Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

Last post I talked about whether or not you can be too aggressive with your customer service. The major point I was making is that it is impossible and not even desirable to attempt to impose some type of a system upon employees that instructs them how to interact with all customers that come into your store.

This could probably work when answering phones, but not as well in direct contact in physical stores. In other words we can't be so mechanical, as people aren't machines and can't be treated as such.

Is there more to it than this, in this particular situation? Absolutely. For example it can get into company culture. Do people that walk in, over a period of time, feel welcome or a nuisance and interruption to the company business.

What about the communication skills of your employees? I think in the example I used in the last post, that was what the company was attempting to do: put a system in place that would overcome the lack of those skills in certain employees and attempt to simplify. In most areas of business this is a good strategy, in this case I don't think it works.

So what would be the answer than? It's in the hiring. You've got to know what it is that you want to be on the floor of your business representing your company. When I say what it is you want on the floor, I mean the characteristics of the people that will be out there, in representing what it is you want to be seen as your company.

In other words, I don't really know that you can "train" communication skills into someone, or even if its a good thing to attempt. To me it is much better for the company to hire those attributes rather than take the enormous time and effort to attempt to instill them, with no guarantee of results.