"To travel hopefully is better than to arrive!" Well, so wrote Robert Louis Stevenson and it's the kind of aphorism that can very easily be applied to all manner of things and is certainly not a concept restricted to tourism. Here at Communication Works we have been on quite a ‘journey' as we have navigated the various hills and valleys involved in getting a website for our corporate communication training and services consultancy up and running. It's been a real learning curve for our team but we're really excited to know that although we've arrived at the website launch, the journey is in fact just beginning.
We remain as committed to excellence in communication as ever, and in this blog we'll be extolling the virtues of individuals and organisations that demonstrate excellence in their corporate communication and customer service. We'll also be pointing out where companies can lift their game and build credibility, enhance their image and reputation, and become more customer-focussed!
Since communication is our business, and as our name implies we believe that when conducted effectively communication works, I was really surprised that when I decided to purchase a new iPhone recently that both sales people I dealt with came up short on the effective communication scale. Actually both sales people were very pleasant; the first, a male, was exceedingly friendly and courteous. The problem was that he told me blatant lies about the availability of the iPhone device: apparently there were only 50 iPhones coming into the country, and he had a waiting list of at least 50 people for the six iPhones coming into his shop! Not only was it not true that only 50 new iPhones were coming into the country, but then he completely misrepresented the specific details of the Vodofone plan which accompanied the purchase of this delicious little piece of technology.
Fortunately, I tried another franchise selling iPhones. My next sales person was a female; again she was charming and efficient. However, after purchasing my iPhone, I realised that I didn't have some vital information to enable me to import my contacts, photos and videos from my old phone to my new iPhone. I know, I know...I should have asked about this but in all the excitement I forgot. Shouldn't a great salesperson anticipate that since you've just changed your phone and moved to a new plan, you'll probably have some important information that you'll want to retain: contacts! Wouldn't you expect the salesperson to remind you that you'll need to take action and give you the heads up on doing it? If this wasn't disappointing enough, she was unable to tell me that since I had changed from a pre-pay plan to a contract, my phone wouldn't power-up for 24 hours. Apparently Vodofone hadn't communicated this rather important detail to her. Hmm... great organisation communication from a multinational telco!
Understanding the importance of feedback is so critical if you want to be a really effective communicator and a superb sales person! When you find one of these brilliant sales people please let me know, because despite being vehemently opposed to cloning, I might be persuaded.
At Communication Works, we believe that organisations which recognise the importance of excellent communication with all their stakeholders, make the journey, and the arrival so good, everyone wants to travel with them again. That's part of the secret of using communication effectively so that it really WORKS!
Written by Desiree Williamson
