Soft skills, hard sell.

Soft skills, hard sell. Should teachers be teaching their students how to get along withothers in the workplace? How about customer service skills? Employerssay "YES" and so does this expert. The term "soft skills" has long been floating in and outof business and education partnership meetings, curriculum developmentprojects and standards proposals, but when push comes to shove the"real stuff"--like measurement skills in carpentry or chemicalsafety in cosmetology--takes precedence The order in which an expression is processed. Mathematical precedence is normally:1. unary + and - signs2. exponentiation3. multiplication and division4. over knowing how to handle ademanding client or how to be a good team player. This is justified, ofcourse, but equipping students with soft skills could make thedifference in whether they can get that job you've otherwiseprepared them for--and keep it. In almost any job--doctor, auto mechanic An auto mechanic or motor mechanic in Australian English is a mechanic who specialises in automobile maintenance, repair, and sometimes modification. A mechanic may be knowledgeable in working on all parts of a variety of car makes or may specialize either in a specific area , teacher, florist, graphicdesigner--customer service skills are important to professional success.And people skills are the foundation of good customer service. Theyinclude interpersonal in��ter��per��son��al?adj.1. Of or relating to the interactions between individuals: interpersonal skills.2. relations, problem solving problem solvingProcess involved in finding a solution to a problem. Many animals routinely solve problems of locomotion, food finding, and shelter through trial and error. , teamwork andleadership. People skills foster a positive attitude, effectivecommunication, courteous cour��te��ous?adj.Characterized by gracious consideration toward others. See Synonyms at polite.[Middle English corteis, courtly, from Old French, from cort, court; see and respectful re��spect��ful?adj.Showing or marked by proper respect.re��spectful��ly adv. interaction and the ability toremain calm and in control in difficult situations. Sometimes a unit on soft skills can be a hard sell to educators whoalready are bogged down with other aspects of curriculum development anddelivery. But it can be as easy as four steps spread throughout agrading period. The first step is introducing students to basic peopleskills. Once they understand what it takes to get along with people youcan segue se��gue?intr.v. se��gued, se��gue��ing, se��gues1. Music To make a transition directly from one section or theme to another.2. to the second step, teaching essential customer serviceskills. Third, foster your students' understanding by facilitatinga problem-solving discussion based on real-life situations. Finally,your students will demonstrate the skills they've learned through aseries of role-play exercises in a mock business setting. Here'show to do it. Start with people skills First things First Things is a monthly ecumenical journal concerned with the creation of a "religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society" (First Things website). first--make sure your students understand what a"customer" is. Whenever you interact with another person, theperson on the receiving end of the interaction is the"customer" and the person on the giving end is the"customer service provider." You can give students thisexample: As a teacher, your students are your customers. Because customers are people, too, start your customer servicelesson with a discussion about people in general. Here's anactivity to help that discussion along. Ask your students to think aboutsomeone they admire. What are some of the person's traits? Whichtraits do you value in other people? What type of people do you like tobe with? As your students are naming traits, write them on the blackboard (1) See Blackboard Learning System.(2) The traditional classroom presentation board that is written on with chalk and erased with a felt pad. Although originally black, "white" boards and colored chalks are also used. oron a flipchart so you can refer to them when the discussion is over.Next, match and relate these traits with the strategies I call my"10 principles of getting along with people." As you are doingthis summarize sum��ma��rize?intr. & tr.v. sum��ma��rized, sum��ma��riz��ing, sum��ma��riz��esTo make a summary or make a summary of.sum your students' thoughts and write them below eachprinciple. 1. Be positive--Your attitude, whether it is good or bad, willaffect those around you. Wouldn't you rather be around people whoare positive? Strive to be positive each day. Smile. Get in the habit oftelling people what you can do for them rather than what you can'tdo. Remember, the words you say aren't as important as the way yousay them. 2. Be honest--In order to gain someone's trust you must behonest. Honesty will build trust, which will build loyalty, which willbring success. Always act in an ethical manner--that means always doingthe right thing. 3. Be committed--No matter what you do today, give it your best.Give each day 100 percent. Be dependable. When you tell someone you aregoing to do something do it. Be a part of the solution rather than apart of the problem. 4. Be aware--Be aware of those around you. Also be aware of theimage you are projecting. Be cognizant cog��ni��zant?adj.Fully informed; conscious. See Synonyms at aware.[From cognizance.]Adj. 1. of your body language. Hold yourhead high, keep your body movements relaxed and natural keep your facialmuscles facial muscles,n See muscles, facial. relaxed and maintain eye contact. Be quick to offer a sinceresmile. 5. Be interested--If you want people to be interested in you, firstbe interested in them. Be a good listener. Focus entirely on the personyou are speaking with. Listen more, talk less. When you listen well youwill learn a lot about the other person. Talk in terms of what the otherperson wants rather than what you want. See how infrequently in��fre��quent?adj.1. Not occurring regularly; occasional or rare: an infrequent guest.2. you can usethe word "I." 6. Be helpful--Show people you care. Go the extra mile for them.Help others feel good about themselves. Think of ways you can helpothers achieve their goals. Make it your goal to help someone every day. 7. Be respectful--Being respectful means being tolerant ofpeople's differences. Be patient with people. It means respectinganother person's opinion, goals, religion, lifestyle, for example,without being judgmental judg��men��tal?adj.1. Of, relating to, or dependent on judgment: a judgmental error.2. Inclined to make judgments, especially moral or personal ones: . 8. Be appreciative--Look for the good in other people and show themyour sincere appreciation. Make other people feel they are important toyou. Don't criticize crit��i��cize?v. crit��i��cized, crit��i��ciz��ing, crit��i��ciz��esv.tr.1. To find fault with: criticized the decision as unrealistic.See Usage Note at critique. or complain. Be thankful for the good in yourlife. 9. Be compassionate--This means being able to put yourself inanother person's shoes. It means being able to show empathy empathyAbility to imagine oneself in another's place and understand the other's feelings, desires, ideas, and actions. The empathic actor or singer is one who genuinely feels the part he or she is performing. forwhat another person is going through. 10. Be humble--Being humble means not boasting. It means beingmodest. It also means using common courtesies, such as"please" and "thank you," and being able to say"I'm sorry. I made a mistake." It also means when youmake a mistake, make things right. Instruct in��struct?v. in��struct��ed, in��struct��ing, in��structsv.tr.1. To provide with knowledge, especially in a methodical way. See Synonyms at teach.2. To give orders to; direct.v. your students that for the length of the customer serviceunit everyone will be expected to live by those principles in class.This will help your students practice thinking about and using them. Agreat peer exercise is to make everyone responsible for each other.Anyone caught not adhering to one of the principles will get a mark.Reward the student with the fewest marks. Imagine yourself a customer Now that your students understand the basics of getting along withpeople you can easily transition to teaching about customer-employeerelations. Introduce your customer service skills lesson by asking yourstudents, "How important is the customer?" The answer lies inapplying the economic theory of supply and demand. To illustrate this,use the following scenario: You and your students work as servers in arestaurant. It is the only restaurant in the area (so you have nocompetition). Your manager places no importance on customer service.Likewise, employees don't appreciate customers and have a casualattitude about their jobs. A new restaurant opens two blocks away. It offers a similar, thoughslightly more expensive, menu. The manager of that restaurant prideshimself on providing exceptional service to his customers. All employeesare well-trained in their job duties and are expected to be helpful andattentive at��ten��tive?adj.1. Giving care or attention; watchful: attentive to detail.2. Marked by or offering devoted and assiduous attention to the pleasure or comfort of others. to customers. Which of these businesses will be more successful? Even with yourlower prices, the answer is simple. The customers will go where they aretreated well and appreciated. When the demand at your restaurant goesdown, what happens to the supply of servers? The supply will be greaterthan the demand. Some of you will lose your jobs. If the service doesnot improve, the business may eventually close. Ask your students, "When you work in the customer servicefield who really pays your wages?" If your students answer"the customer," they understand the importance of providingquality service. When teaching your customer service lessons, remember to challengeyour students' understanding by asking "why?" Forexample, "Why is it important to tell your customer thankyou?" These answers will tie in with the people skills principlesyou've already discussed and support the relationship between thetwo. Practice for a while Before you test your students, facilitate a problem-solvingdiscussion. Begin by relating a situation in which you were given lessthan satisfactory customer service. Pose the following questions tofoster the dialogue: How do you think I responded? What was the outcome?How should the employee have treated me? What would have been theoutcome in that case? Ask your students to write down an actual situation in which theyhad been mistreated as a customer. Pass them out randomly and have eachstudent read a situation and offer a better solution. As an alternateactivity assign a situation to a pair of students. Have them come upwith a positive solution and role play the situation to the class withone student as customer and the other as employee. Have them role playthe wrong way and the right way. Launch a business The final phase of your customer service unit will be to transformyour classroom into a mock business where you play the role of managerand your students are customer service employees. Tell your studentsthat for the duration of the customer service lesson the class is goingto function as a business. Give the name and details of the business. For example, your business, "ProTogs," manufactures andsells professional sports The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject.Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. team clothing. You primarily sell by catalog catalog,descriptive list, on cards or in a book, of the contents of a library. Assurbanipal's library at Nineveh was cataloged on shelves of slate. The first known subject catalog was compiled by Callimachus at the Alexandrian Library in the 3d cent. B.C. ,but you also have a retail outlet retail outletn → punto de ventaretail outletn → point m de venteretail outletretail n → in your production facility. Customerservice representatives alternate between telephone contacts andface-to-face contacts. Your retail facility carries overruns anddiscontinued dis��con��tin��ue?v. dis��con��tin��ued, dis��con��tin��u��ing, dis��con��tin��uesv.tr.1. To stop doing or providing (something); end or abandon: styles. Customers coming into the retail facility also mayplace catalog orders. Train your employees on the job specifics. What information do theyneed from the customer when they process an order? What information arethey required to tell the customer about delivery, cost, back orders,etc.? How should customers be handled when they come into the retaillocation and want to order catalog merchandise? Keep the specificslimited and uncomplicated. Provide students with a written jobdescription. For the role-play session, divide your class into groups ofthree--one student is the employee, one is the customer and one is anobserver responsible for offering feedback to the employee. Write out a variety of scripts to be given to the customers. Somescenarios should be normal requests, some unusual requests (for example,attempting to order an item no longer available) and some difficultcustomer scenarios. Give the observer a sheet listing the skillrequirements to be observed. Afterward af��ter��ward? also af��ter��wardsadv.At a later time; subsequently.Adv. 1. afterward - happening at a time subsequent to a reference time; "he apologized subsequently"; "he's going to the store but he'll be back here give the customers and the employees the opportunity totalk about their experiences. Then ask the observers for their comments.The students should rotate roles until each has the opportunity to playthe employee, customer and observer. As an alternate exercise, ask a local business owner or manager toparticipate in this activity with you. Ask him to share his expectationsof customer service, discuss the specifics of his business (keeping itsimple), provide a job description for a customer service position thereand help write several role-play scenarios. That's it--four steps to an effective and valuable unit onpeople skills and customer service. But before you close out, recap re��cap?1?tr.v. re��capped, re��cap��ping, re��caps1. To replace a cap or caplike covering on: recapped the bottle.2. yourlearning expectations. Have your students met the goals you hoped theywould? Are they prepared for that first real job and all the soft-skillschallenges that may come with it? As a follow-up or regular refresher,review the people skills principles. Perhaps sneak in Verb 1. sneak in - enter surreptitiously; "He sneaked in under cover of darkness"; "In this essay, the author's personal feelings creep in"creep in a bonus questionabout customer service skills on your next quiz. And feel proud. You have prepared your students to enter theworkplace with more than the requisite job skills. You've givenyour students skills they can use for the rest of their professionallives, no matter what the field or job. RELATED ARTICLE: Quick Study--15 CUSTOMER SERVICE TIPS Refer to these tips and any others you and your students come upwith when developing practice scenarios. 1. Find ways to give customers more than they expect. 2. Be respectful of cultural differences. 3. When there's a problem, try to see things from thecustomer's perspective. 4. Don't allow yourself to get distracted when you'rehelping a customer. 5. Don't be afraid to say, "I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed)"Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. ." Justbe sure you follow with, "I'll find out." 6. Smile whenever appropriate. 7. When you make a mistake, admit it and do your best to correctit. 8. Always remember the customer is the reason you have a job. 9. When talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to"lecture, speechrebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to customers on the phone, let them speak withoutinterruption. And be cognizant of your tone, which is particularlyimportant since the customer cannot see you. 10. Help your customer find what she needs. Don't just pointor tell her where she can look. 11. Never be on a personal call in the presence of customers. 12. Never stand around looking bored. If you don't haveanything to do, find something. 13. Smoking can be offensive to people. Never smoke in front ofyour customers--or eat or chew chewChewing tobacco. See Smokeless tobacco. gum. 14. When a customer asks for another employee, never say he is atlunch, on break, went home early or hasn't come in yet. Insteadsay, "He is unavailable now. May I help you?" 15. When dealing with an angry customer, remain calm. Listencarefully, focusing on the problem, not on the person. When the customeris done venting venting,n an exit passage constructed in a casting mold to allow gases to escape during the casting process.ventingVentilation Psychology The verbalization* of one's 'emotional baggage' to another person; qvetching , apologize a��pol��o��gize?intr.v. a��pol��o��gized, a��pol��o��giz��ing, a��pol��o��giz��es1. To make excuse for or regretful acknowledgment of a fault or offense.2. To make a formal defense or justification in speech or writing. and let him know you will do what you can torectify rec��ti��fyv.1. To set right; correct.2. To refine or purify, especially by distillation. the situation. Thank the customer for bringing the problem toyour attention. Renee Evenson has worked in the customer service field for morethan 25 years. She has authored Customer Service 101- Basic Lessons ToBe Your Best and Customer Service 201. Managing Your People To Be TheirBest. These are available from Bull's Eye Publishing, (908)534-8728.