Identifying Abusive or Irate Customers

When customers become angry during a call, it can help if the Customer Service Representative (CSR) is able to identify the underlying cause for such behavior. However, there are cases when the customer expresses the seriousness of his problem to the support representative through aggression. For example, the customer might be abusive simply because he is naturally rude when inconvenienced. However, there are cases when a customer may express to the CSR the seriousness of a problem using aggressive language or behavior.

The CSR must be able to recognize whether the customer is being unreasonably abusive or is coming across as being irate as he tries to forcefully describe the extent of his problem. Being able to differentiate among these two situations will help the CSR to deliver an appropriate response.

Abusive Customers

An Abusive Customer can be identified by

* The use of unacceptable language
* Personal abuse aimed directly at the CSR

When dealing with an abusive customer, it's important to know when he has crossed the line. Unacceptable behavior can be personal abuse, such as stating "You are stupid. I don't know why I bothered to call." or in the form of a personal threat, such as "I know where you work, and I will find you."

Irate Customers

A customer who is irate or angry about the problem often

* Uses a hostile tone when explaining the issue
* Shows an improved attitude if the underlying issue or problem is satisfactorily addressed

An irate customer might make a comment, such as "I don't have the time for this. I want it fixed right now." or "I don't pay for this type of service. What are you going to do about this problem?"

Business need to adopt a flexible yet focused approach in their brand communication to diverse Asian audiences

ASIA has always been a challenging marketplace to conduct business due to its diversity and complexity.
The religion is attractive because of its sheer size and the great opportunities it offers. It is, after all the most popular continent, and home to approximately 60 per cent of the world’s population.
The problem for business owners and marketers is that Asian markets are very diverse- in physical features as well as economic, political and cultural. The ways of the people in Asia differ even within the same country and /or within the same race.
It is not just businesses from outside of Asia that find out tough to penetrate Asian markets. Asian companies may also find it hard to do business with people across their borders. Therefore, native knowledge and understanding of local market is invaluable.

Target audience
To sell well, business needs to communicate accurately to their target audience. They need to convey how their products or services best meet audiences functional needs.
This can be achieved quite easily with good, accurate translation.
For instance, a car manufacturer in Korea can translate all its cars’ specification into Thai consumers can understand the specification and determine whether the cars fit their functional needs.
It is not so straightforward when companies try to communicate the emotional value of their brands to their target audience in Asia. This calls for getting across the brand’s personality and positioning with precision.
As consumers often make purchase decisions based on product or service’s emotion values is arguably even more important than conveying its functional values.

Precise communication
The cultural diversity and hundreds of different languages used (not to mention dialects) in Asian cities can make marketing communication a night mare. The “one size fits all massaging” that marketers adopt in, say, North America will not work here. The challenge for marketers in Asia, therefore, is to ensure that their messaging does not get distorted and / or diluted when communication to target audiences in different markets.
Businesses that have been successful in Asia often start with brand communication strategy when tracking Asian markets. Communication practices are changing rapidly. Markets are becoming more fragmented, audiences are getting more sophisticated, and technology development has resulted in an increasing number of new and unexplored opportunities to communicate with customers.
Every communication attempt needs to be true to the values of the brand and its personality. Tremendous damage can be done to the brand its image if any part of the communication process is either inconsistent with or inappropriate for the character of the brand.
There are hundreds of anecdotes of how seemingly great- sounding brand names are applied with disastrous results when used in markets that speak a foreign language. One famous story is that of Rolls Royce wanting to name one of its new models Silver Mist. That was before they found out that “mist” means “manure” or “dung” in German. Rolls Royce changed the name to Silver Ghost.

Consistent message
They key to good brand communication is to be able to speak with “one voice” across markets and platforms, according to branding experts such as Dr Paul Temporal, author of Branding in Asia and Asia’s leading expert on brand creation, development and management.
Speaking with “one voice” when communicating about a brand across markets and cultures requires more than accurate translation. It means reflecting the essence of a brand rather than the meaning of words behind it when communicating in another language.
Equally important is consistency in messaging, especially when applied across different platforms. It used to be that marketing communication platforms were limited to advertising and public relations. Nowadays, communication platforms can span the following and more:
• Advertising;
• Public relations;
• Direct marketing;
• Corporate websites and new media outlets such as blogs and social networking sites;
• Sales and marketing collaterals;
• Promotions;
• Sponsorships and events;
• Speaking opportunities;
• World- of- mouth; and
• Employee morale.
Brand management is of utmost importance to any business. Branding Decisions should not be treated as trivial tasks assigned to junior staff. The management of a brand requires daily decision- making.
A business that us serious about effective brand communication should first address branding in broad- room. Top level executives need to decide on the brand positioning and values of the business, and ensure that these are effectively communicated downwards to all levels of staff. This same messing should then be communicated externally.
Business owners and marketers should also be alert and responsive to feedback from the markets. This is especially crucial in Asia, as it is the people in the markets who are in touch with local customers and partners on a daily basis who feel the pulse of the target audience.

Brush up your oratorical skills with techniques United States President Barack Obama uses to captivate audiences

BEFORE first- time US Senator Barack Obama delivered his mesmerizing key note address at the Democratic Convention in July 2004, the 42-years-old Harvard law graduate was virtually unknown.
Four years later, despite his lack of executive experience and his African- American heritage, he was elected the Unites State of America’s 44th president.
Apart from his formidable intellect, the cornerstone of his success was undoubtedly his oratorical skills, a gift he shares with other charismatic speakers like Winston Churchill and John F Kennedy.
Why makes Obama so charismatic? Why Americans vote him? Here is the summary of the key elements of his public speaking techniques, which you can emulate to enrich your presentations:

1 Give people hope
When your audience is facing adversity – financial turmoil, retrenchment, home foreclosures –lift their hopes. Acknowledge the situation and remind them of reasons to be optimistic.
In his inaugural address, President Obama inspired Americans to choose “hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord”. Acknowledging the huge challenges facing them, such as the war in Iraq and the worst recession since the Great Depression, he told Americans: “Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and being again the work of remaking America”.

2 Project yourself as winner
Even though you are facing difficulties, act with confidence that you will overcome the bad times. Project yourself as positive and healthy.
After his defeat the New Hampshire primaries, Mr. Obama delivered a speech full of optimism that would rally his supporters. He said: “We know the battle ahead will be long. But always remember, no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change ….. there has never been anything false about hope”.

3 Use rich imagery
Help your audience to create mental pictures through your words. Employ all the five senses – visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory (smell) and gustatory (taste). Civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King was a master of this technique.
In 2004, Mr Obama painted a picture of what he meant by the audacity of hope: “ It’s the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs, the hope of immigrants setting out for distance shores, the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta, the hope a mill worker’s son who dares to defy the odds, the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him too”.

4 Use figurative language
A metaphor is an imaginative way of assigning new meaning to things. During the Cold War, to highlight the spread of communism, Winston Churchill described Russia as the Iron Curtain. When China fell to Mao Tsetung’s Communists, it became the bamboo curtain.
President Obama suggested that the US would be prepared to extend a hand of peace to one of its opponents is it “unclenched its fist”.

5 Employ contrast
When Neil Armstrong first landed on the moon July 1, 1969, he declared: “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. The juxta- position of these contrasting images emphasized the lunar mission’s great technological achievement.
At his last rally at Manassas in Virginia on November 3, 2008, the night before the election, Mr Obama stressed to voters that a better future was in their hands. He said: “Tomorrow you can choose policies that invest in our middle class, create new jobs and grow this economy so that everybody has a chance to succeed. Not just the CEO but the secretary and the janitor; not just the factory owner but the men and women who work the factory floor”.
His message of change resonated with Americans and won him the White House.

source: i forgot sorry