Avoid Assumptions When Communicating Across Cultures

During interpersonal communication, assumptions can sometimes result because of culturally specific understandings. Preconceived ideas can often cause relationship breakdowns and misunderstandings when dealing with a customer who speaks a different language. Even so, there are ways to avoid assumptions when communicating across cultures with someone who speaks a different native language than you do. If you must assume, then assume that your customer is an intelligent and competent person with whom you can communicate. Then, work with a positive, “can-do” attitude to help ensure you that understand one another correctly.

Recognize that raising your voice when dealing with someone who speaks another primary language is useless. For some reason, many North Americans feel that if they raise their voice to someone who does not speak English well, the person will understand what is being said. An example of how communication can break down between people from different backgrounds was seen several years ago in the popular movie Rush Hour, starring actors Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. In that movie, both played police officers, Tucker from Los Angeles and Chan from Hong Kong. They met at the Los Angeles airport when Chan flew into town. Here is a synopsis of a scene in which Tucker goes to the airport to pick up a Chan.

Tucker assumes that Chan cannot speak English and raises his voice as he yells, “Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?” Not only did Chan understand, but he later begins to communicate fluently in English. When Tucker acts surprised, miffed, and states, “You did not tell me that you spoke English.” Chan nonchalantly says, “I did not say I didn’t speak English. You assumed that I did not speak English.”

Such actions do little to enhance communication. In fact, yelling or changing tone does nothing to enhance understanding and may well anger or embarrass your customer. It certainly makes you look foolish. Just because a customer is unable to speak English, does not mean that he or she is hearing impaired.

To prevent embarrassment and degradation involving customers, take time to research various cultures. Try to learn some basic phrases spoken by foreign-born customers who frequently do business with your organization. By improving your cultural awareness, global knowledge, and communication skills you can improve the chances that you will provide excellent service to customers.

For additional ideas on how to successfully avoid assumptions when communicating across cultures, check out Please Every Customer: Delivering Stellar Customer Service Across Cultures and Customer Service Skills for Success.

Gaining Customer Loyalty

by Robert W. Lucas

Gaining Customer Loyalty

Gaining customer loyalty and getting repeat business is crucial for organizational success in today’s global business world. Too many managers and small business owners do not recognize that customer loyalty are not just about competitive pricing and product line offerings. With competition being literally a mouse click away, the differentiator between companies is often the level and quality of customer service that they provide. If companies fail to personalize service, empower customer service representatives to effectively and efficiently serve customers, and invest in the latest service technology, they are likely to suffer from customer churn.

Unfortunately, many organizational leaders have not recognized the need to adopt customer service as a strategic initiative. They also fail to identify consumer trends and go to the effort of meeting changing customer needs, wants and expectations. According to the 2014 American Express Global Customer Service Barometer, 62% of 1,000 American consumers surveyed believe that companies “meet customer expectations.” Only 5% of those surveyed said that interactions that they had with companies “exceeded their expectations,” while 29% thought that companies usually “miss their expectations.” Companies, such as Radio Shack, Borders Books, Blockbuster and Circuit City have paid the price of failure for failing to read and meet customer needs and expectations. Other organizations that are teetering and struggling to regain or maintain market share include Sears, JCPenney, Best Buy and the U.S. Postal Service.

The simple solution for gaining customer loyalty and getting repeat business is to make every customer experience positive. By investing in customer service skills and communication training for all employees, upgrading equipment, processes, and policies regularly, and looking at service through the customer’s eyes, customer loyalty and satisfaction is attainable.

For additional ideas on ways to improve customer service in any organization, check out Please Every Customer: Delivering Stellar Customer Service across Cultures, Customer Service Skills for Success, and How to Be a Great Call Center Representative.

Serving Customers from Different Cultures

by Robert W. Lucas

Serving Customers from Different Cultures

Customer service representatives in the United States (U.S.) are often not prepared for the challenges of serving customers from different cultures. This is especially true related to understanding other cultural values and effectively communicating. This is often because many people have never traveled outside the borders of the Continental U.S., nor have they taken time to research subtle differences in communication styles between cultures. In an ideal world, organizations would provide training on the topic to all employees, but the reality is that most do not.

As an example of how perceptions might differ when communicating, consider the fact that various cultures take a different view of silence during an interaction. For example, North Americans are often viewed by people from some cultures (e.g. Asian) as talkative, aggressive, and boastful. If you are from the United States or Canada you might view a customer from Japan or China as being indifferent or lacking an opinion during a discussion when they do not readily have a strong response or opinion to something that you say. They may appear to simply be listening or hesitant to respond. In reality, many people from Eastern cultures have been taught to be reflective, quiet and to observe. If the person to whom they are talking is older or of a higher socioeconomic status, they are also taught to quietly pay respect and listen to those people. This is contrary to what many people from Western cultures are often used to, which is to speak up and voice an opinion or ask a question. In either instance, there is a chance that because of misunderstanding on both sides of the conversation there could be a breakdown in communication or the customer-provider relationship.

By learning how to effectively interact with customers from differing backgrounds you can improve your chances of creating customer satisfaction. You can also potentially reduce customer churn and help develop better brand loyalty. Check out Please Every Customer: Delivering Stellar Customer Service across Cultures for additional thoughts and strategies on effectively serving customers from different cultures and backgrounds.