Customer-Friendly Is More Than An Attitude

An Infopeople Workshop

December 2004-April 2005

Elaine Z. Jennerich

jenneric@u.washington.edu

Agenda Introductions Customer-friendly attitude and

actions Confusing the customer Listening When saying “no”

Introductions Name Library Position One thing you like about serving

your library’s customers

“To create a positive first impression, weneed to know how to connect immediately with others regardless of their age, gender, ethnic background, mood, or thesituation.” …Jeff Mowatt

Rapport Making the

customer feel important

Small talk = Big return

Exercise #1: Building Rapport Break into small groups

Look at the “library users” in the pictures

Create rapport building questions or comments for each picture

Share one example with whole group

Artistic Give And Take Exercise Sit back to back Artist assistant describes picture Artist creates the picture Reverse roles

GIVE AND TAKE OF COMMUNICATION…

What happened? Language/terminology Nonverbal Feelings/emotions

Outcome? What did you learn? What would you do differently?

Customer-Friendly – Basic Attributes Expect to have a

good day Smile Greet the customer Eye contact Simplify language Make the customer

feel important

Open body language

Listen, listen, listen Ask open-ended

questions “Is there anything

else I can do?” Thank the library

user

Personal Action Plan

Write down one actionyou can take to improve rapport with

your library users.

Confusing The Customer

“If confusion is the first step to knowledge, then I must be a genius.”

….Larry Leissner

Clear Explanations And Directions

Remember the Artistic Give and Take?

What did you learn about giving clear

explanations and directions?

Avoiding Biblio-Language

What is the alphabet soup in your library?

Jargon?Abbreviations?Acronyms?Biblio-language?

Exercise #2 Simplifying The Language

Write down ten biblio-language examples. Create sentences Exchange sentences Simplify sentences

Personal Action Plan

Write down one action you will take to simplify communication with your customers.

Watch video…..thentake the quiz “Communicating

with ESL Customers”

Exercise #3:Customers With A Difference

Phone Customer (ESL) What techniques

work for you? What doesn’t

work? What difficulties

do you have? What difficulties

do your customers have?

Personal Action PlanWhat action will

you take to improve your interaction with users who are not native English speakers?

Listening

We have 2 ears and one mouth; obviously, we should be listening

twice as much as we speak. ….anonymous

Listening Myths Listening is a natural skill. Listening is passive Interrupting is bad form. You can stop listening when you get

the general idea. Listening and hearing are the same.

4 Types Of Listening

Inactive Selective Active Reflective

Main Barriers To Listening Noise

Distractions

Movement

Physical surroundings

Additional Barriers To Listening

Other barriers to listening?

Just React Licorice Liberal Crutches Toddler Muslim Retarded Stutter Piercings

Hockey Teriyaki Hip-hop Prayer GED Old Librarian Disfigured

“Emotional” Reactions

The human mind always takes the “emotional road” first.

Listener Filters Prejudice/bias

Assumptions

Listener thoughts

Feelings about topic

Feelings about speaker

Conflict of values

Difference in style

Listening Exercise In your group, discuss what you

might do to overcome at least 3 barriers and 3 filters from the list that are assigned to your group.

Someone from your group will report to the whole class.

Personal Action Plan

What specific step will you take so that you will be listening to users more effectively?

Saying “No”No No way… No No

No No NO No

Won’t no Never No

No Nope No Can’t

no no No no

“No” Situations

In what types of library situations are you unable to fill requests or have to say “NO”?

Let’s create a list of some those situations together…..

Can’t Fill A Request?

Do you understand the problem?

Form a team with customer

What can you do? Create a “neutral

zone” on paper

Neutral Paper Zone Takes emphasis away from feeling

and makes it more tangible Focuses on facts Lessens effects of personality and

biases Creates teamwork Stresses options, solutions….

Neutral Zone Examples

Personal Action Plan

You must say “no” to a customer or can’t fill a request.

What is one way you will do that better?

Let’s Review the Day

What did you learn today?

Personal Action Plan

Using the 5 actions you chose throughout the day,

write a paragraph describing your overall action plan!

Please fill out your evaluations