CUST104: Business Communications

Resist the Urge to Just Talk

Scenario: You are tidying up the shelves in the children's section of the bookstore when a customer approaches you. She mentions how much she liked the book you just put back on the shelf and starts describing her favorite parts. How should you respond?

Get Yourself Ready to Listen

Scenario: You've responded to the woman who approached you in the children's section by setting down the books you were handling, turning to face her to give her your full attention, and establishing eye contact. What should you plan to do next?

Get the Speaker to Feel Comfortable

Scenario: You are focused on the woman and waiting for her to finish describing the book she enjoyed. She notices this and hesitates, growing somewhat embarrassed by enthusiasm. What should you do?

Get Rid of Distractions

Scenario: To make the woman feel comfortable, you smile at her and nod to signal your appreciation for her ideas. This makes her relax and gives you the opportunity to ask her if she is looking for a similar book. She says that she was actually just looking for someone to help her find an adult book. However, before she can continue, another woman with two toddlers and a child in a baby carriage turn down the aisle. The toddlers run ahead to the play station nearby and start noisily rearranging the toys. What should you do?

Demonstrate Empathy

Scenario: By pointing toward the adult section, you've encouraged the woman to walk with you away from the distracting toddlers. As you enter the first of many aisles of adult books, the woman expresses how lost she feels because there are so many books to choose from. How should you respond?

Demonstrate Patience

Scenario: You've responded to the woman's admission that she feels lost by indicating that you, too, are sometimes overwhelmed by the choices that are available, but you have a technique that helps you make decisions. You tell her how you start by asking yourself what type of book you want: something educational or something entertaining? You proceed by dividing the adult books into various categories, but the woman rejects each one. How should you proceed?

Demonstrate Neutrality

Scenario: You've completed your list of book categories, but the woman still has not chosen anything. You give her some time to think and wait for her to reinitiate the conversation. When she asks for more ideas, you start going back through the list again, this time mentioning some popular authors and titles in each category. Now the woman becomes more animated, interrupting you or talking over your words to express sharp criticism about several of the authors you bring up. What should you do next?

Pay Attention to the Speaker's Tone

Scenario: Each time the woman negatively reacts to your author suggestions, you nod and smile at her to communicate to her that you are not judging her by her opinions. Finally, you mention an author she likes and lead her over to the section where that author's hardcover books are shelved. The woman takes a few out and ruffles through the pages, stopping to read neither the printed preview on the inside jacket cover nor any of the pages she flips through. Instead, she talks wistfully about how thick the books are and how attractive each book jacket is. How should you react?

Pay Attention to the Speaker's Ideas

Scenario: Recognizing from the woman's tone that she has become less enthusiastic, you suspect she may not be able to afford hardcover books, so you mention that the author also has several books that have been published in paperback as well as hardcover. The woman thanks you for the suggestion and then compliments you on how knowledgeable you are about books and authors. She asks you whether you know of any new authors who have written novels similar to the popular author she was interested in - promising writers whose books may be worth purchasing in hardcover. What should you do next?

Pay Attention to Nonverbal Communication

Scenario: You realize that the ideas the speaker has expressed - her appreciation for your knowledge, her curiosity about new authors, and her desire to still buy a hardcover - may indicate that she would be interested in the store's bargain book bin. You mention that she may find what she is looking for there. In response, the woman frowns, her face reddening as she mumbles her thanks for your help and then walks away.

You did everything right up to this point, so why did you lose this customer? When the woman first approached you, you were handling a classic, in hardcover. When the two of you moved to the adult section, the woman became very animated when discussing authors. Then she handled and discussed the hardcovers themselves with great appreciation for how each book looked.

Throughout these parts of your exchange with the woman, you failed to notice what she didn't say verbally but did say nonverbally: quality counts. The childhood classic, the unworthy authors, the nicely bound and jacketed hardcovers, her willingness to consider a promising new author - these observations demonstrated that the woman was most engaged when she was considering the quality of the book or its author. Thus, suggesting the bargain book bin both insulted and embarrassed her since the offer showed you had misinterpreted her responses and perhaps exposed her to your pity. 

Had you listened more carefully to the woman's ideas and not jumped to the conclusion that her indecision was about money, not quality, you may have been able to use your knowledge about the books to recommend to her a young author gaining an unusual amount of recognition - also published in hardcover, but possibly less expensive due to the author's lack of exposure.