Level 2 Speaking, listening and communication. Customer complaints

Transcription

1 7 Task Customer complaints Functional Skills English Level 2, Speaking, listening and communication Overview Functional skills focus consider complex information and give a relevant, cogent response in appropriate language; present information and ideas clearly and persuasively to others; adapt contributions to suit audience, purpose and situation. Suggested time 2 1-hour lesson, plus self-study time This task is about responding to customer complaints. The activities can be undertaken by learners working on their own and can be adapted to suit group situations. You will be supporting learners in: mapping out the kinds of complaints they might deal with and who they would need to speak to about them finding persuasive words or phrases to help them deal with a dissatisfied customer identifying non-verbal communication, and practising summarising a complaint and responding to complaint scenarios reviewing their performance using an evaluation checklist. Learners will also use and develop skills in the following areas: read and summarise, succinctly, information/ideas from different sources. This activity can be used to incorporate unfamiliar people, for example, the complaint role play can be done with a learner or tutor from a different group or someone new in the workplace. 1

2 Task resources The following resources are provided to support the delivery of this task. Printable activities E-activities Weigh up the task A1 What kinds of complaints? Screen 2 Prepare your strategy A2 Responding to an angry customer Screen 4 Screen 6 Screen 8 Tackle the task A3 Body talk checklist A4 Role-play cards A5 Observation checklist Check and evaluate See page 6 Teaching notes Using the scenario sheet for : Customer complaints (Speaking, listening and communication), introduce the task to the learners and explain that all the activities in the task are all on the same theme. See below for further explanation of each activity. Some of the tasks include a mix of printable and e-learning activities, and all the activities are suitable for independent learners and group work. Discuss with learners the functional skills they will be engaging and the process that you will be following. Weigh up the task A1 What kinds of complaints? Introduce the activity by explaining to learners that they are going to practise the speaking and listening skills needed to deal with customer complaints. Go through the introductory notes on the task sheet with learners. Point out that the task will involve them in a range of activities designed to help them reflect on the various complaints they might deal with. The skills they will focus on include: developing persuasive language identifying non-verbal communication skills summarising key information from a complaint responding to a complaint. For Activity 1, learners complete the spider diagram to summarise the type of complaints they may receive and the people they might deal with. You may need to give them one or two examples to get them started, such as a supervisor is unhappy with my work or a customer is returning faulty goods. Remind them to include speaking to people over the telephone as well. If they don t deal with complaints in their normal activities you could extend this to dealing with someone who is upset or angry, for example, a neighbour complaining about loud music. There is an e-activity that supports this activity. Refer to the Task resources box on page 2 for further details. 2

3 A spider diagram template is provided on the activity sheet but learners versions may vary. Check that they have included a wide range of speaking opportunities and prompt them if they have missed any, including informal situations, such as speaking with friends. The activity can be adapted for groups. If working in a group, ask learners to share their answers and discuss any differences. For example, learners could work in pairs and put their responses on flipcharts for group review and discussion. When the spider diagram is complete, ask learners to summarise which people and situations are formal and which are informal. Learners can then reflect on whether there is any difference in how they might approach those situations, for example, they might make a record of a customer s complaint at work but they would not do this in an informal situation. Point out to learners that the skills they will be developing for this scenario could be applicable to a range of situations where they may need to negotiate with an angry person. You may also wish to talk briefly about company or organisational complaints procedures; if learners are employed they will need to follow their own in-house procedures. More able learners can be given the minimum brief and complete the spider diagram independently. Learners requiring more support may need your help with suggestions for items to put on the spider diagram. Prepare your strategy A2 Responding to an angry customer This activity requires learners to think about how they might respond to an angry or upset customer. The focus is on using empathy and listening skills to calm the situation down. Question 1 asks learners to consider why various words and phrases (in the How not to say it column of the table) are an inappropriate response to an angry or upset customer. Discuss how these responses demonstrate a lack of interest in the customer s complaint. Explain that this approach is only going to anger the customer more. Question 2 challenges learners to come up with more appropriate responses to those in the How not to say it column. To help learners get started, go over the example of a How to say it phrase on the activity sheet. You could also complete a second example together. Point out that, in addition to showing empathy, it is best to take care to speak politely (more formally) in such situations this is one way of showing respect for the complainant. If learners have had little experience of handling complaints or difficult situations, encourage them to think about times when they have been making a complaint and what has worked well with them. This might include: the person staying calm someone really listening to the complaint and not interrupting a clear response to their complaint. There are e-activities that support this activity. Refer to the Task resources box on page 2 for further details. 3

4 To conclude the activity, question 3 asks learners to come up with a list of key points for a friend or colleague who is concerned about dealing with unhappy or angry customers. You can adapt this activity to a group situation by getting learners to work in pairs or small groups to complete Activity 2 and then getting them to role play a scenario where they use some of their phrases on each other. The role plays could be based on some of the examples from the learners spider diagrams from Activity 1. More able learners can complete this activity as part of self-study. Less able learners may need to start the activity with your support and complete it by themselves. Similarly, for groups of learners you can differentiate this task by selecting learner pairs. Tackle the task A3 Body talk checklist This activity requires learners to observe other people at work, at home or even on TV, and identify the body language they are using when they are upset or angry. Explain that being aware of body language will help them with their speaking and listening skills, since it gives an indication of people s moods and they can then select the right tone and language to respond. You will need to check that learners understand the terms body language and non-verbal communication. Refer them to the definitions provided on the introductory notes to the task then go over the following key points: Non-verbal communication can include gestures, facial expressions and vocal signals. Body language when people are angry or upset includes folding arms, frowning, talking loudly and waving hands about. Body language is only a guide to how someone might be feeling and is open to interpretation. Other factors will be important, including what the person is saying, the situation and your relationship to them. Go over the observation checklist on Activity 3. Explain that learners need to observe people who are upset or angry and record the body language used, the situation and their interpretation of the non-verbal communication. They can observe people at home, at work or even on TV. As well as observing others non-verbal communication, learners may wish to check their own body language in a variety of situations. It will also be useful for them to think about what kinds of non-verbal cues people will show when they are feeling relaxed or happy, such as smiling and an open posture. English tools Formal and informal language. Persuasiveness. Active listening. Register, tone and type of language. Identify and use non-verbal communication. Summarise key information. The checklist can be completed individually over a period of time. The activity can be adapted to group situations by getting learners to observe each other or to work in pairs and observe familiar and unfamiliar people in the college or training centre. You can make the task more active by getting learners to role play particular moods or feelings and asking the group to interpret the body language. 4

5 There is a worked example for learners on the Activity 3 checklist; you may need to go through this with some learners. For group situations you can differentiate by selecting learner pairs. A4 Role-play cards A5 Observation checklist These activities require learners to role play various complaint scenarios. They will need to find the right tone, language and register to respond to the angry customer. The role-play cards on Activity 4 provide a range of scenarios, and these can be contextualised further to the vocational area as appropriate. Learners will ideally work in pairs or groups of three, taking it in turns to act as complainant, respondent and observer so they all get a chance to be the respondent and practise their skills. Activity 5 is a checklist for the observer to complete. Before you begin the role play, remind learners of some key points for handling a complaint: Let the customer have his or her say first. Listen out for key points and make notes of the complaint. Summarise the problem or complaint. Be clear about what you will do in response. Set a deadline to respond by. Keep the customer informed. In addition to demonstrating effective listening skills, the role plays are an opportunity for learners to show their skills of persuasion. Point out that in addition to calming the customer down, they will need to persuade the customer that they are dealing effectively with their complaint by offering a solution to their problem. This could include: using polite and formal language outlining the steps they are going to take being clear about timescales. If learners are working in a group, you can get them to discuss the key points about complaint handling prior to starting the role play and facilitate a short discussion about the best approaches. For learners working individually they can role play with you, an assessor, a workplace supervisor or a colleague. Alternatively they can read the role-play cards and make notes about how they would respond; however, they would need to be specific about the language they would use. To add an unfamiliar dimension to this activity, learners could work with a learner from another group, a tutor or a colleague who they are not familiar with. 5

6 More able learners can be challenged to work through several of the cards. For group situations you can differentiate by selecting learner pairs. Check and evaluate Discuss with individual learners their performance. Learners should: identify the speaking and listening skills they have used in this task reflect on the specific English skills they have learned and how they might use these in the future reflect on the areas for development and note these in their action plan, if relevant. Learners could record their self-assessment in an evaluation sheet similar to the one provided for Task 6: Day tripper (Speaking, listening and communication). If learners have carried out the role plays in Activity 4 in groups of three, they can refer to the observation sheets from Activity 5 and use them to inform their evaluation. Other resources The Embedded Learning Materials for Skills for Life: The Excellence Gateway: Teaching and learning programme customer care: body_language.pdf The Speaking and Listening Toolkit for Practitioners: listening%20a%20toolkit%20for%20practitioners.pdf 6

7 Contextualising for vocational subjects This task focuses on responding to customer complaints, with the emphasis on verbal and non-verbal communication and using appropriate language. It can be adapted to learners vocational area, and some broad ideas for how the scenario can be adapted for a variety of contexts are provided below. (Please note that you can edit and customise the scenario sheet and all the activity and answer sheets associated with this task.) The main area for contextualisation will be the subject of the complaint. Each vocational area will also have differences in whether complaints are raised formally or informally. Different vocational areas and businesses will also have a range of procedures or systems for handling complaints. Business and Customer Services Learners could consider scenarios related to retail or call centre situations and a range of customer complaints or problems, such as faulty goods or services. In this vocational area, many complaints are likely to be formal, with set procedures for handling them. You could review examples of complaints procedures with learners or if they are in a work situation refer to the organisation s own procedures. Construction Customer complaints might relate to faulty work or services, a failed product or component or missed delivery times. Smaller companies in this sector will not necessarily have formal procedures for handling complaints and you may need to provide examples for learners. While complaints might be handled informally learners should be encouraged to practise the skills of dealing with complaints to prepare them for work. There may be relevant health and safety protocols or procedures for this vocational area that are relevant to complaints. Hairdressing Complaints might include dissatisfaction with a style or colour or disagreements over missed appointments and cost of services. This sector is likely to present scenarios for informal complaints, however, learners should be encouraged to take them seriously and practise their skills for handling complaints effectively. Health and Social Care A wide range of complaint situations might arise in this sector and some will not be handled by learners since they will have a complaints protocol to follow in the health service. Possible situations might include an elderly resident being dissatisfied with a meal, garments being lost in the laundry or a relative making a complaint. This vocational area may require more formal records to made of complaints, even if service users or patients raise complaints informally. 7