Aggressive: - Putting your rights and needs before others

Passive: - Allowing others rights and needs before yours

Assertive:-To respect the personal rights and needs of others whilst maintaining your own rights and needs in a reasonable and responsible manner

A key to a successful customer service training workshop is that delegates understand the definition of Assertive behaviour, which is often confused with aggressive but you can see from the above definitions that they are very different. The key element is the ability to understand someone else’s rights and needs first and if you need to defuse someone else’s aggressive behaviour this makes complete sense. The reason it can be challenging is that our natural behaviours are either passive or aggressive and invoke our fight or flight responses. Our ancestors needed these responses to ensure survival, if you were walking through a meadow and a huge hairy mammoth came charging towards you your choice would either be to run and hide (flight/passive) or stand and fight (fight/aggressive) you would definitely not try and listen and reason with a charging mammoth. We still experience these reactions in our modern world even though we don’t have hairy mammoths to contend with, when we are in a situation where the customer is angry and aggressive our body will react to it because it is a stressful situation. This means we physically prepare for an urgent response to threat, this results in increased adrenalin going to the front part of our brain. Our bodies are getting ready for the extreme physical exertion of either fighting or running for our lives. If we don’t actually need to do this the adrenalin can make us feel very uncomfortable and affect our behaviour.

Fight/flight response:-what is happening to me?

· A rise in temperature, feeling flushed, even breaking out in a sweat,

· Breathlessness

· The heart beating faster/palpitations

· Muscle tension and shaking

· Restlessness and fidgeting

· Swallowing from increases in saliva

These reactions result in our natural judgement being suspended because the fight and flight responses are all about action and that’s what we are preparing for. This means we are more impulsive, we have racing thoughts and it can lead us to behave aggressively in a way we may totally regret later, or we can retreat and avoid taking any responsibility. All in all none of this is helpful when dealing with angry and upset customers, of course they are also reacting from the same set of responses and this can give us some clues on how to deal with them if we can keep our own behaviour in check.

What is your default position?

Before we look at ways to minimise the effect of these physical responses it’s a good idea to have an understanding of which behaviour you are mostly likely to adopt, aggressive or passive. This can then help you to be aware of what you are doing and adopt strategies to push through the behaviours.

To find out what your default position is likely to be why not drop me an email and I will send you a free questionnaire with instructions and scoring sheet to help discover it.peter@soldout-trainers.com

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Sales training has an important part to play and should be carried out as often as possible. This includes not only courses but also regular meetings between members of the sales team to discuss their work. This might include tactics that seem particularly effective, or what objections seem to be coming up most often and how these can be dealt with.

One of the keys to successful cold calling is an open and positive mental attitude. The best sales people take a moment before making a call to visualise how the call is going to go. Based on previous experience, they will think about the most likely objections and how they will overcome them. They do not take negativity from being knocked back. They will take a moment for a brief reflection on whether they have learnt anything from the call, and move on to the next one.

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Management training, in its broadest sense, refers to anything that helps a manager to work more effectively. This is particularly important nowadays as there is greater scrutiny than ever before of every organisation’s effectiveness and ability to deliver on time and within budget.

A large part of the management training, inevitably, is in soft skills. A manager needs to be charismatic and show leadership qualities. They should inspire loyalty and people should enjoy working for them.

A good manager must be skilled at team building. They need to understand the different qualities that the various people who report to them bring to the table and utilise those skills effectively. They should also be looking to the personal development of their staff.

Delegation is key. A good leader knows how to get people to accept responsibility. They also understand the importance of empowering those people so that they can act on their responsibilities.

The training can take the form of lectures or be interactive, desk based. It may also contain an element of involvement for the delegates, such as role plays.

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Communication consists of written, verbal and, most crucially, non-verbal. In fact most trainers will tell you that the non-verbal communication is the most important and potentially powerful part. Let us look at some of those things that make up non-verbal communication.

Good eye contact is essential. It establishes credibility, sincerity and a connection.

Active listening is also important. This is done by acknowledging what someone is saying to you. An example of this is a simple nod of the head. You should also repeat back the key points that have been made to you to show you are listening and understanding.

The key is body language. Many people in public life have realised the importance of this and go on training courses to ensure they give out the non-verbal cues they wish to.

The tone of someone’s voice arguably communicates more than the actual words they use. Use a warm, enthusiastic tone and make sure that you vary the tone of your voice to highlight salient points.

You should also work on your gestures and facial expressions.

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Nobody wants their staff to feel undervalued. It is important therefore to look at other ways to increase employees’ overall packages.

Look at increasing annual leave particularly for those employees who have been with you longest. The thought of losing the extra week’s holiday they have built up will often dissuade long serving staff from leaving for higher paid jobs.

Staff will get more job satisfaction, the more control they have. Give them responsibility and the authority to act on that responsibility. You will do less micro-managing and your employee will feel trusted and valued.

Training will not only benefit your organisation in the long run, it will help with your employees’ job satisfaction. Individuals will always appreciate properly targeted training as it demonstrates a company’s commitment to them and their personal development.

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There are some directions which you may feel forced to take, but you always need to take a balanced view. We are currently undergoing a world recession, or if you prefer, economic downturn. Companies need to trim their costs, we are told. How can they do that quickly? Well, they can shop around for better deals on some of their overheads like power and telephones, but the biggest overhead is usually staff costs. Unfortunately, the quickest way to reduce costs is to reduce staffing.

This, in turn, means that as the upturn in business arrives, there is pressure not to over commit on the wages bill. This leads to considering outsourcing. However, there are a number of arguments against this.

It is expensive. There may be short term savings but the money could be spent on the personal development and training of your current employees. It can affect company morale negatively and the outsourcing company can’t possibly know your business as well as you do.

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Most people seem to have a mobile phone these days. Initially everybody took out a 12 month contract. In the early days of the industry there were stories of appalling customer service and consequently people would often change suppliers at the end of the 12 months. It has to be said they did not necessarily find the customer service at the rival business any better and would keep changing. Companies got their act together, ensured call centres were properly manned and are even confident enough now to insist on 18 or 24 month contracts.

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One of the most obvious benefits is specialisation. This can be where your business is about to undertake something it hasn’t previously done. Obviously you could research the area and recruit new staff or train existing employees. However, it is often easier to hand things over to the experts and concentrate on what you’re really good at. This also has the advantage that the experienced individuals that you’re tapping into should get more immediate results.

Another benefit is that of saving money. It will usually be cheaper to employ the outsourcing company’s workers so there will be a direct saving. There is also the possibility of indirect savings as fixed overheads can be reduced. This also means greater flexibility. Budgets can be adjusted far more easily and necessary reductions in expenditure effected at shorter notice.

This flexibility also means that it is easier to switch from one job to another. For example, if your accounting function is outsourced, you might wish to tighten up credit control with the necessary chase calls and letters being issued far sooner.

The key to outsourcing is not to alienate your own staff or let them feel their personal development is not a priority.

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The first thing to consider is your communications strategy. This applies to both internal and external communication. Make sure you’re getting the most out of electronic means of communication. Email marketing campaigns are far more immediate, direct and less expensive than traditional methods. Similarly, a lot of travel can be saved by video conferencing.

It is vital to ensure that staff do not become demoralised by being asked to work harder whilst accepting that there will be no pay rises. Consider areas where you can offer them something which will not actually cost the company any financial outlay. The most obvious areas are additional holidays and considering more flexible working patterns. The first will not affect the company’s wages bill and the second has consistently turned out to be a way of increasing productivity. Talk to your staff and ensure that they know you value their personal development.

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Look at your purchasing department. Obviously, you can improve cash flow by ensuring you do not carry unnecessarily large supplies of anything, but there can be far greater savings to be made. Look around to see if there are companies who need some of the same supplies as you. Provided they are not direct competitors, look at the possibility of combining your purchasing power to attract economies of scale and drive down costs.

In fact co-operation with other businesses can be beneficial in other ways. For example, you may supply different things to the same businesses. You could introduce each other’s business to your customers.
Look at diversifying. You already have many resources in place such as premises, staff and equipment. A brainstorming session can come up with some surprising ideas. Keep an open mind and seriously consider all options.

Focus for a time on your biggest overheads. Do you really need all that office space? What else is out there? Review utility bills and make sure you’re getting the best deal. Similarly, although usually harder to change on a regular basis, is your bank really looking after you?

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