nonverbal communication with customers

Non-Verbal Communication Tips

by

Nonverbal Communication Tips - The Importance Gestures in Customer Communication

Nonverbal Communication Tips –

The Importance of Gestures in Customer Communication

Never underestimate the power of nonverbal communication when interacting with your customers or others. The issue is so important that entire books have been written on the topic. This article provides some nonverbal communication tips related to gesturing that you may want to consider before meeting your next customer.

Many studies have been done on the different ways in which people communicate and send messages to others. One classic study by Dr. Albert Mehrabian emphasized that the emotions between two people can be amplified through the use of nonverbal gestures or cues. In some instances, silent messages can override spoken words. These unspoken signals should not be underestimated if you are working with customers. An example of how you might impact a customer-provider interaction involves gesturing. To send a positive message, use open, flowing gestures (gesturing with arms, palms open and turned upward, out and away from the body). This approach can encourage listening and help explain messages more effectively to customers. If you use closed, restrained movements (tightly crossed arms, clenched fists, hands in pockets, hands or fingers intertwined and held below waist level or behind the back) you can potentially send a message of coolness, insecurity, or disinterest. This could result in a nonproductive situation and lead to customer dissatisfaction.

What nonverbal communication tips can you offer to customer service professionals?

The key is to make gestures seem natural and to be conscious that some people might perceive your movements differently based on their background or culture. If you do not normally use gestures when communicating, you may want to practice in front of a mirror until you feel relaxed in using them. Make sure that your gestures complement your verbal messages without distracting.

Effective nonverbal communication can help build stronger customer relationships while helping increase customer satisfaction and retention. For more ideas and nonverbal communication tips related to positively communicating with your customers, search the topic on this blog. Also, check out more strategies in Please Every Customer: Delivering Stellar Customer Service Across Cultures and Customer Service Skills for Success.

About Robert W. Lucas on Customer Communication

Bob Lucas has been a trainer, presenter, customer service expert, and adult educator for over four decades. He has written hundreds of articles on training, writing, self-publishing, and workplace learning skills and issues. He is also an award-winning author who has written thirty-seven books on topics such as, writing, relationships, customer service, brain-based learning, and creative training strategies, interpersonal communication, diversity, and supervisory skills. Additionally, he has contributed articles, chapters, and activities to eighteen compilation books. Bob retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1991 after twenty-two years of active and reserve service.

Nonverbal Communication with Customers: Using Gestures to Build Strong Relationships

by

Nonverbal Communication with Customers: Using Gestures to Build Strong Relationships

Nonverbal Communication with Customers:

Using Gestures to Build Strong Relationships

Using effective nonverbal communication with customers is a powerful way to send and receive messages that enhance your meaning and can lead to customer satisfaction. This is because many research studies have found that nonverbal cues often override verbal messages that you send. In these articles, I offer several nonverbal communication strategies that customer service representatives can use to build stronger customer relationships.

The use of gestures with your head, hands, arms, and shoulders to accentuate verbal messages adds color, excitement, and enthusiasm to your communication. Using physical movements naturally during a conversation with a customer may help make a point or result in added credibility if done in a positive manner.

Typically, such movements are designed to gain and hold attention (e.g. waving a hand to attract the attention of someone), clarify or describe further (e.g. holding up one finger to indicate the number 1), or emphasize a point (e.g. pounding a fist into the palm of your other hand to drive home a point or express passion about a point that you make verbally).

One important point to remember about nonverbal cues…they are not universal. Many cultures and people attribute different meanings to the same gestures. This can lead to misinterpretation and a breakdown in communication and the customer-provider relationship.

What creative ideas do you have about using effective nonverbal communication with customers?

Using positive nonverbal communication with customers to help deliver excellent service in an effort to meet customer needs, wants and expectations and achieve customer satisfaction is important. To learn more about the topic, search nonverbal communication on this blog. Also, check out Customer Service Skills for Success and Please Every Customer: Delivering Stellar Customer Service Across Cultures. Use your new knowledge to increase customer and brand loyalty and customer retention.

About Robert C. Lucas on Using Effective Non-Verbal Communication Skills

Bob Lucas has been a trainer, presenter, customer service expert, and adult educator for over four decades. He has written hundreds of articles on training, writing, self-publishing, and workplace learning skills and issues. He is also an award-winning author who has written thirty-seven books on topics such as, writing, relationships, customer service, brain-based learning, and creative training strategies, interpersonal communication, diversity, and supervisory skills. Additionally, he has contributed articles, chapters, and activities to eighteen compilation books. Bob retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1991 after twenty-two years of active and reserve service.

Nonverbal Customer Communication Strategies

by

Nonverbal Customer Communication Strategies

As a customer service professional, it is impossible for you to “not” send nonverbal messages to your customers. They are evaluating you based on your posture, facial expressions, height, body type and condition, skin color, complexion, clothing, jewelry, and many other nonverbal cues. Your goal should be to eliminate communication barriers and to pay attention to all these factors. You should also strive to communicate a message of professionalism and that you are alert, happy, capable and ready to serve your customer.

Nonverbal Customer Communication Strategies

On the telephone, your tone and attitude should project a positive, upbeat and professional presence that helps encourage people to continue to do business with you and your organization.

When speaking with a customer face-to-face, you should avoid negative body cues and facial gestures like frowning, crossing arms across the chest, using eye contact inappropriately as your customer speaks, pointing fingers at someone, rubbing the back of your neck or the bridge of your nose, or any other movement that might indicate boredom, stress, frustration or displeasure since some cultures view these things negatively.  Also, you should be conscious of nervous habits that you might have which could say to the customer that you are impatient, uncertain, or otherwise not confident about a given situation (e.g. a sale). For example, fidgeting, jingling change or playing with items in your pocket, twirling the ends of your hair, clicking a ballpoint pen, biting nails, looking at your watch, or rubbing your hands together.

When interacting with your customers, it is important that you monitor your own nonverbal cues and those that they use. In doing so, remember that just because someone from a culture uses a nonverbal cue similar to one that your culture uses does not mean that it has the same meaning with which you are familiar. Learning to appropriately interpret and appreciate different nonverbal cues used by customers from around the world will give you a big advantage over your competition when dealing with people from various cultural and diverse backgrounds.

An important thing to remember is that you should not assign meaning to a nonverbal cue that you see a customer use out of context (e.g. their verbal and nonverbal messages do not seem to match). This is because the same gesture (e.g. a smile) might have different meanings when used by someone based on the situation, their level of emotion, the environment, a person that they are with, time, the customer’s cultural background and your personal frame of reference related to the signal.

To better discover ways to communicate positively in a global business environment, get a copy of Please Every Customer: Delivering stellar customer service across cultures.

About Robert C. Lucas

Bob Lucas has been a trainer, presenter, customer service expert, and adult educator for over four decades. He has written hundreds of articles on training, writing, self-publishing, and workplace learning skills and issues. He is also an award-winning author who has written thirty-seven books on topics such as, writing, relationships, customer service, brain-based learning, and creative training strategies, interpersonal communication, diversity, and supervisory skills. Additionally, he has contributed articles, chapters, and activities to eighteen compilation books. Bob retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1991 after twenty-two years of active and reserve service.

Make Money Writing Books: Proven Profit Making Strategies for Authors by Robert W. Lucas at Amazon.com.

The key to successfully making money as an author and/or self-publisher is to brand yourself and your company and to make yourself and your book(s) a household name. Part of this is face-to-face interaction with people at trade shows, library events, book readings, book store signings, blogging or guest blogging on a topic related to their book(s). Another strategy involves writing articles and other materials that show up online and are found when people search for a given topic related to a topic about which the author has written.

If you need help building an author platform, branding yourself and your book(s) or generating recognition for what you do, Make Money Writing Books will help. Bob’s popular book addresses a multitude of ideas and strategies that you can use to help sell more books and create residual and passive income streams. The tips outlined in the book are focused to help authors but apply to virtually any professional trying to increase personal and product recognition and visibility.

Thanks for visiting our website!  If you need or want a copy of this content - please contact the author to request purchasing it. Thank you!