only the clients but also with the colleagues in general. I may then go on to say that her activity may possibly give her better feedback from the clients, which we all know is valuable for promotion and growth in the Organization, if she adds some ‘tricks’ to her conversation with them. I would mention ‘tricks’ instead of ‘skills’ to her so that the advice is more welcoming by her otherwise she may feel that I am trying to point out her loopholes, which even her Supervisor did not bother to. I need to be careful that my advice should go well with her and that she should not feel offended about the same. The trick, that I would suggest her, would be that, if Emily keeps her conversation friendly and informal as well if need be, without the usage of slangs in the language, then the clients may connect with her in a better manner. She may be thus be taken by them with more dignity and often with this dignity, she could even command her requests with them, that may be essential to Organization to meet the targets. The clients would be in the position to oblige when they hold Emily in a more dignified position and do not take her as ‘just another executive’ who could be ignored when such executive talks about establishing more business ties with the clients. In addition, I would further ask her to possibly check on her grammar a little more consciously so that her conversation is free from ambiguity which otherwise may lead to major misunderstandings with the parties in future.

Keeping this as a friendly advice, I would tell Emily that I see a lot of potential in her to grow in our organization if should could just pick up these two advices from my end as her well-wisher.