Workplace English Podcasts

We all deal with angry customers, and it's enough to drive people crazy. Angry and difficult customers are a major cause of workplace stress, and they take up huge amounts of your time and the resources of your organization. There are a lot of tricks and techniques you can use to deal with an angry customer. For now, let's focus on the most common mistake employees make when dealing with the difficult or angry customer. By avoiding this particular error, you can save yourself a lot of stress and time.

The #1 Mistake

When you are faced with an angry customer, you probably assume that the customer wants his or her "problem" fixed. That's a logical approach and it's at least partly true. Angry customers expect that you will be able to help them in some concrete way, by meeting their want or need. However, there's more to the story.

Ever notice that with a really angry person, even if you can "fix" the problem, the person still acts in angry or nasty ways? Why is that? Well, actually angry customers want several things. Yes, they want the problem fixed, but they also want to BE HEARD, TO BE LISTENED TO, and to have their upset and emotional state recognized and acknowledged.

What most employees do with angry customers is move immediately to solve the problem without giving that acknowledgment. Do you know what happens? The customer is so angry that he or she isn't prepared to work to solve the problem, doesn't listen, and gets in the way of solving the problem. So the number one error is moving to solve the problem before the customer is "ready", or calm enough to work with the employee. The result is the employee has to repeat things over and over (since the customer didn't hear), and has to ask the same questions over and over. And that's what drives people nuts.

The Solution

The solution is to follow this general rule: When faced with an angry customer, FIRST focus on acknowledging the feelings and upset of the customer. Once the customer starts to calm down as a result of having his or her feelings recognized, THEN move to solving the problem. You'll find that this will save you a lot of time and energy.

Situation 1

Here’s an example of a type of customer that is really feared. Now you’ll recognise Mr Tiger all right. In our example he’s turned up to the bank where Cathy works. As always, he’s angry. He’s been waiting about for nearly ten minutes. He may also have had a particularly bad day so far and wants any excuse to turn his anger on someone else. Let’s see how Cathy deals with him.

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Introduction

Rule 1: The customer is always right.
Rule 2: If the customer is wrong, rule 1 applies.

It is said that for every person who complains, there are 26 other people who suffer in silence, and each unhappy customer tells 10 to 16 other people. But if you address the problem in the right way, 90 per cent of the complainers will do business with you again. When people complain, they are usually angry or upset. This can be difficult to handle in a second language.

In this podcast lesson, we’re going to look at how the same customer complaint is dealt with in two completely different ways. One will be the right way and the other, the wrong way.

After you’ve finished listening to this lesson, make sure you review our study notes on a six-stage customer service strategy. You can apply this strategy to most customer service situations where you need to handle a face-to-face customer problem.

Situation 1

You're now going to listen to a conversation between a bank teller and a customer who has a complaint about the bank’s service.

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Introduction

You might think that ending a conversation is as simple as saying “Goodbye,” but it’s a little more complex than that. It’s also quite different from culture to culture. In western culture, we inform the person we are talking to gently by giving hints that we need to go or want the conversation to end. We try our best to avoid ending a conversation abruptly.

Certain phrases are used to indicate that someone has to go or would like to end a conversation. To end a conversation politely is quite a difficult skill to master, actually!

In this podcast lesson, we’ll show you how to end a conversation politely according to western culture.

Situation

You’re now going to hear a conversation between John and Naomi. They’ve just come out of a conference.

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Introduction

Showing a visitor around gives you a good chance to make a positive impression on your client. By welcoming a visitor warmly and talking to them clearly and politely about your firm, you can help to create a good business relationship between your company and your visitor’s. In this lesson, we’ll focus on how to make a visitor to your office feel welcome, and on language you can use to describe your building and your company. The use of correct tenses and the passive voice can be very important when showing a visitor around.

Situation

In this situation, you will find Kate, a manager at a design firm, talking to Tom, a client from an architectural company who is visiting her office. You will hear how Kate welcomes Tom and makes him feel comfortable. Then you will listen to how she shows him around the office and tells him about her company. She also listens carefully to his questions and uses different tenses while talking to him about different ways of working.

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Situation 1

In the first dialogue Andrew, Elsa and Brad discuss arrangements for an upcoming marketing tour. Focus on how each person interrupts another while they’re talking. Do you think these interruptions are effective?

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In this podcast lesson you're going to listen to an employment interview. Pay close attention to the questions asked by the interviewer – he uses a range of common interview question types.

Situation

Vivian Ren is a Human Resources Assistant Manager for a large international accounting company; she has been looking for a new position as she feels her current job isn't challenging enough after being in the position for over eight years. She has been asked to an interview by a large airlines company for the Head of the Human Resources.

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In business meetings, you may often need to argue that something needs to be done, undone, changed, etc. And to be taken seriously, you’ll need to clearly explain your argument in order for it to be accepted. You’ll also need to know how to respond to questions and criticism, especially if you haven't made your case clearly and backed it up with facts, figures and logical reasoning.

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SITUATION 1

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Introduction

Remember when passing on messages to clients, details are very important. It does no good to relay a message if you’ve forgotten the time of the appointment or can’t remember the name of the person calling. Everyone makes mistakes and sooner or later most people forget a detail, but the most important thing is communicating this information clearly and accurately. 

When you’re being given a message to pass on to someone, never be afraid to ask for clarification, repetition or anything else, particularly when dealing with detailed information. It’s much more important to ask a few times and be sure it’s right than to give out the wrong information.

In this podcast lesson, you're going to listen to Beth relaying some messages to her company's clients. Beth works as a receptionist for a large garment manufacturer. Today is the first day back in the office after a one-week holiday, and several managers are still on vacation. They've instructed Beth to pass on messages to clients they know will be calling.

Situation 1

In the first situation you’re going to listen to Beth passing on a message to a client.

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Introduction

In this month's podcast lesson we're looking at a typical conversation you might have with someone you've only just met in a business situation – at a conference for example. What sort of things can you talk about – and what topics should be avoided?

Situation

In the following situation, David and Jenny are attending a business conference in Sydney, Australia. David is an Australian, while Jenny is from England. Let's look at how David and Jenny get acquainted.

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Introduction

In a perfect world, we’d never have to talk about problems or need to face difficult situations. But as we all know, discussing problems and finding solutions to problems are both necessary to maintain good business relationships. We shouldn’t avoid these situations but look at them as an opportunity to improve business communication with colleagues and customers.

We cannot always say “yes” to a difficult request from a client or a colleague. Sometimes, it may not be possible to grant a request. At other times, a compromise may be reached. In such situations, the language and tone you use are important. You don’t want to offend or upset the person making the request.

In this podcast lesson, we’ll use a telephone dialogue to illustrate how to deal with difficult requests without causing offence.

Situation

Wynn Newberry works for a Marketwatch Magazine, a fashion and style magazine that is holding a public event the launch of a new bar. He wants to print 10,000 publicity flyers to hand out at an upcoming event and as time is limited, he needs the flyers quickly. He calls Sara, his printer.

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Many of you will be working for international companies where you come into daily contact with foreigners. Whether you’re working face-to-face with a foreign colleague in your office, or just bump into a foreigner you know in your company canteen, a corridor, a lift or when you are arriving or leaving work, you’ll need to make some conversation. You don’t always need to talk about work, although this is what you have in common and it is easier to talk about things that you both know about.

Social conversations are important when you want to build better relationships with people and when you want to develop closer friendships. If you want to become more than just work colleagues, you’ll need to talk about things other than work!

Situation

You're now going to listen to two dialogues. In the first dialogue, Barbara Powers and Lee Lu, colleagues in Parma, a large multinational banking company, meet for the first time. Lee has recently been transferred to the Beijing office where Barbara is a manager.

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