FG CS

Customer Service
Overview:
A Customer Care Executive is the voice ambassador of the company. An understanding
and demonstration of the required customer skills will enable him to reinforce mutually
beneficial relationships with Airtel customers.
Key Deliverables:
By the end of this module the participants will be able to:
Explain what customer service is.

Explain how outstanding customer service can be a source of competitive
advantage.
Identify their role as a Customer Care Executive in garnering this competitive
advantage.
Identify the key attributes of a Customer Care Executive.
Identify the components of good customer service.
Explain communication skill as a process.
Use effective verbal and non-verbal communication.
Identify the barriers to communication.
Develop good listening skills.
Explain the importance of active listening.
Use active listening techniques while handling customer queries.
Demonstrate capability of identifying and handling different types of customers.
Explain the various stages of a telephone call.
Display basic telephone etiquettes.
Develop stress management skills.
Duration: 24 hours
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Introduction (1.5 Hours)
Instructions to Before beginning the session, conduct the following
Facilitator icebreaker.
Ask participants to look around the room and identify one

object that depicts their strength and one that relates to their
area of improvement.
For example, someone can relate to an air conditioner that

works silently and calmly without making any noise as their
strength. Another example could be a flipchart on which the
written stuff can be erased and written all over again. Now
this could represent someones area of improvement, as they
might not start things afresh so easily.
Keep a note of these replies as you can reiterate the

importance of overcoming the weaknesses and utilizing the
strengths throughout the module.
Instructions to Ask participants to answer the following questions.

Facilitator
Discussion Points 1. Illustrate two different situations, one where you were
satisfied with the service provided by a company and
another where you were highly dissatisfied with the
service.
2. What in your opinion resulted in the difference in the

two experiences?
Instructions to Discuss the answers to the above questions and then show
Facilitator participants the following slide. Allot a time of ten minutes for
discussion.
Slide Customer Service
Customer service cannot be defined. It is about meeting

customer expectations continuously.
Instructions to Divide the class into two groups. Ask the groups to discuss
Facilitator the reasons for growing importance of customer service
today. Ask them to compare the state of customer service in
various industries and also compare it with the state a few
3
years go. They can use examples form their own experiences
as a customer to substantiate their arguments.
Derive that in a competitive industry a company cannot

survive without customer service.
Instructions to Conduct the following exercise with the batch. Ask the
Facilitator participants to think of the various things that would delight a
customer in a customer service scenario. Give the
participants 5 minutes to think about these and then enlist
their inputs on the white board discussing each one of them.
Individual Exercise Take the telecom industry and discuss the reasons for growth
(10 mins.) of the importance of customer service over the past few
years. You can also refer to various industries and your own
experiences to substantiate your arguments.
Instructions to Say:Now let me tell you a story.

Facilitator Now tell the following story to participants.
Ashton is tourist visiting India for the first time. He reaches

Delhi late in the night. A tourist guide at the Airport manages
to convince him to stay at a hotel near the central district of
Delhi. When Ashton reaches the hotel he is kept waiting for
more than 45 minutes. Then he is finally allotted a room and
he goes up. The room had been vacated just the previous
night. He realizes that even the bed sheets in the room have
not been changed and the room has not been serviced. He
requests for the same over the intercom and after an
additional delay of half an hour, the manager sends a
housekeeping boy to clean the room. By this time Ashton is
really frustrated.
The next day, Ashton decides to visit Agra. He takes a taxi

and gets there around noon. He checks into a hotel, where he
fills in a register and is taken to his room. His room is clean
and smells fresh. He takes a bath and then goes out to see
the Taj Mahal. He returns early in the evening. His room is
untouched and as he had left it. He orders some food into the
room, which he receives in half an hour, as promised.
The next day he decides to go to Jaipur. He takes a bus there

and reaches the next day. He again needs to check into a
hotel. He does so. As he is filling in his details in the register,
a steward comes and takes his luggage to his room. On
reaching his room he realizes that there is a basket of fresh
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fruit placed for him on the table next to the bed. He takes a
bath and dresses up. Just then he gets a call from the hotel
reception enquiring as to if he would like for a vehicle to be
arranged for him to see the city. He agrees to the same and
finds a taxi waiting for him when he reaches the lobby.
He has a good trip around town. On return to his room, he

finds that the room has been cleaned up and all his clothes
have been neatly arranged in the cupboards. He checks the
bathroom and finds fresh toiletry there. He is extremely
pleased with this experience.
Instructions to Now ask participants the following question.

Facilitator
Discussion Points 1. What is the difference between the three hotels that
Ashton has visited in India?
2. How would you divide the various levels of customer
service that Ashton got?
Instructions to Discuss the answers to these questions and then share the
Facilitator following slide with participants. Allot a time of ten minutes for
discussion.
Slide Outcomes of Customer Service
Customer States
Dissatisfaction Satisfaction Delight
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Slide Delighted Customers
Delighted customers are those who have received service

over and above their expectations.
Satisfied Delighted
Served up to expectation Served beyond
Stay loyal as long as expectation.
they do not discover a Do not look for a better
better alternative. alternative.
Slide Importance of Delighted Customers
Delighted customers tell at least four other people about

their experiences.
Dissatisfied customers tell ten.
Uninspired, merely satisfied customers most likely tell no

one.
Instructions to Give the batch the following examples.

Facilitator
Example 1:
It was our first trans-Atlantic trip with our infant daughter, and
my wife and I arrived at Londons Heathrow Airport laden with
luggage and baby gear. To our dismay, a computer failure had
left check-in lines very long - about 40 a line. We were just
about to settle in for an ordeal, when a British Airways staff
pulled us aside. You dont have to wait in those queues with
a baby, he said. Grabbing our cart, he ushered us to a
special desk and stood by until we checked in. They won me
over that day
Example 2:
BMW gives all its cars numbers, not names. So, you buy a
BMW. It also ensures that the garages which sell and service
BMWs are state of art. It sells expensive leather jackets and
briefcases to the owners. The BMW car sales person keeps in
regular touch with the buyer to find out if the car is doing all
right. And the company also sends regular mailers to proud
owners inviting them to BMW owners meet outings and
hiking. At the end of the day, owners are left with the feeling
that they have joined some sort of elite group.
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Example 3:
A woman visited a hotel in Thailand. She saw all the
hostesses in the hotel wearing a beautiful orchid brooch over
their traditional Thai outfits. She was mesmerised by the
beautiful brooches. On being seated, she asked one of the
hostesses if she could buy one of the brooches from the
hotel. The hostess said that the brooches were not for sale.
However, soon the hostess returned with a similar orchid
brooch for the lady and pinned it onto her shirt. This delighted
the lady no end and she kept on praising the hotel even after
returning from her trip.
Example 4:
In a hotel in the US one of the guests stood in the lobby
admiring a beautiful bouquet of flowers. The flowers were
really unique, something that she had never ever seen before.
She asked the lobby clerk the name of the flower and other
details regarding them. The lobby clerk, after providing her
with the details about the flower, politely asked the guest
regarding where she resided. Barely ten days after the
woman returned from her trip, she received a small pouch
with some seeds in it. Attached to the pouch was a detailed
instruction guide telling her about how to plant the seeds and
when the flowering of the plant would take place. She was
ecstatic on receiving such a wonderful gift from the hotel.
Conduct the following exercise with the batch. Ask the

participants to think of the various things that would delight a
customer in a customer service scenario within Airtel. Give
the participants 5 minutes to think about these and then enlist
their inputs on the white board discussing each one of them.
Then share the following example with them.
When a woman lost her husbands mobile phone, she called

up the Customer Care Centre of the provider. She was
distraught and did not know what to do. The customer care
executive offered her his deepest sympathies. He then told
her about the various alternatives that she had. During the
entire conversation he made her feel completely at ease and
at the end of the call even suggested to the woman that she
should call her husband and inform him about the loss. The
woman was deeply touched by such a wonderful gesture on
the Customer Care Executives part.
Instructions to Ask participants to read the following caselet.

Facilitator
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Caselet (5 mins.) At an MNC bank an employee made a fifteen-minute effort to
get a crisp new Rs. 1000 note for an unknown customer who
walked in off the street. The customer wanted the crisp note,
as he had to present it at an award function that afternoon.
This is what the employee now has to say I made two phone
calls, got the note, and put it in a little box with a thanks for
thinking of us note on my card. The chance visitor soon came
back and opened an account; in nine months his major law
firm had deposited Rs. 2, 50,000 in our banks coffers.
What made the customer come back to the bank?
Instruction to Discuss the answers to the above question with participants.

Facilitator The answer to the question lies in superior customer service.
Say: This caselet surely makes us realize that customer

service is important in todays competitive scenario.
Caselet (5 mins.) Ram was travelling to Goa on Rajdhani Express. He had

opted for this train because of its reputation of better
customer service. However his actual experience was very
different. He was not at all satisfied with the service provided
to him and felt stuck on the train for his entire journey.
What could Ram have done?
Instruction to Discuss the answers to the above question with participants.

Facilitator Derive that Ram had no option but to complete his journey on
the train.
Now ask participants that what would happen if a customer of

a cellular operator would face a similar situation. Will he
continue with the service?
Derive that telecom industry is very competitive and there is a

high propensity to switch. Hence the high importance of
customer service in this industry.
Show the following slide.
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Slide Todays Scenario
In the mobile telephony industry today,
There are many players.
There is little differentiation between the products and

prices being offered by the various players.
Instruction to Say the following:

Facilitator
As there is limited differentiation in terms of either technology
or products or the prices offered, migration of customers from
one service provider to another becomes quite simple and at
times inevitable.
Show the following slide and say that it is customer service

that will give Bharti a competitive advantage.
Slide
Customer Service is the only Differentiator.
Instruction to Share the following slides with participants to further stress on

Facilitator the importance of customer care.
Slide Importance of Customer Care
If selling is all about creating customers, then customer

care is all about retaining them and continuously meeting
their expectations.
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Slide Importance of Customer Care
Studies indicate that,
1. Acquiring new customers is eight times as expensive

as retaining an existing customer.
2. The average company loses 10% of its customers

each year.
3. A 5% reduction in the customer loss rate can increase

profits by 25-85%.
4. The customer profit rate tends to increase over the life

of the retained customer.
Instruction to Ask participants to respond to the following discussion points.

Facilitator
Discussion Points A customer of Airtel has a monthly bill of Rs. 1000.
What is his true value to he company? Is it 1000 or more?

Why?
Instruction to Derive that the true value of a customer is much more than
Facilitator his monthly bill.
For example in the above case, if the customer stays with

Airtel for 10 years, his value to the company will be,
1 month = Rs. 1000

1 Year = Rs. 1000*12 = Rs. 12, 000
10 Years = Rs. 1, 20, 000
Also if the customer is satisfied with you service, he might

subscribe to more Value added services, whereby his lifetime
value can go even higher.
Instructions to Say: Thus you can see that the satisfaction levels of the
Facilitator customers clearly reflect in the lifetime value of the
customers. Therefore, customer service becomes a crucial
element to enhance the lifetime value of the customer.
10
Slide
Outstanding Customer Service
Customer Delight
High Lifetime Value Referral Customers

of the Customer
Instruction to Ask participants to look at the next slide and tell what they
Facilitator see. Tell them that just as in a bull fight the toro and the
toreador are face to face and that moment is the defining
moment of their encounter. Either of one can succeed.
Now say that any customer interaction is also a moment of

truth for a company that wants to excel in its business. The
only difference from a bull fight is that a bull fight is a win lose
proposition. On the other hand if a company that manages its
moments of truth well, both the company and the customers
stand to gain.
Slide
Instruction to Ask the participants to go through the following caselet that

facilitator explains the case of Scandinavian Airlines, which made a
spectacular turnaround by effectively recognizing and
managing the various touch points.
Summarize with the help of the slide that follows.
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Caselet In 1981, Jan Carlzon took over as chairman of one of
Europe's most poorly rated airlines, Scandinavian Airline
Systems (SAS). Carlzon quickly implemented many changes,
the most important of which was to manage the interactions
that SAS employees had with its customers.
In 1987, Carlzon wrote a book titled, Moments of Truth, in

which he said, "Last year, each of our 10 million customers
came in contact with approximately five SAS employees, and
this contact lasted an average of 15 seconds each time. Thus,
SAS is 'created' in the minds of our customers 50 million
times a year, 15 seconds at a time. These 50 million
'moments of truth' are the moments that ultimately determine
whether SAS will succeed or fail as a company."
Instruction to Ask participants to discuss the caselet. Say that Carlzon hit
Facilitator upon a concept that is simple yet profound. Every single
contact between any employee and a customer is an
important contact, regardless of its length or content.
Slide Every customer interaction is a Moment of Truth
Moments of truth,
Are those interactions during which a customer comes

into contact with your organization and forms an
impression of your service and your organization.
These interactions are called customer touch points.
Instructions to Tell participants that M.O.T. cannot be undone & they are
Facilitator permanent in nature. We could enjoy a 10-year relationship
with a customer however it takes only one M.O.T. gone wrong
for that to change. E.g. Youve been going to the same
restaurant for the last 5 years however on one occasion when
you were visiting with your better half, you had to wait for 45
min before you got a table & even after that the staff
pretended like nothing happened & there was no service
recovery.How will you feel? What will you do?.customers
universally are sensitive & have all the rights.
Explain that even though there are several theories & models
on customer service & thousands of people have spent
thousands of hours writing thousands of books on this,
customer service is no rocket science or a business school
major, all it takes to satisfy a customer is:
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An honest belief in the fact that customer is the be all end all
of our professional existence.
A commitment to do whatever it takes to make a customer

happyperiod. However this commitment will come only with
involvement. Without involvement there can be no
commitment. And only commitment can create delighted
customers. Whether a cheerful responsive voice on the
phone, or a delivery date met, aim to provide service that
displays a desire to please. Delighted customers are the
result of commitments met.
Slide
Involvement is Commitment.
Discussion Points What are the various moments of truth for Airtel customers?
Instructions to Discuss the answers. Say that a moment of truth is not just
Facilitator when a customer calls the Airtel customer care. It can be
when he visits the FSO. It can be when another subscriber
tells him about his good or bad experience with Airtel. It can
also be when he sees an advertisement or reads something
about the company.
Todays customer is well informed and a company needs to

manage all these interactions. Tell participants that they can
play a very important role by creating a delightful experience
for each customer who calls the Customer Care.
Instructions to Ask participants to refer to Ashtons story. Ask them that in

Facilitator this case who was responsible for making the difference?
Ask participants to come up with answers to the above

question.
Discussion Points Refer to Ashtons story and answer the question below:
Who was responsible for making the difference in the levels of

service?
13
Instructions to Discuss the answers to this question and provide them with
Facilitator the correct answer. Allow five minutes for discussion. The
correct answer is:
The housekeeping departments of the hotels.
Say: The organization provides its customer care executives

with service standards. It is then the onus of the Customer
Care Executives to provide outstanding service to the
customer and create Customer Delight.
Say that every customer interaction is a moment of truth for

the company. You can use it either to make a positive or a
negative impression.
Show the following slides.
Instructions to Share the following slides with participants to reinforce the

Facilitator above statement.
Slide
As Voice Ambassadors of Airtel,
YOU
will make a crucial difference to Airtels services.
Instructions to Now ask participants to complete the following exercise.

Facilitator
Exercise (10 Write down five major events or accomplishments in your life,
minutes) such as getting your first job, earning a degree from school,
getting married, running a marathon, or career
advancements.
How did you achieve these?
Instructions to Discuss the various responses the various participants come

Facilitator up with. If they say that they achieved this through their hard
work, probe further and ask them if there was a person who
helped them achieve it.
When they mention the contributions of various people in their

achievements, show the following slide.
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Slide You could not have achieved all that you did without people.
People Need People
Instructions to Say: People need people is true in every aspect of life. This
Facilitator is true for you also. However, you also have a significant
amount to gain from your association with Airtel as its
Customer Care Executive. Let us see how you can benefit
from this association.
Now show the following slide.
Slide What is in it for me?
By providing superior customer care you can gain in the

following ways:
Gain personal and professional satisfaction

Achieve recognition
Grow in the organization
Get monetary and non-monetary benefits
Slide Career path of a CSR
Manager
Team Leader
Asst. Team Leader

Cross Functional
Opportunities Care touch
Retention
Sales CSR
Training etc.
Instructions to Ask participants to read the following Transcript (listen to the

Facilitator audio) and answer the questions.
Transcript (Convert Customer Care Executive: Good Morning Sir. How may I help
to Audio) you?
15
Customer: I cannot make any outgoing calls. Why have you
barred my outgoing calls?
Customer Care Executive: Sir, it was done because the bill

has not been paid.
Customer (furious): What do you mean by that? If you dont

send me my bill, how the hell do you expect me to pay? I
even contacted your center several times but still havent
received my bill.
Customer Care Executive: Sir, the information we have with

us shows that the bill has been sent. But let me first apologize
to you that your problem has not been resolved despite your
calling several times.
Customer: You ought to. I am an old customer and this is how

you treat me.
Customer Care Executive: I fully understand. Your outgoing

calls will be started but you will have to pay your bill first. You
can access your e-bill on the Airtel Website. We will not
charge any late payment fee from you. Will that be okay?
Customer: Please ensure that it does not happen in the

future.
Customer Care Executive: I will Sir. Anything else I may help

you with?
Customer: No
Customer Care Executive: Thank you for calling Airtel. Have a

nice day.
1. How did the Customer care executive handle the

situation?
2. How could the situation have been avoided?
Instructions to Allot ten minutes for discussion.

Facilitator
The customer care executive handled the call very well in this
situation. He was able to turn a negative experience into a
positive one.
Discuss the scenario with participants and say:

In case the customers problem would have been resolved
the first time he called, then this situation would not have
16
arisen.
Now show participants the following slide.
Slide Role of a Customer Care Executive
1. First time resolution of customer queries

2. Building relationships through warmth, empathy and
passion.
3. Ownership of the entire call process.
Instructions to Show a video depicting a typical day in a call center showing

Facilitator both the good and the bad sides of it. Add the fact that it is a
stressful job, so what should they do in order to perform their
job effectively.
Discussion Point What are the key attributes an effective Customer Care
Executive should possess?
Instructions to Discuss the answers provided by participants and then show

Facilitator them the following slides.
Slide Key Attributes of a Customer Care Executive
1. Knowledge
2. Skills
3. Attitudes and
4. Habits
Discussion Point You saw the key attributes of a customer care executive. It is
important for you to possess these attributes in order to be a
successful Customer Care Executive.
But what is the one thing without which you cannot perform
successfully even if you have all these attributes?
Instructions to Derive that it is self-motivation that helps us perform to our

Facilitator fullest potential.
Ask them the way to have self-motivation. Derive that it

comes from our basic beliefs and attitudes towards work and
17
life in general.
Show them the FISH Video.
Discussion Points What are the key learnings from this video? Share your
observations.
Instructions to Facilitate a discussion. Ask questions like:

Facilitator 1. How can you make work in a call center fun?
2. When you are continuously taking calls from irate
customers, how can you still keep that smile on your
face?
3. How can you have a helpful attitude when you have to
face un-cooperative customers?
Derive that the video gives an insightful view of how our work
life should be.
It gives four key learnings. Explain these through the slides.
Slide FISH Philosophy
1. Play
2. Make their day
3. Be there
4. Attitude
Instructions to Play: work made fun gets done, especially when we choose
Facilitator to do serious tasks in a light-hearted, spontaneous way. It is
not just an activity; it is a state of mind that brings new energy
to the tasks at hand and sparks creative solutions.
Make their day: when you make someones day through a

small kindness or unforgettable engagement, you can turn
even routine encounters into special memories.
Be there: the glue in our humanity is in being fully present for

one another. Being there also is a great way to practice
whole-heartedness and fight burnout, for it is those half-
hearted tasks you perform while juggling other things that
wear you out.
Choose your attitude: when you look for the worst you will
find it everywhere. When you learn you have the power to
18
choose your response to what life brings, you can look for the
best and find opportunities you never imagined possible. If
you find yourself with an attitude that is not what you want it to
be, you can choose a new one.
Instructions to Tell participants that all the skills they will develop as part of
Facilitator this training are an important part of their job performance.
Tell them that their calls are regularly monitored. First to help
them do self analysis and secondly to help them perform
better.
Tell the participants, Once people start following the FISH

philosophy remarkable change can be seen. The FISH
philosophy training was imparted in the Gujarat circle of Airtel.
Soon after the training, a beautiful example of application of a
new rejuvenated attitude was seen in the Ahemdabad
Customer Care Centre.
When the son of Niyati Trivedi, a team leader with Airtel
Customer Care fell ill, the entire staff was very concerned.
However, when she came back to office one entire team that
did not even report to her presented her with a card and a soft
toy for her son. This remarkable display of a positive helpful
and caring attitude really made Niyatis day.
s
Tell participants that all the skills they will develop as part of
this training are an important part of their job performance.
Tell them that their calls are regularly monitored. First to help
them do self analysis and secondly to help them perform
better.
Summarize these components using the following slide.
Slide Call Audit Parameters
The way you manage your customers constitutes 40%

weightage in your call audit.
Components include
Prompt and enthusiastic opening
Verifying the details
Proper Closing
Listening Skills
Paraphrasing and probing
Empathy
Rapport building/ personalization
Language (jargons and verbal cues)
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Rate of speech and tone
Use of proper hold script
Hold Time
Upselling
20
Communication (4 Hours)
Instructions to Ask participants to read the following scenario and respond to
Facilitator the questions.
Scenario based A customer calls up Airtel Customer Care. He wants to know

discussion (10 the various ways to receive information services on his cell
mins.) phone. He says he would like to receive news and cricket
updates on his cell phone. But at the same time he doesnt
wish to spend too much on it.
The newly appointed Customer Care Executive is very

enthusiastic. He tells him about the Voice Recognition service
of Airtel where he can just speak out the key words and get
updates. The customer accepts the option.
After a week when the customer receives his bill he is

shocked to find that he was being charged Rs. 6 for every
update that he received on the IVR service. He feels cheated
and blames this on poor customer service.
1. What went wrong?

2. Who is responsible for the misunderstanding?
Instructions to Facilitate a discussion.

Facilitator
Correct answers:
1. The Customer Care Executive failed to listen to the

customer who mentioned that he doesnt wish to
spend too much on the service.
2. Although the customer had also forgotten to enquire
about the charges of the option given to him, the
responsibility lies with the customer Care Executive.
He should have given the customer options and also
paid attention to what the customer was saying.
Derive that the case is an example of ineffective

communication. The customer and the customer care
executive have failed to establish an understanding of what is
required.
Summarize using the following slides.
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Slide Communication
Conveying information ideas and meaning from one person to

another.
Slide Effective Communication
Conveying information ideas and meaning from one person to

another for the purpose of establishing a shared/common
understanding.
Instructions to While explaining these slides refer to the scenario above and
Facilitator say that even though there was exchange of information and
meaning taking place but the communication was not
effective because a shared understanding was not
established.
Discussion Points 1. What is the importance of good communication skills?

2. How can good communication skills help you in your
role?
Instructions to Have a discussion for about ten minutes. From this discussion
Facilitator derive that Communication skills are very important for a
successful career in customer service. This is especially true
in a call center environment. Call centers can be high
pressure, fast-paced environments where you may have to
deal with hundreds of people in one day. Hence, it is so
important to fine-tune your communication skills.
Tell participants that they will be able to improve their

communication skills as a part of this module. This will help
them to communicate effectively and professionally with their
call center customers.
Show them the following slide.
Slide Importance of communication
Job Performance
Success in interpersonal relationships
Creating delighted customers
Personal Effectiveness
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Instructions to Ask participants that while handling an angry customer it is
Facilitator easy to lose patience. Also the situation might lead to
aggressive behavior by some of them. On the other hand
some people might react to the situation very passively. Both
these are ineffective forms of communication.
The effective style is assertive communication. Show the

following slides.
Slide Communication Styles
There are three ways of interacting with customers:
Aggressive (Rude)
Passive (Submissive or Non Assertive)
Assertive
Slide Aggressive, Passive and Assertive Behavior
You behave aggressively when you express your

thoughts, feelings, and beliefs in such a way that
humiliates, degrade, belittle or overpower the other
person. In this case, little or no respect is shown for the
needs or feelings of others.
You are behaving Passively or non- assertively when

you fail to express honest feelings, thoughts and beliefs or
express them in such an apologetic or self- effacing
manner that others can easily disregard them.
You are behaving Assertively when you express your

thoughts, feelings and beliefs in direct, honest ways that
do not violate another persons integrity.
Slide Assertive Behavior
Ask questions instead of making statements

Use cooperative words like- we, us.
Appreciate first, disagree later
Listen first, speak later.
The art of sayingNO.
Use of I statements, e.g. Sir, when you do this, I feel
Instructions to Ask participants to do the following exercise.

Facilitator
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Individual Exercise Think of any situation that makes you feel stressful and write
(5 mins.) down an assertiveness response.
Instructions to Derive that assertive communication can help us improve our

Facilitator interactions.
Instructions to Ask for two volunteers for the role play. Ask remaining
Facilitator participants to note their observations.
Role Play Customer: You are an Airtel prepaid customer. Your friend
who is an Airtel postpaid customer recently flashed his
privilege passes sent to him by Airtel. You are angry, as you
have not been given the passes. You feel that as your
monthly bill is almost the same and that you have been a
customer of Airtel even before your friend took a cell phone,
you also have a right to receive the privilege. You call up Airtel
Customer Care to claim the same.
Customer Care Executive: You have received this call. Handle

it.
Instructions to Discuss the observations and evaluate on the basis of

Facilitator assertiveness displayed by the Customer Care Executive.
Slide The Communication Process
Sends message to
SENDER RECEIVER
Gives Feedback
Instructions to Tell participants that they will do an exercise. Ask for a

Facilitator volunteer. Give him a sheet of paper with a certain figure
24
drawn on it. Ask him to give directions to the other participants
who will follow them to draw that figure.
Individual Follow the instructions of the person and draw out the figure
Exercise: in your workbooks. You are not allowed to ask any questions
Blind Mans Buff- I from the speaker or to take help from other participants.
(10 mins.)
Instructions to Show participants the following slide. Ask participants to

Facilitator compare the figure they have drawn with the actual figure
given on the slide.
Slide Blind Mans Buff- I
Look at the figure below and compare it with the figure drawn
by you.
How different is this from the figure you drew?
Individual Follow the instructions of the person and draw out the figure
Exercise: in your workbooks. This time you are allowed to ask questions
Blind Mans Buff- II fro the speaker.
(15 mins.)
Instructions to Show participants the following slide. Ask participants to

Facilitator compare the figure they have drawn with the actual figure
given on the slide.
25
Slide Blind Mans Buff- I
Look at the figure below and compare it with the figure drawn
by you.
How different is this from the figure you drew?
Instructions to Ask participants which figure drawn by them was closer to the
Facilitator original one. The second figure will be closer because you
were allowed to ask questions and get responses.
Conclude by saying that feedback helps you communicate

effectively to achieve the desired results.
Summarize using the following slide.
Slide Feedback
An important Element of Communication Process.

Increases the effectiveness of communication.
Helps achieve better results.
Discussion Points How can you use the learnings from the previous exercise to
increase your effectiveness as a Customer Care Executive?
Instructions to Have a discussion for about ten minutes. Derive that it is

Facilitator important for the customer care executive to take feedback
from the customer. This will help to bring out his needs and
hence solve his problems effectively.
Instructions to Tell participants the following:

Facilitator
When you converse you use a combination of verbal and non-
verbal signals. You usually supplement the words you speak
with non-verbal signs such as gestures or facial expressions.
Introduce the components of effective communication using

the following slide.
26
Slide Components of Effective Communication
Verbal Communication
Non-verbal Communication
Slide Verbal Communication
A series of expressive thoughts and perceptions expressed

through words.
Discussion Points Which of the two statements do you find more effective?
"I think you might like this new service we offer."

Or
"Youre really going to like this new service we offer."
Instructions to Derive:
Facilitator
The second statement is more effective as it sounds more
confident and strong. It sounds like the person making this
statement believes in what he/she is saying.
The first statement on the other hand contains a weak word

i.e. think (weak in this case).
Such words can make you sound less confident.
Slide Weak Verbiage
Avoid using statements such as:
1. Myself
2. Ms. Alka Never use the title with the first name. Either
use the title with the entire name or simply use the title and
the last name.
3. Basically speaking
4. Actually speaking
Avoid the overuse of words such as:
1. You know..
27
2. Okay
Instructions to Ask the participants to carry out the following exercise.

Facilitator
Individual Exercise Remove/Replace the weak words from the following

(5 mins.) statements to make them sound more confident and strong.
1. I was just calling to tell you about the new

communication course were offering.
2. I was wondering if you might want to go to dinner and a
movie with me this weekend.
3. I think this sentence will be much stronger without
those first two words.
4. I think you might like this product we offer.
5. I just called to tell you about the new store that we have
opened in your locality.
Instructions to The correct answers are:

Facilitator 1. I was calling you to tell you about the new
communication course we are offering.
2. Would you like to go to dinner and a movie this
weekend?
3. This sentence will be much stronger without those first
two words.
4. Youre really going to like this product we offer.
5. I called to tell you about the new store that we have
opened in your locality.
Ask participants to read the following transcript (listen to the
audio).
28
Transcript (Convert Customer Care Executive: Good Morning Sir. How may I help
to Audio) you?
Customer: My cell phone is not catching the network signal. I

cannot make or receive any calls.
Customer Care Executive: Dont worry Sir as it happens all

the time. The network will come itself in a while.
Customer (surprised and a bit angry): What? It happens all

the time. That is a sign of the kind of service you provide. If
this kind of thing happens all the time with your network, what
do I need it for, then? (Hangs up)
What communication flaw do you see in this case?
Instructions to Facilitate a discussion for about ten minutes. Derive that the
Facilitator words a person uses can have a great impact on the other
person. In this case the Customer Care Executive should
have talked about the solution to the problem rather than
undermining it by saying that it happens all the time. He could
have told the customer about EFR and told him how to do it
so that his problem could have been easily resolved.
Thus the communication flaw here is the use of wrong words.

For example he could have said that this problem can happen
sometimes and that he will take action to resolve it.
Explain the following slide.
Slide Principles of effective verbal communication
Be clear
Be concise
o Must say
o Should say
o Might say
Be simple
Instructions to To be an effective speaker, apply the following guiding

Facilitator principles of verbal communication:
Be Clear To be prepared, you need to think ahead of
speaking.
Be Concise You should arrange or structure what you are
saying, so that you can let the listener know where you
are, and where you are going.
For example, you could start a message by linking it to a
29
prior event or by giving a brief preview. You could then
proceed to bring out the actual content of the message,
and finish with a fitting conclusion.
Must Say
The core of what you have to say
Should Say
Important but secondary
Might Say
More peripheral matter
Be Simple Avoid giving your listeners undue difficulties. Take
care that you refer to matters that are not very intricate or
complicated. You should be able to relay your message in
such a way that the listener grasps it with ease.
Instructions to Ask the participants to come up with some dialogues

Facilitator depicting the mentioned emotions.
Exercise Write three statements each to depict the following emotions:
Genuine Interest
Respect
Helpfulness
Understanding
Instructions to Discuss the various answers provided by the participants.

Facilitator Then share the following slides with them telling them that
these are a few examples of the statements that can be used.
Slide Genuine Interest
Verbally showing the customer that he is very important and

we are keen on listening to his issue
Oh Im really sorry to hear that your mobile phone is
lost.
I will definitely help you with this problem Sir.
I can understand the trouble you went through Sir.
This must have caused lot of inconvenience to you Sir.
I assure you that this wont be repeated.
I hope I will be able to clarify your query
What is the exact nature of the problem
Every Customer is very important to us Sir.
Could you explain the issue to me again Sir so that I
can understand it properly and help you better.
I will personally look into the matter Sir.
30
Slide Respect
Having a sense of Honor and Respect towards the Customer

Good morning Mr. Shah, Definitely Mr. Shah.,
Surely Mr. Shah., etc. (Using the persons name
nicely has a major element of respect)
I know it is very urgent Sir and your request will be
given top priority.
If you dont mind Sir, please give us some more time
to solve the problem.
Thank you for your valuable time Mr. Shah
This will be priority to us.
Thank you for your co-operation.
I respect your feelings Mr. Shah
I respect your patience for bearing with us for such a
long time.
You are most welcome Sir / Its my pleasure Sir.
Slide Helpfulness
Prompt Helpful attitude, should include lot of Reassurance

Definitely/Surely I will assist you Sir.
Definitely/Surely I will help you right away.
If you give me all this information I will be able to help
you better.
I will be more than glad to assist you Sir.
I will help you right away, Mr. Shah
Is there anything else that I can assist you with Mr.
Shah
Dont worry Mr. Shah
Calm down Mr. Shah we will drive to a good solution
to this problem.
I will see into this matter immediately.
Its a simple Step by Step process I will take you
through this.E.g.: PUK/Call Divert to VMS or Always
On/ Settings etc.
Slide Understanding
Listening clearly, completely and understanding the problem

Certainly Sir, I agree with you totally.
I can assure you that this is priority on our list.
31
I can understand call drops must be really annoying
sometimes.
I understand the urgency of the situation.
I will be handling this issue personally dont you worry
Sir.
I understand this must have caused lot of
inconvenience to you.
I will surely assist you to the best of my efforts.
Its perfectly alright sir, it is a very common problem.
Instructions to Show participants the following slide and ask them the
Facilitator meaning of the sentence written on the slide.
Slide Read the following sentence.
He had a plant on the file cabinet that was right in the

center.
What do you understand?

What is in the center - the plant or the file cabinet?
Instructions to The above sentence is ambiguous in terms of what exactly is

Facilitator in the center - the plant or the file cabinet.
Derive that improper sentence construction can change the

meaning of a sentence and lead to miscommunication.
Tell them that this is an example of a semantic barrier.
Ask participants to do the following exercise to understand

this better.
Individual Exercise Read the following sentence. Write it down in your own
(5 mins.) words.
I didnt say he stole that money!
Instructions to Discuss the responses. Ask them how many meanings they
Facilitator could think of for the given sentence. Derive that the same
sentence can be interpreted in so many ways by different
people.
Slide Same Words: Different Meanings
32
(Inference: Well then who said it?)

(Inference: But I think he did.)

(Inference: Maybe she did.)

(Inference: Then how did he get it? Did he borrow it?)

(Inference: Which money then?)

(Inference: So what did he steal?)
Instructions to Derive that the same sentence can be interpreted in so many

Facilitator ways by different people.
Slide Semantic Barrier
Semantic refers to the meaning conveyed by a word

or a sentence in a language.
Use of inappropriate or ambiguous language can lead

to misunderstandings.
Discussion Points When you converse, you use a combination of verbal and
nonverbal signals. You usually supplement the words you
speak with nonverbal signs such as gestures and facial
expressions.
How is non-verbal communication important for a Customer

Care Executive?
Instructions to Facilitate a discussion. Derive that even though you dont

Facilitator interact with the customers face to face, the various elements
of non-verbal communication such as, body language, facial
expressions matter as it reflects in your voice.
To reinforce the above, carry out this small activity.
Group Exercise (5 Ask for a volunteer. Tell him that he has to say a few
mins.) sentences. He should speak out some sentences with a smile
33
on his face and a few with a frown on his face. While he does
this the other participants should not be able to see him.
Now ask the listeners to identify which sentences he said with

a smile on his face?
Instructions to Summarize using the following slide.

Facilitator
Slide
Can the Customers see your Smile?
Yes! They can.
Instructions to Ask participants to complete the following exercise.

Facilitator
Individual Exercise Draw simple faces, depicting eyebrows, eyes and mouth.
(15 mins.)
Illustrate the following emotions:
Happiness
Sadness
Anger
Surprise
Instructions to Tell participants that the objective of this exercise was to show
Facilitator how your face mirrors your soul and with your facial
expressions alone you can communicate a variety of
emotions.
34
Slide Facial Expressions
Emotion Expression Description

Eyes Open and
Happiness Crinkled
Mouth upturned
Watery Eyes
Sadness
Mouth Turned Down
Heavily Frowning
Anger brow
Scowling Mouth
Rounded Eyes
Surprise
Open, O-shaped
Mouth
Instructions to Divide participants into dyads. Ask each dyad to do the

Facilitator following:
One member of the dyad will have to say a statement to
communicate praise to the other member. Then the other
member will have to say the same statement to communicate
criticism to the other person.
Carry out the same activity for all the dyads.
Group Exercise (15 Read the following sentences to first communicate praise and
mins.) then criticism.
You really know yourself.
You are an expert.
You are so observant. Im really astonished.
Your friends are really great.
Are you ready? Already?
You are really photogenic.
You seem to have lost weight.
You look much younger than that.
Youre going to do a good job.
That was some meal.
Instructions to Tell participants that the objective of this exercise was to

Facilitator emphasize the importance of tone and modulation in giving
meaning to what you say.
35
Ask them what they felt while doing the exercise.
Now play the following pre recorded calls-

- sundermani9810121907.wav
- deepika070804 9818595260.wav
Discuss the calls and derive the importance of various

elements of paralanguage.
Slide Paralanguage
Different shades of speech including tone, pace, pitch and

voice modulation.
Slide Vocal factors - Paralanguage
Pitch Highness/Lowness of a voice. When you raise

your pitch the message is one of increased emotion
such as anger, frustration or irritation. A high pitch also
conveys cheerfulness.
Tone Listeners can read into the tone of your voice
and can determine frustration, anger, boredom,
excitement. Happiness etc.
Rate of Speech A faster rate of speech coveys
friendliness and enthusiasm. Ensure that you do not
eat up your words. The ideal is to maintain a rate of
speech which is similar to the customer.
Slide Vocal factors - Paralanguage
Inflection High volume with irregular inflection can

convey friendliness or cheerfulness. Too much of
inflection gives a sing song effect your voice. This if
overused can be irritating.
Timing/Pace A frequent pause may set up the
listener fir an important announcement. A drawn out
reply may indicate indifference and a quick short reply
may indicate impatience.
Instructions to Tell participants that body movements are an important factor

Facilitator for them. Ask them to come up with examples of wrong body
movements or postures by a call center executive that can
36
affect his performance.
Say that if he is sitting laid back in his chair or very casually it

will reflect in his voice and even his attitude towards the
customer. Kinesics are an important part of the non verbal
communication.
Also say that as a customer care executive you need to mirror

the feelings and emotions of the customer so as to build a
rapport with the customer.
Show the following slides. The first and second explains

kinesics and mirroring respectively and the second
summarizes the impact of non verbal communication on
overall communication.
Slide Kinesics
The non-language movements like shrugs, eye movements,

gestures, and the like.
Slide Mirroring
The ability to emulate another person's attitude and

behavior by effecting similar body language, vocal
techniques and words in order to create rapport.
Key techniques:
- Pacing
- Matching the mood of the person
- Mirroring the other persons beliefs
- Mirroring the other persons breathing
37
Slide Mirroring
Customers tone Your emotional tone
Excited Happy
Sad Compassionate
Hurried Understanding
Confident Approving
Happy Happy
Upset/Worried Reassuring
Angry Calming
Slide Impact of Non-verbal on Verbal
Helps to:
Emphasize
Complement
Substitute
Instructions to Show participants the following slide. Ask them to note it on

Facilitator their workbooks to do it.
Slide Join all the dots with a straight line without picking up
the pen.
. . .
. . .
. . .
Instructions to Ask if participants were able to do it. Show them the following
Facilitator slide to reveal the correct answer. Then show the next slide.
38
Slide Check Your Understanding
. . .
. . .
. . .
Slide Balance the equation by using a straight line
5 + 5 + 5 = 550
Instructions to Show them the following slide to reveal the correct answer.
Facilitator Then show the next slide.
5 + 5 + 5 = 550
Slide Change the following to six by drawing a single line
IX
Instructions to Show them the next slide to reveal the correct answer.
Facilitator
SIX
Instructions to If participants are unable to do it they might come up with
Facilitator questions like whether the line has to be straight. Some might
even say that it cannot be done with a straight line. Tell them
that you never said that you have to use a straight line.
Tell them that you conditioned their minds in just three
39
minutes and they can themselves see that how it hampered
their understanding. Now think about the conditioning of the
entire lifetime. How it can affect your performance as a
customer care executive. You will talk to different customers.
For example, you might attend a call from a customer who
cannot speak English and may lose your patience with him
but just think for a moment. Does a customer have to be good
enough for you? No, you have to be good enough for the
customer and fulfill his expectations.
Conclude by saying that the meaning of something will

change when you look at it differently. You can look at
anything differently and it will have a different meaning. There
is no fixed meaning to anything. You can always change
perspectives and change meanings. Why not change them to
what you prefer them to be?
Conclude by showing the following slide.
Slide Perception
The lens through which you see the world.
The way you presume plays a significant part in the

way you interpret a message in the communication
process.
Discussion Points Think of a personal experience where you committed a

mistake due to inaccurate perception of reality.
How can perceptual errors reduce your effectiveness as a

Customer Care Executive?
Instructions to Derive that a Customer Care Executive can also create a

Facilitator barrier to effective communication if he has a perceptual bias.
For example, if you have an unfavorable bias about the
sender of a message, you might not interpret the information
or idea as intended because your feelings and attitudes will
distort your understanding of the message.
This can happen in the case of a caller whom you know is

always rude on the phone and therefore you have a certain
prejudice about his behavior.
Slide Non-clarified assumptions
40
When you receive a message, you make your own
assumptions about the details that are missing. If you do not
seek clarification on these assumptions, you are likely to
misunderstand the message.
Slide Lack of Attention
Inattentive and selective listening can lead to your missing out

on important information and therefore hamper effective
communication.
Discussion Points How can a Customer Care Executive have lack of attention?
Paying attention to the customer is his job. Isnt it?
Instructions to Tell participants that lack of attention is a common barrier to

Facilitator effective communication and even if your job requires high
level of attention to others, often due to various factors your
attention capacity can go down.
Slide Lack of Attention - Reasons
Time pressures
Communication overload
Excessive information
Instructions to Ask for two volunteers. Ask them to do the following role-play.
Facilitator One will act like a customer and the other as a Customer
Care Executive.
Ask the remaining participants to note down their

observations.
Role-play (10 Customer: You are an Airtel customer. You are having
mins.) difficulties with your connection. Everyday when you go to
office, which is in a sub-urban area, the signal goes off and
you are unable to make or receive any calls. Since you spend
your entire day in the office you are fed up with this
connection as it is of no use to you. You have called
Customer Care before but have not received any solution
from their side. You decide to call up again.
Customer Care Executive: You have received a call from a

customer. Handle the call.
Discussion Points 1. Did the Customer Care Executive handle the call
appropriately?
41
2. Did he use appropriate communication skills to
convince the customer that his problem will be resolved?
3. Identify the verbal and non-verbal techniques used by
the Customer Care Executive.
4. Can you identify any barriers to communication that
hindered the successful handling of the call?
Instructions to Facilitate a discussion based on the role-play. Summarize the

Facilitator barriers to communication using the following slide.
Slide Barriers to Communication
Semantic
Perception
Non-clarified assumptions
Lack of attention
Discussion Points 1. How do these barriers affect your

communication ability?
2. What can you do to avoid them?
Instructions to These barriers affect a persons communication ability in two

Facilitator ways. First, it can make him a bad speaker and hence make it
difficult for others to understand him. Second, it can mean
that a person is a poor listener, which again leads to
ineffective communication.
To avoid these barriers one needs to become more aware of

ones own communication and listening style and its impact
on others. This will enable him to take relevant steps to
improve himself.
42
Listening (4 Hours)
Instructions to Tell participants that you will begin the session on listening by
Facilitator doing an exercise.
Divide the class into groups of two by counting off A<B<A<B

etc. If you are an A then your partner has to be a B.
Send the Bs out of the room for a while. Give instructions to

A.
Tell them when the Bs come inside the As will tell them a
story for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes are over the Bs will tell
them a story for another 3 minutes. They have to pay
attention to the story of the Bs for 1 minute and after that they
have to appear distracted and bored. They have to stop
listening to their partners. But at this point in time they will not
tell them why they are doing this.
Now send the As out. Give instructions to B.
Get the Bs in. Tell them As will tell you a story for 3 minutes.
They have to listen to it carefully and make notes if
necessary.
Tell them after the As finish their story they will have to tell the
As another story for 3 minutes.
Get the As inside now and start the story telling.
After that derive what happened. On the flip chart capture the
feelings of As and Bs.
Exercise (15 mins.) Follow the instructions of the facilitator to complete the
exercise. After the exercise is over answer the following
questions.
1. As the speaker in Part One, how did you feel? Why

did you feel that way?
2. What were some of the effective listening techniques
used by the listener in Part One?
3. As the speaker in Part Two, how did you feel after the
listener stopped paying attention? What made you feel
that way?
4. If you use such listening style with your customers,
how do you think they would feel?
43
Instructions to Derive that the As would have felt good, important, great,
Facilitator wanted, on top of the world because somebody was listening
to them etc. The Bs would have felt ignored, dejected,
insulted, and cheated because they had listened. Derive all
this by asking them individually.
Now tell them that this is what we do to people/customers

when we do not listen to them. If we could get these kind of
responses in 3 minutes imagine what we do to our customers,
when we do not listen to them.
So how is it that they can make their customer feel important

and valued? By listening to them carefully and understanding
what they are saying.
Slide Listening
Listening is often called the most neglected art

or the forgotten skill in communication. We often say
Listening is good but never practice it.
Listening is the most powerful tool of

communication. It is the first step to comprehension.
Listening, to put it in simple words, refers to

hearing something with thoughtful attention.
Slide
The customer on the other side of the phone is a person.
Dont treat them like a voice or a Mobile number.

Facilitator The purpose of this exercise is to refine the students ability to
listen for specific information and to give them practice in
giving directions in English. You will narrate a story of a
person who was taken as hostage by some men to open an
important password protected file. Then youll read out the
directions this person wants to give to the people to find out a
path to the abductors hide out. Spend about twenty minutes
on this exercise.
The Story:
Jack, a computer wizard came to the Pink City two days
back. He was staying at S R Hotel. Yesterday evening -
44
around 6 oclock - a group of people invited him to the hotel
car park to show him a new computer. When he got there,
they forced him into a Ford car. He was blindfolded and
gagged.
They took him into a heavily guarded building and forced him
to open a protected file in a computer. He was scared; he
managed to open the file for them. It was a document on the
defense installations on the Indo - Pak border.
He was brought back and dumped in his room around

midnight.
Though he could not see anything, He heard a number of
things when he was taken to their hideout. Luckily they hadnt
plugged his ears. The fools!
He wants to describe the sounds he heard, in the order in

which he heard them. He wants you to trace the route on a
city map, locate the place he was taken to, and inform the
anti-terrorism squad. Now you can listen to what he heard
and felt on his way to the terrorists den.
Jack - From the hotel, the car went straight ahead. We

traveled for about 10 minutes. Then I heard a train moving
above us. After another 5 minutes, I heard the siren of a
factory. We must have been very close to the factory. The
siren was very loud. It must have been the end of the general
shift.
About 5 minutes later, I heard prayer being offered at a

mosque. It was not very loud. Perhaps this was a mosque not
far from there. Soon after that, the car stopped for about a
minute.
Two or three minutes later, I heard a lot of confused noises.
Hawkers selling bangles, people selling vegetables, sweets,
snacks, and many other things. The car moved very slowly.
After a while, the car took a sharp turn to the right. About ten
minutes later, there was a horrible stink. We traveled for
another three or four minutes, turned right again and stopped.
We got off and walked for a minute. Then I was inside this
building that appeared to be heavily guarded.
Provide the map to the participants on which they have to

locate the abductors.
Give five minutes for solving. Show the correct answer on the
slide.
45
Instructions to After discussing the correct answer, say that If you were not
Facilitator able to trace the route you were not listening actively. Lets
identify the importance of listening actively through this graph.
Slide Listening
Time Spent by an Average Human Being in

the various elements of communication
9%
16% Writing
45% Reading
Speaking
Listening
30%
Discussion Points How are listening skills important for me

- As an individual?
- As a Customer Care Executive?
Instructions to Facilitate a discussion. Derive that listening is important in

Facilitator order to become an effective communicator.
As an individual effective listening is a way to improve your

interpersonal relationships and become a better
communicator.
As a Customer Care Executive one cannot afford to be a poor

listener. If you dont listen to the customer properly then you
cannot identify their needs. If you cant identify their needs,
you cannot solve their problems. If you cant solve their
problems you cannot satisfy them and so on.
Ask them why does a customer take out his time to call you?
If you are not a good listener can you be successful in your
job?
46
Slide Why does a customer call you?
Queries
Complaint
Service Request
Facing some inconvenience
Instructions to Play a prerecorded call Shantanu.wav (9871282069). Ask

Facilitator participants to note their observations.
Facilitate a question based discussion for ten minutes on the

behavior of the customer care executive. Derive that the key
to handle a call well is to listen to the customer.
Also point out his rude behavior to the participants and how
he got even more rude after the backend guy was rude to
him.
Slide Why listen to the customer?
To learn about the customer

To understand his need
To help him solve his problem
And
To become an effective Customer Care executive
Instructions to Ask for 2 volunteers. Seat them back to back. Ask them to do
Facilitator the following role play. One will act as the customer and the
other will act as a Customer Care Executive. Ask remaining
participants to note down their observations.
Role Play (10 Customer: You are a customer of Airtel. You want to know the
mins.) various ways to receive information services on your cell
phone. You would like to receive news and cricket updates on
your cell phone. But at the same time you dont wish to spend
too much on it. You call up Airtel Customer Care.
Customer Care Executive: You have received this call.

Handle it.
1. What process was taking place in this activity?

2. Can you identify the steps in this process?
47
Discussion Points Did the Customer care executive interpret the query properly?
Did he respond to it well?
Instructions to Show the following slide to show the steps in the listening
Facilitator process.
Slide Listening Process
Receiving
Tip: Tune out distractions and focus on registering the message.
Interpreting
Tip: Be open to the possibility that the speaker's frame of reference
could be different from yours.
Remembering
Tip: Identify central ideas and create a mental outline of key points.
Evaluating
Tip: Resist evaluation till you comprehend the message.
Tip: Distinguish facts from inferences or opinions.
Tip: Identify biases or prejudices.
Responding
When the speaker is talking
Tip: Use back-channeling cues.
When the speaker has finished talking
Tip: Use more elaborate responses.
48
Facilitator
Caselet (5 mins.) Sumit is working with a financial services company. He is a

part of the marketing team. He has to attend weekly review
meetings with his supervisor. The purpose of these meetings
is to take a load of where the team is going and their future
action plans. Sumit does not like to be a part of these
meetings and as a result is generally quiet during the
meetings.
His other team member, Abha on the other hand is a very

attentive person. She always likes to ask a lot of questions.
She also asks for feedback proactively.
Due to his attitude Sumit often misses out on important inputs

given by his supervisor and has to repeatedly go back to
Abha to clarify his doubts.
Do you identify a difference between the listening styles of

Sumit and Abha?
Instructions to Yes, there is an important difference between the listening

Facilitator styles of Sumit and Abha. Sumit has a passive listening style
while Abha has an active listening style.
Slide Listening Styles
Passive vs. Active listening
Slide Passive listening
A non-participatory style of listening where the listener does

not talk directly to the speaker.
Slide Active listening
Sending back to the speaker what you think the speaker

meant, literally as well as emotionally.
Instructions to Ask participants to recall the graph showed earlier. Tell them
Facilitator that if we spend so much of our time listening we must listen
effectively. To understand how to be an effective listener we
first need to understand various types of listening that people
49
practice.
Instructions to Ask participants to recall the exercise in the beginning of the

Facilitator listening module. When the As did not listen to the Bs what
listening style were they practicing?
Tell them that they were literally ignoring the speaker. Now
say that normally we do not ignore people who speak to us.
We do something even more dangerous by pretending to
listen or by listening selectively. This can give a wrong signal
to the speaker that we have understood his message while in
reality we have not. Such a situation can only ruin
relationships.
That is why we should endeavor to take our listening style to

the higher levels.
Slide Levels of Listening
Passive styles
Ignoring
Pretending
Selective
Active Styles
Attentive
Empathic
Slide Levels of Listening
Passive styles
Ignoring not paying any attention to the speaker.
Pretending pretending to listen but not really listening.
Selective listening only what we want to listen.
Discussion Points 1. Which listening style is more effective?

2. How can you practice an effective listening style?
50
Instructions to Say that as a Customer Care Executive they cannot afford to
Facilitator practice the passive styles of listening. An active listening
style is more effective as it enables you to understand the
other person better. Thus it leads to a meaningful dialogue.
One can become an active listener by practicing various

active listening techniques.
Slide Benefits of Active listening
By listening actively, you can:
Verify a message
Express acceptance
Prompt the speaker
Instructions to Verify a message

Facilitator You should listen actively to check how well youve
understood what the speaker really meant. When you
reflect back what you perceive of the speakers message,
you give the speaker a chance to affirm, clarify, or amend
your perceptions.
Express acceptance
When you listen actively, you identify and accept the
speakers feelings without challenging them. By not
denying or dismissing these feelings, you provide the
support and empathy that the speaker needs.
Prompt the speaker

By listening actively, you prompt the speaker to explore his or
her thoughts or feelings further. In this way, you give the
speaker a chance to explore and elaborate on his or her
feelings without having to defend them. Active listening can
promote meaningful dialogue, where there is mutual
understanding between the speaker and the listener. This
encourages the speaker to resolve his or her own conflicts.
Slide Active listening techniques
Reflecting
Encouraging
Summarizing
51
Clarifying
Validating

Facilitator
Individual Exercise Read the statements below and identify what the Call center
(15 mins.) Executive is trying to do.
1. Sir, You seem very upset.
2. Can you tell me more?
3. When did this problem start happening?
4. This seems to be the problem you have expressed.
5. I truly appreciate your willingness to resolve this
matter.
Instructions to The correct answers are:

Facilitator 1. Reflecting
2. Encouraging
3. Clarifying
4. Summarizing
5. Validating
Derive that in the above examples the Call center executive is
using various Active listening techniques to understand the
customer better.
Summarize the Active listening techniques using the following

slides.
Slide Reflecting
Purpose
To show that you understand how the person feels.
Action
Reflects the speakers basic feelings.
Slide Encouraging
Purpose
To convey interest.
To encourage the other person to keep talking.
Action
Dont agree or disagree.
Use neutral words.
Use varying voice intonations.
52
Slide Summarizing
Purpose
To review progress.
To pull together important ideas and facts.
To establish a basis for further discussion.
Action
Restate major ideas expressed, including feelings.
Slide Clarifying
Purpose
To help you clarify what is said.
To get more information.
To help the speaker see other points of view.
Action
Ask questions.
Restate wrong interpretation to force the speaker to explain
further.
Take ownership to solve the problem.
Slide Validating
Purpose
To acknowledge the worthiness of the other person.
Action
Acknowledge the value of their issues and feelings.
Show appreciation for their efforts and actions.
Instructions to Tell participants that they are going to practice these active
Facilitator listening styles through the role-play. Ask for two volunteers.
One will act as a customer and the other will act as a
Customer Care Executive. Ask other participants to note
down their observations.
Role-play (10 Customer: You have been a customer of Airtel for a long time.
mins.) You used a prepaid connection earlier but for the past two
years you have been using a postpaid connection. For the
last month, you did not receive your bill due to which you
could not pay the bill. You called up Airtel Customer Care but
nothing happened. Now your connection has been
discontinued because of non-payment of bill. You call up
again.
53
Customer Care Executive: You have received a call from a
Discussion Points 1. Did the Customer Care Executive use any active
listening techniques to understand the situation of the
customer?
2. Could the call have been handled in a better way?

Would you suggest use of any active listening
techniques?
Instructions to Tell participants that active listening techniques are useful but
Facilitator they cannot help you if you dont really want to understand the
person. This brings us to the highest level of listening that is
empathic listening.
To influence a customer positively, you first need to

understand him. Most people do not listen with the intent to
understand they listen with the intent to reply.
Slide Empathic Listening
Listening with intent to understand.

Seeing the world from the reference of the speaker.
Listening for meaning as well as feeling.
Instructions to Ask participants the meaning of the word empathy. After

Facilitator discussing it say that in order to show the customer your
willingness to understand him, you have to practice giving
empathic responses.
Slide What does Empathy mean?
The word comes from two Greek words em

meaning in and pathos meaning feeling.
Empathy means seeing things from others point of
view.
It does not necessarily mean that we agree but that
we understand the other persons point of view.
54
Slide Empathic Responses
We can respond to another persons experience either

with judgment or with empathy.
To respond empathically, we need to suspend
judgments.
By choosing empathy, we show that we are really
listening.
- I understand
- I see your point.
- I appreciate your concern.
If the customer is angry,

What is the customer angry about?
What is bothering the customer?
Is this situation been there for a while or is it a new
one?
How can you solve the problem?
If the customer is hurt,

What situation has caused the customer to end up
being hurt?
Is he angry or is he upset?
What needs of the customer are not being met?
How can you make him feel better?
Instructions to Divide participants into 4 groups and ask each group to write
Facilitator at least 5 characteristics of a Good Listener. Give them about
15 minutes for this activity. Remind them that you want only
characteristics that can be displayed over the phone. For e.g
If they say patience it is a quality that is desired and a good
listener has but how will it be displayed. It will be displayed
by not interrupting the customer. So instead of writing
Patience in their workbooks they should write Not interrupt
the customer.
Once they have written ask each group to share with the
class what they have written. If any group has missed any
point ask them to write it in their individual workbooks.
55
Exercise (15 mins.) Write down at least five characteristics of a good listener.
These characteristics have to be in the form of a displayed
behavior.
Instructions to Tell them that our active listening style has to translate into
Facilitator displayed behavior. If you are listening to help the customer
he needs to perceive it as such.
Instructions to Ask participants to read the following caselets and respond to

Facilitator the following questions.
Caselets (10 mins.) Shweta is a housewife. She visits the neighborhood grocery
shop regularly to buy her household requirements. She likes
to go to the same grocery shop because the owner
recognizes her and she also gets good discounts on her
purchase.
Nancy is a high-flying career woman. Her time schedule being

very tight, she relies on her servants for regular shopping.
Whenever she goes to the market for personal shopping, she
expects a quick job and hates having a sales person on her
back all the time.
Rahul is a rich businessman. Whenever he goes out he only

likes to go to the best places. Be it shopping or dining in an
expensive restaurant, he likes it that people recognize him at
once. He expects nothing short of a princely treatment from
the salespeople.
Answer the following questions for each of the situations.
1. Identify the various needs of the customer.

2. Can you make a distinction between the needs of
different customers or different needs of the same
customer?
Instructions to Facilitate a discussion. Derive that the needs of all customers

Facilitator can be classified into emotional and material needs. At all
times every customer experiences both types of needs.
Although the degree of needs may vary. Refer to the following
for deriving the same.
In the case of the first customer Shweta, it is very clear that
56
she has a material need of getting a good bargain. But she
also has an emotional need, which is recognition of being a
regular customer and hence getting special treatment.
In the case of Nancy there is more of a material need of
getting her work done on time. But if one digs deeper she also
has an emotional need, which is being independent.
The third customer, Rahul has a high emotional need. He

wants prompt attention and preferential treatment. But he also
has a material need which his quality.
After this discussion tell participants that the same applies to

a call center customer also. He also has both material and
emotional needs and as a Customer Care Executive it is your
duty to identify and fulfil these needs.

Facilitator
Exercise (15 mins.) You have to take your girlfriend/boyfriend on a date. You take
him/her to a restaurant. You have been visiting this restaurant
but today is special. What are your needs? Classify your
needs into material and emotional needs.
Instructions to Discuss the answers and ensure that the participants

Facilitator understand the difference between material and emotional
needs.
Slide What Customers Want?
Emotional Needs
Listen and understand.

Prompt Attention
Respect
Polite response
Preferential Treatment
Slide What Customers Want?
Material Needs
Accurate Information
57
Commitment to solve problems
Quick resolution of problem
Performance as per claim
Occasional Concessions
Discussion Points There is no doubt that to keep a customer satisfied you have
to meet both their material and emotional needs. However to
do that you first need to correctly identify these needs.
How can you identify the needs of the customers?
Instructions to Customer needs can be identified by asking questions. Asking

Facilitator questions helps to probe into the situation of the customer
and thus identify his needs.
Show them the following slide to explain what is probing.
Slide Probing
Probing is a technique of questioning to discover what a

person needs, wants and his opinion about a certain issue.
Slide Probing
The skill of asking relevant and meaningful questions.

Helps in uncovering and developing customer needs.
Helps change tracks in a discussion.
Makes the other person think.
Helps find a solution to the customers problem.
Discussion Points Probing involves asking questions. Is asking questions all that
it takes to discover the needs of the customer?
Instructions to Facilitate a discussion. A customer may not be responsive to

Facilitator all your questions. The key is to ask the right type of
questions.
Slide Asking the right question?
58
How, When, Where to ask questions?
Slide Two types of Probes

Open-ended questions
Close-ended questions
Slide Open-ended questions
They are used to gather information about the customer and

what is there in his mind before you introduce your solution to
his problems.
Slide Close-ended questions
These questions are used for narrowing down the choices of

the customer to Yes or No.
Instructions to Ask participants to do the following exercise. The objective of

Facilitator this exercise is: (a) to derive two types of probes open and
closed & (b) establish the utility of open probes. The solution
of the exercise follows the riddle. You will read out the riddle
to the class and ask participants to use questions to identify
the missing links in the story and build the complete story. You
will however provide answers only by saying Yes or No or
by giving very limited answers. Carry out this exercise for
around 10 minutes. The solution may not be arrived at. The
intention of this exercise is to derive what is probing and how
it can be used. Through QBD, check from the participants
what kind of questions they have used (they would have
essentially used closed probes) and if open probes and their
answers were allowed, would it have made the job of fact-
finding that much easier.
Spend about 20 minutes on the exercise.
Exercise: Build the There is a room. In the room is a bed. On the bed is a man
Story (his name is John). Under the bed is a small pile of sawdust.
On the floor by the side of the bed is a piece of wood, ninety-
nine and a half centimeters long. The door opens and another
man (his name is Mack) comes in. He looks around the room,
smiles to himself and walks out.
Instructions to SOLUTION TO Build the Story

Facilitator
The man on the bed (John) is dead.
Before his death he was the star of a circus, billed as the
59
shortest man in the world. He was exactly one meter tall. He
had a meter long stick (not a graduated meter rule) in his
room against which he measured himself on ceremonial
occasions.
The second man (Mack), also a dwarf, persuaded him (John)

that he (John) had grown by half a centimeter, so that he
himself (Mack) was now the shortest man, measuring 1.0025
meters (or 100.25cm). While the first man (John) was absent
from his room, the second man (Mack) sawed half a
centimeter off the stick and hid the sawdust.
When the first man (John) checked his height and found that
he had apparently grown half a centimetre, he committed
suicide because his supreme place in the worlds circus
community had seemingly been lost to his hated rival.
60
Customer Care (7 Hours)
Instructions to Tell participants that they have understood that you have to
Facilitator satisfy the needs of the customers. This can be done by using
open and closed probing effectively. These facts also
establish the fact that all customers are different.
Sometimes the needs of a customer might not be met and he

might get upset or angry about it. It may be easy to term such
a customer as difficult. But a better approach is to look at
each customer as a unique individual with unique needs. This
will help you understand the best way to deal with each kind
of customer.
Show them the following slide.
Slide
Customers are not difficultjust different

Facilitator
Caselet (10 mins.) Raj got a cell phone as a gift on his 17th birthday. He knew the
basic operations of a cell phone. He has also heard of GPRS
but doesnt know how he can avail of this service. He is
enthusiastic about his new possession and calls up Airtel
Customer Care to find out more about their offerings.
1. What is different about this customer?

2. How should a customer care executive handle this
customer?
Instructions to 1. Raj is a new customer. He is not aware of all the

Facilitator benefits and applications of a cell phone.
2. This kind of customer needs a lot of support and
guidance. He can be quite inquisitive and needs to be
dealt with patience. The key point to remember is that he
is impressionable and this is an opportunity to establish a
positive image of the company in his eyes by providing
excellent service.
61
Slide
New Customer
A new subscriber of Airtel or is using a cell phone

for the first time.
Slide
Existing Customer
Someone who has been using Airtel connection.
Slide Expected Calls
New Customer Existing Customer
First time bill Billing issues

issues Change of Bill
Handset Issues plans
Subscription Network
Status New services
Network Problems (Eg. GPRS, WAP
Information on etc.)
services like VAS, Service
Roaming Requests
Charges of
62
Discussion Points Think of your own experience as a customer.
What are your expectations when you go to a shop for

the first time?
Now think from the point of view of an Airtel customer.
How do the needs of a new customer differ from those

of an existing customer?
Do they need to be handled differently?
Instructions to Facilitate a discussion.

Facilitator
Derive that customer expectations change dramatically when
they go to a shop for the first time. In fact the first few visits
decide whether the customer will return to the same shop or
not.
Now play the following prerecorded calls one by one

- 9810043162.wav (existing customer)
- 9810089325.wav (new customer)
Ask participants to note their observations.
Once both the calls are played, ask participants the difference
they noted in the two customers.
Facilitate a question based discussion on the behavior of the

customer care executives. Discuss how the two different
types of customers were handled. For example a new
customer does not know about the various services that are
available. He needs to be told about it in detail and with
patience. If he does not receive good service at this stage he
is likely to form a negative impression about the company and
will become a dissatisfied customer.
Similarly an existing customer is likely to have specific

queries. He will already be having a certain impression about
the company. The need is to reinforce the positive image or to
change the negative impression through excellent service.
This is important for customer retention.
Thus new and existing customers need to be handled

differently.
63
Slide How to handle New customers?
Provide Support
Provide guidance
Build Trust
Deal with patience
Slide How to handle Existing customers?
Listen and understand them

Provide immediate solutions
Give recognition
Give a preferential treatment but justify it.
Instructions to Ask for two volunteers. Seat them back to back. Ask them to
Facilitator do the following role play. One will act as a customer and the
other will act as a customer care executive. Ask remaining
participants to note down their observations.
Role Play (10 Customer: You are Ravi. You are a 15 years old boy who is a
mins.) customer of Airtel. You are very enthusiastic about your
possession and call up the Customer Care often to find out
about new offers. Whenever you call you start talking about
how other operators are offering this scheme or that plan.
Basically you want to know if Airtel is also offering any such
schemes and if not then why.
Customer Care Executive: You have received a call from this

Instructions to It is important that you dont be rude to such customers. You

Facilitator have to respond back in a friendly way but at the same time
realizing that there are other customers waiting, you also
have to keep in mind to mange your time with such
customers.
You can offer different sources of information to such
customers such as Airtels website.
64
Slide Dealing with Talkative Customers
Respond in a friendly manner.

Try to focus on the problem.
Offer other sources of information like Airtels website.
Discussion Points Customers are better informed and better educated today
than they were before. Also mobile telephony is a rage and
many customers would like to know more about it. As a result
many customers are well aware of the uses, benefits and
limitations of the products and services offered by the mobile
industry.
1. Will this kind of customer ever call in a Customer Care

Center?
2. What should be your approach towards this customer?
Instructions to Have a discussion for about ten minutes.

Facilitator
1. Yes, he may be having specific queries about your
products or services.
2. You should acknowledge the expertise of this
customer and be specific and direct with him.
Slide The Tech-Savvy Customer
Knows a lot about your product or service.
Slide Dealing with The Tech-Savvy Customer
Appreciate and respect his knowledge.

Understand the customer.
Do not bluff.

Facilitator
Scenario Based Sanjeev: A Customer Care Executive working for Airtel.

Discussion (10 Om Puri: A customer who has bought a GPRS handset and
mins.) wants to enable GPRS on the handset.
65
Om Puri: Hello, I want to talk to someone who can help me
out.
Sanjeev: Good afternoon Sir, How may I help you?
Om Puri: I want to activate GPRS on my handset.
Sanjeev: Sir, it is a simple process. Please follow these steps.

(He starts giving the instructions.)
Om Puri (tries to follow the steps for a while, then gives up): I
think I should ask my son to do this for me when he comes
back from the office. I am unable to do it myself.
Sanjeev: Sir, it is very simple. Let us start again. I am here to

help you. You will be able to do it.
(This time he goes a bit slowly and checks after each step if
the customer is following.)
Om Puri (Appreciates the concern shown and follows the

process again.): Yes, I have completed the last step.
Sanjeev: Good Mr. Om. That was a very good job done by
you. Incase you have any other problems please feel free to
contact us.
Om Puri: Thanks a lot Sanjeev. That was very helpful of you.

Bye.
Respond to the following questions.
1. What is the impression Om will have about this

company?
2. Will Om recommend this product to others?
3. Comment on Sanjeevs Customer service.
Instructions to 1. Om will have a positive impression about his company

Facilitator as it helped him resolve his problem.
2. Yes, Om is likely to recommend this company to

others because of his positive experience.
3. Sanjeev has shown empathy and passion in helping

the customer. He understood the situation of the
customer and also displayed his passion to help
customers by encouraging the customer even when the
66
customer was not very confident that he would be able to
do it himself.
Slide The non-Tech Savvy Customer
Has trouble understanding technical concepts and finds it

difficult to take instructions.
Slide Dealing with the non-Tech Savvy Customer
Dont be cynical.
Show concern.
Be patient.
Use clear and precise words.
Dont use one-upmanship.
Help him genuinely.

Facilitator
Individual Think of an achievement in your life.

Exercise: Deal With
It Respond to the following questions:
(5 mins.) 1. What were the facilitators?
2. What were the barriers to your goals?
3. How did you deal with the barriers?
4. What was your overall feeling when you overcame the
barriers?
Note: These questions are not for discussion with the group.
Instructions to Say:
Facilitator
You must have had various facilitators for your achievements
such as your parents, teachers, our personal qualities etc. At
the same time you would have faced various barriers within
you and in the environment.
Facilitate a discussion on how the above applies to a

company that wants to excel in its business. Derive that angry
customers are a reality that is a barrier for a company in
achieving its goal. Thus they need to be handled
67
appropriately.
Discussion Points What can be the reasons for a customer to be angry?
Instructions to A customer can be angry because his needs and

Facilitator expectations are not met.
Slide
Angry Customer
A customer whose material or emotional needs

are not satisfied.

Facilitator
Caselet (5 mins.) This is perhaps one way to deal with an angry customer!
So the story goes a crowded United Airlines flight was

cancelled.
A single agent was rebooking a long line of inconvenienced
travellers. Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to
the desk. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said,
"I HAVE to be on this flight and it has to be FIRST CLASS."
The agent replied, "I'm sorry sir. I'll be happy to try to help
you, but I've got to help the passengers in front of you first,
and but if you are patient I'm sure will be able to help you".
The passenger was unimpressed and asked loudly, so that

the passengers behind him could hear; "Do you have any
idea who I am?"
Without hesitating, the gate agent smiled and grabbed her

public address microphone.
"May I have your attention please?" she began, her voice
68
bellowing through the terminal. "We have a passenger here at
the gate WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can
help him find his identity, please come to the gate."
With the crowd of passengers laughing hysterically, the man

glared at the United Airlines agent, gritted his teeth and swore
"(Expletive) you."
Without flinching, she smiled and said, "I'm sorry, sir, but you'll
have to stand in line for that, too."
Instructions to Tell participants that this was perhaps not the best way of
Facilitator dealing with an angry customer, but it illustrates a quickness
of thought often essential in dealing with angry customers.
Let us now look at a video that depicts how angry customers

should be handled.
Show them the following slides.
Slide Video Angry Customers
Instructions to Ask the participants to note down their learnings from the
Facilitator video. Then ask them the following questions.
1. What makes the customer angry?

2. How can you deal with angry customers?
Discuss the various answers provided by the participants.

Note them down on a flipchart. Then share the following slide
with them.
Slide Handling Angry Customers
Listen to the customer.

Respect his feelings.
Do not interrupt.
Render an apology if it is a genuine concern but dont
overdo it.
If misunderstanding, clarify your position calmly.
Remain polite and calm and avid getting into an attack
or defend situation at all costs.
Address feeling first and then the problem.
Focus on a solution.
69
70
Slide Handling of Customers
Type of Caller What does he do? What will you do?

Assertive / Talks a lot Stay Objective
Demanding Wants immediate Action Listen and Relate.
Thinks he knows all Propose an action plan
Passive Caller Sounds uninterested Never take them for granted
No criticism,no compliment Needs a little prompting, be
May churn anytime without relationship oriented
notice Ask about the level of service
Irate caller Angry and Disappointed. Let Customer blow off steam
Hostile in Speech. Avoid his emotion, understand the
Needs a reason to attack you concern.
and Company. Accept responsibility & Show your
urgency in solving his concern
Talkative Caller Talks unnecessarily. Use back on track technique
Is ambivalent. Ask closed questions
Has a tendency to deviate Provide to the point response.
from sub.
Abusive Caller Uses Abusive Language. Stay Cool and calm
Has decided to behave this Dont take insults personally.
way. Shift focus from what has happened
Wants a confrontation.Is very to in the past to present.
disillusioned If continues, inform . Disconnect

Facilitator
Individual Exercise Think of a situation when someone was really angry with you.
(10 mins.)
How do you respond to anger?
Angry Defensive Reaction
Avoidance Reaction
What is the impact of your behavior on the angry person?
Note: These questions are not for discussion with the group.
Instructions to Tell participants that they must be having their own way of
Facilitator responding to anger. This could be effective or ineffective.
The key thing to change your ineffective behavior is to
understand your emotional position behind it.
Slide Emotional Positions
71
Dictate how you react to any situation.
EP # 1
I will act the way I feel!
EP # 2
Youre going to act the way I feel
EP # 3
I cant help the way I feel, but I can help the way I think and
act.
Instructions to Explain the above slide using the following explanation.

Facilitator
1. I will act the way I feel! (Emotional PositionEP #1)
This is what you tell yourself when your emotions are in
control. You learned this reaction very early in life. It was the
way you acted when you were a child. You acted the way you
felt. You felt angry so you threw your toy away.
As many as 15,000 Nos and Cants were told to your mind
when you were a child. You were told to go to your room,
were punished, and restricted. You couldnt help ending up
with some feelings of inferiority. You were dominated by
adults who were twice as tall as you. In relations with others
you felt frustrated, inferior, shy, and often fearful. You faced
many of your growing up situations by crying, running, or
acting difficult. You met most of your encounters without
reason, logic, or maturity.
There are parts of your early programming that were however
positiveyour curiosity, laughter, enjoyment of simple things,
creativity, imagination, and interest in adventure are examples
of positive childhood programming.
When you are acting the way you feel it could be positive or
negative. Your objective should be to strengthen the positive
and re-programme the negative.
2. YOURE going to act the way I feel (Emotional

PositionEP #2)
This is the second emotional position you often use to face
situations. It is believed you acquired this programming from
the authority influences in your life, particularly your parents.
You learned you must relate to the feelings of your parents.
You were told to act a certain way, do things that you couldnt
understand for no reason other than your parents felt that
you should behave that way. You sometimes asked, Why?
and got the response, Because I said so, thats why!
So now that you have grown up you scold the dog, yell at the
72
customers, criticize your spouse, scold your children and
bang the door to make people do what you want them to do.
3. I cant help the way I feel, but I can help the way I
think and act. (Emotional PositionEP #3)
This is the third position that you can use in reacting to

situations facing you. You learn to use maturity, judgement,
logic, and reasoning, not being impulsive, in the
management of yourself and any situation.
You are fully aware of the pitfalls (disadvantages) of your

early programming, you cannot help the way you feel. You
realize there is nothing intelligent about any emotions
anger, impatience, frustration, jealousy, selfishness, anxiety,
and tension. They are simply emotions that you experience.
You cant help it that they appear from time to time. But you
tell yourself that your emotions will not control your thoughts
and actions. You will control them.
This sort of discipline will eventually put you in complete

control of your emotions and enable you determine (define)
exactly the kind of person you want to be.
Ask participants to do the following exercise.
Individual Circle the emotional position you would adopt in the following
Exercise: Taking situations. Then, discuss how you would turn the situation into
Charge of Your EP #3.
Emotions
(15 mins.) You have brought some work home to do in the evening.
Instead of starting it right after dinner, you decide to watch TV
for 1/2 hour. After you do that, theres another program that
you want to see so you say to yourself, Oh, ho. I think Ill
watch TV tonight and do that work tomorrow night.
What emotional position are you assuming? EP#1 or EP#2
How could you turn this into EP #3?
Instructions to Discuss that while dealing with people we ourselves chose

Facilitator our effectiveness or ineffectiveness by opting to operate from
one of these emotional positions. Derive that while dealing
with a customer also we need to adopt the most effective
position i.e. EP #3 because this position lets us be in the
control of the situation and take a proactive approach.
73
Using EP #3 we can reduce our circle of concern by
increasing our circle of influence.
Slide Reactive Focus
Circle of Concern
Circle of
Influence
Slide Reactive Focus
Reactive people focus on the circle of concern thereby

reducing their circle of influence.
Such attitude can make you lose your customers.
By determining which of these circles the focus of our
time and energy is, we can discover the degree of our
proactivity.
74
Slide Proactive Focus
Circle of Concern
Circle of
Influence
Slide Proactive Focus
Proactive people focus their efforts in the circle of

influence thereby expanding the circle of influence.
Proactive initiative is necessary to effect positive
change.
Ideal behavior to meet the stated and unstated needs
of the customer.
Slide
Integrate yourself with the workplace
Instructions to Circle of concern and circle of influence

Facilitator
Each one of us have a wide range of concerns our health,
our children, problems at work, the national debt, nuclear
war, Indo-Pak relations, the list can go on and on.
In certain problems, though we may be emotionally involved,

we may not have control over these problems. Such
concerns are referred to as the Circle of Concerns.
However, there are some concerns that we can act upon.
These are referred to as Circle of Influence.
To be effective, you must focus your efforts in the Circle of

Influence. You need to work around things where you can
bring in a change. The nature of such energy is positive,
75
enlarging and magnifying. It will also help you to expand the
Circle of Influence.
On the other hand, if you concentrate on Circle of Concern, it

results in negative energy. Such people focus on problems in
the situations, products, people, organizational policies etc.
The focus results in blaming and accusing. The negative
energy generated by that focus, combined with neglect in
areas they could do something about, causes the Circle of
Influence to shrink.
Instructions to Tell the participants: The three emotional positions can also
Facilitator be classified as the three ego states. These are shown in the
following slides.
Share the following slides with the participants.
Slide Transactional Analysis
What is Transactional Analysis?
Transactional Analysis (TA) is a psychological tool developed

by Eric Berne, which provides an understanding of how
people react and relate to each other.
Slide Key Idea in Transactional Analysis
EGO STATES
TA recognizes that people operate from different
Psychological positions or EGO STATES.
At any point in time, one particular ego state dominates an
individual and his actions are dependent on that ego state.
Slide Ego States
There are three different of ego states:
Parent Ego State

Adult Ego State
Child Ego State
76
Slide Parent Ego State
When this ego state is in control, people are

protective, controlling, nurturing, critical or instructive.
Interactions in business would tend to revolve around

policies, rules and standard procedures.
Example; Procedures do not permit me to accept your

offer directly.
Slide Adult Ego State
The person will depict rational, calculated, factual and

unemotional behavior.
Example : Confirm in writing , your sales of 20 photocopiers,

and above, to large organizations
and
Only based on quality assurance reports of a reputed Test
House, can I confirm your order.
Slide Child Ego State
These are a reflection of the emotions developed in

response to childhood experiences.
These responses will be spontaneous, dependent,

creative or rebellious.
Expect in your transaction, need for approval and

immediate rewards which would carry an emotional
tone.
Example : Why are you always giving these documents to
me.
and
There is so much work here and still nothing ever happens.
77
Slide Transactions
A stimulus sent from a particular Person A Person B

ego state of the sender (Person A)
and the corresponding response P P
S
from a particular ego state of the
receiver (Person B) completes a
A R A
transaction or interaction between A
S =stimulus and B
P=Parent Ego
State C C
R= response A=Adult Ego
State
C=Child Ego State
Slide Types of Transactions
Complementary or Parallel Transactions
The ego states of sender and the receiver in a transaction are

simply reversed in the response. In this transaction, the same
ego states respond to each other, receiver to sender and vice
versa i.e. adult to adult or parent to child and then child to
parent.
Complementary or Parallel Transactions
P, A and C denotes the Parent, Adult and Child ego states

respectively.S denotes the Stimulus and R denotes the response
I want all P
S
the P
Yes
reports
A A Ron.
today
R
C
C
78
Non - Complementary or Crossed Transactions
When the ego states of the sender/receiver are crossed in the

response or are non parallel to each other, a non-
complementary or crossed transaction may result. In this, the
ego states do not respond to each other. Hence if the sender
sends the stimulus from his parent ego state to the receivers
child ego state and the receiver responds from his parent ego
state to the senders child ego state, then a non-
complimentary transaction takes place.
Non - Complementary or Crossed Transactions
P, A and C denotes the Parent, Adult and Child ego states

respectively denotes the Stimulus and R denotes the response
This is P
S I will
most P do it
importa
when I
nt. Do it A A think
now!!
R its
import
C ant.
C
Instructions to Ask participants to read the following scenario and respond to

Facilitator the questions that follow.
Scenario Vineet an Airtel customer requested for national roaming

activation when he was going on a trip with his family.
However when he reached there he could not make or
receive any calls. He was quite angry, as his service was not
activated despite paying up the deposit. He tried calling the
customer care but to no avail. After coming back to his home
he called up Airtel customer care again. The call center
executive duly apologized and even agreed to return his
deposit.
When Vineet received his monthly bill he was shocked to find

that he has been charged for multiple roaming calls when he
had not even made one call. This time he is angry beyond
words. He calls up Airtel customer care and says, I want to
disconnect now.
79
How would you respond to this customer?
Instructions to Tell participants that there can be many responses to a

Facilitator stimulus. For example in this case, one call center executive
might become defensive and say that this problem is not his
fault but it is handled by another department. Another may
take a reactive approach and apologize profusely. However
the need is to take a stock of situation and choose your
response on the basis of what you can do to solve the
situation.
Derive that our responses reflect how reactive or proactive we

are. It is important to listen to our own inner language and
make a conscious effort to make it more proactive.
Slide Listening to our Inner Voice
Always learn to be proactive while listening to your inner

voice. The inner voice reflects on our emotional states and
therefore on most occasions we react the way our inner voice
wants us to.
Slide
Lets look at
the
alternatives.
Slide
I control
my own
feelings.
80
Slide
I can
choose a
different
approach.

Facilitator
Caselet (5 mins.) On a certain Airlines flight a stewardess accidentally spilled

coffee on a passengers shirt. The passenger got very angry,
as he was to attend a meeting as soon as the flight landed
and he was not carrying any luggage.
When the flight landed the passenger got off the plane and
was moving towards the exit cursing the Airline and its staff
and swearing never to fly on this Airline again.
He was met with a pleasant surprise when he found

representatives from the Airline holding five brand new shirts
of different shades of blue (the color of the shirt he was
wearing). And all these shirts were his for free. The
representatives said that this was an apology for the trouble
caused to him.
He was deeply touched by the gesture as the company went

the extra mile to get him out of his difficult situation.
Instructions to Tell participants that the above caselet is an example of how

Facilitator companies can turn complaints into opportunities to show
your customers how much you care.
Tell participants to read the following caselet.
Caselet (5 mins.) Gaurav bought a video camera from a major high street
retailer a couple of months ago. Now the camera bag is
splitting and he wants to return it. The manager says he cant
help it because the bag is not covered under the guarantee.
He says he has to travel a lot and he needs the bag for

protection. The manager says it is not my problem and
refuses to help the customer in any way.
81
1. Was the manger right in telling the customer that he
cannot replace the bag?
2. What could have been done differently to avoid

upsetting the customer?
Instructions to 1. Probably yes, since the bag wasnt covered by the

Facilitator guarantee the manager only said the truth when he told
this to the customer.
2. Instead of saying it is not my problem, the manager

could have helped the customer look for a new bag and if
possible helped him get a discount.
Instructions to Play the pre-recorded call 9810131448.wav. Ask participants

Facilitator to discuss their observations about the call.
Tell them that to maintain the productivity of the calls is their

responsibility. They are also expected to close the call in a
specified time to maintain this productivity. Hence they need
to gauge whether they will be able to handle a call or not. If
necessary they should escalate the call to the supervisor.
Also say that keeping customers satisfied by resolving their

concerns is the job of a customer care executive. So it should
not happen that the moment an angry customer calls he
escalates the call. He has to maintain a fine balance in his
judgement regarding escalating the call.
Slide Call Escalation
1. Handling customers is your responsibility.
2. Call Escalation to be done only when,

You feel that you cannot handle it.
It is important for the customers satisfaction.
82
Slide Customers Complaints: Problem or Opportunity
Studies show that one of four customers will be unhappy in

some way; 4% will complain, 96% will go elsewhere.
Customers are walking billboards.
Complaints are an opportunity to

Show them how much you care.
Bring about improvements in service.
Discussion Points What if the customer does not want to listen? I can only give
an apology and provide service recovery. What if the
customer refuses to accept it?
Instructions to Tell participants that service recovery is the basic thing you
Facilitator have to provide to the customer in case the customer has
suffered because of the company.
Now show the following video to the participants.
Slide Video Solving Problems
Discussion Point What is the one major learning that you have derived from the
video?
Instructions to Generate a discussion based on the various answers

Facilitator provided by the participants.
It is important to go that extra mile to help customers and
bring about satisfactory resolution of their problems. It goes
one step beyond service recovery and seeks to provide
customer delight through its three-step approach to customer
service.
83
Slide How Airtel Empowers you?
Apology and Accountability
Make it Right
WOW Factor.
Slide Customer Obsession- Our Approach
Step 1
Apology & accountability
Apologize and take accountability
I apologize sincerely for not meeting your
needs and I will do anything I need to to
make it right to your complete satisfaction
Step 2
Make it right
Probe and explore to find what making it right
means for him.
The attitude is -
Online waiver- no problem
Online VAS activation no problem
Online resolution to be provided to Customer.
Step 3
WOW factor
After apologizing & taking full accountability for
customers problem, the only thing left to do is
WOW THE CUSTOMER

Use effective service recovery intervention to
convert a negative experience into a wonderful
very positive and unexpected WOW
experience, if necessary, by offering free
goodies/Services to the customer.
84
Instructions to Ask for two volunteers from the participants. Seat them back
Facilitator to back. Ask them to do the following role play. Discuss the
observations on the basis of the above three steps.
Role Play (10 Customer Care Executive: You have received this call form a
mins.) customer who seems to be very angry. You know the three
steps of customer service. Use them to handle this customer.
Customer: You are an Airtel customer. You have received he

bill for this month and discovered that a wrong bill plan has
been installed in your account, which has led to an increase in
your bill by Rs. 1500. You are very angry about it and call up
Airtel Call center.
Discussion Points 1. If waivers can correct the situation always, there

should be no problem dealing with angry customers?
2. What if the customer refuses to listen even after
following all the three steps? What should be done in
such a situation?
Instructions to Waivers will not correct the situation, as not all the customers
Facilitator will value them equally.
No doubt or misunderstanding should remain in the minds of

the participants regarding the use of waivers. Waivers are
designed to be an opportunity to WOW the customer. They
cannot be misused neither by the customer nor by the
customer care executive.
Derive that the customer care executive needs to use his soft
skills first to please the customer and only use waivers or
goodies when there is no other option.
Slide Good service to a customer is
Knowing someone wants to help them
Knowing that someone cares
Having a positive experience
Slide Components of Good Customer Care
85
Be pleasant
A warm smile can win a customer.
Be courteous
Show respect to the customer and he will respect
you.
Be helpful
The customer should feel you are there to help him
and not an obstacle.
Show your genuine care for the customer.
Small gestures which give large gains
-e.g. greetings.
Extending small favors, if needed.
Slide Components of Good Customer Care
Empathize with the customer.

Listen actively and attentively.
Test your understanding of customers needs.
Use actions (however small) to demonstrate your
concern.
Update your knowledge for timely resolution.
Understand expectations, before reacting.
Demonstrate sincerity and commitment.
Demonstrate integrity in transactions with
customers.
Discussion Points 1. Do you have the confidence of demonstrating

all the components of good customer care to all kinds of
customers?
2. Do you think dealing with angry customers is

difficult?
Instructions to Tell participants that if their answer to the above questions is

Facilitator yes, then probably they are constrained by mind-binders.
Mind Binders
Our behavior is largely determined by the words we use. If
our thoughts about our abilities and ourselves are negative,
we tend to overlook the positives and the potential that we
have. We actually hypnotize ourselves to behave as we think.
Every word we repeat and believe tends to take a shape of
what we become.
Words that may be having a negative impact on our lives are

called mind binders. They are words that take root and grow
86
into behaviors. Some examples are:
1. I cant remember peoples names.

2. Ill never be a wealthy person.
3. I dont have enough time to handle all the customers
in the queue.
4. I have a poor memory.
5. Im not perfect, so I will have problems with
customers, family and friends.
6. I cant be patient with customers all the time
7. I cant talk politely to my unreasonable customers
8. I cant work as fast as the customer wants me to.
Ask participants to complete the following exercise.
Individual Exercise 1. How many mind binders apply to you?

(15 mins.)
2. What other mind binders are you using? How are they
affecting your life? Your self-confidence? How can mind
binders affect your health? Your success? Your
relationships with others?
3. Mind binders are negative beliefs. What positive

beliefs can you use to eliminate your mind binders?
Instructions to Tell participants that our beliefs are responsible for making us
Facilitator who we are. Thus it is really in our hands what we want to
become.
87
Slide
s one thinking is, such one

becomes.- Hindu Mystic
Instructions to Ask for two volunteers from the participants for each role-
Facilitator play. Seat them back-to-back. One will act as a customer
and the other will act as a customer care executive. Ask
remaining participants to note down their observations.
Role Play Customer Care Executive: You are a Customer Care

Executive working with Airtel. You receive the following calls
during the day. Handle the calls.
Role Play 1
You are an Airtel postpaid customer. You received your bill
this month and discovered that the monthly rental for GPRS
has been charged multiple times amounting to an extra
charge of Rs. 1500. You are furious as it is your due date
and if you dont pay up the bill your calls will be barred. You
call up Airtel Customer Care.
Role Play 2
You are Atul. You are an Airtel postpaid customer. You had
applied for roaming two months back. You were on a
business tour and had gone to various cities. However you
did not use your cell phone for more than a few calls. When
you received your bill, you saw that your roaming bill
amounts to Rs. 5000, which is beyond your imagination.
You are extremely angry and shocked at the same time.
You call up Airtel Customer Care.
Role Play 3
You are an Airtel postpaid customer. You have recently
shifted your home to another locality. You had requested
Airtel to change your billing address well in time. They had
also promised that it would get changed. Yet you did not
receive your bill last month due to which you could not pay.
Your calls were barred because of non-payment. You are
very upset about this and call up Airtel Customer Care. You
88
are even thinking about disconnection.
Instructions to Discuss the observations.

Facilitator
89
Telephone Skills (2 Hours)
Instructions to Tell participants that the peculiarity of their interaction with the
Facilitator customer is that this interaction happens over the phone. To
make this interaction successful it is important for you to learn
telephone-handling skills.
Slide
Effective telephone handling skill presents us with an
opportunity to demonstrate our willingness to help make life
easier for the caller/customer
Discussion Points 1. Why are telephone skills important?

2. What are the challenges you face when you
communicate with a customer over a phone?
Instructions to Facilitate a discussion for about ten minutes.

Facilitator
1. Mastering telephone skills will help you communicate
more effectively with the customers.
2. The biggest challenge that you will face is that there is
no visual contact and hence you have to be extra
conscious of the non-verbal signals you send.
Slide Personal Communication
The power of personal communications lies not so much in

words themselves but in how we communicate those words.
Research shows that:
7 % of a message's impact can be traced to words,
55 % to body language, and
38 % in how we use pitch, tone, amplitude, inflections,

and vocal variety to verbalize our message.
90
Slide Challenges over the Phone
No visual contact, due to which vital non-verbal signals

are lost.
If used/handled improperly it might lead to ineffective

communication.
When handled improperly, it creates a poor impression of

the efficiency of individuals and organizations
- Words are missed,

- Words are misheard,
- Messages are misunderstood.
Instructions to Ask participants to read the following transcript and identify

Facilitator the steps in the call. Allot ten minutes to the participants to
complete it.
Transcript Customer: Hi I am Manish.
Customer Care Executive: Good Morning Manish. How may I

help you?
Customer: I was out of town for the past week due to which I
have not received my bill. Can you tell me my bill amount so
that I can make the payment?
Customer Care Executive: Sure, Manish Let me check this for

you. Please verify your billing address.
Customer: Yes. It is 20, M.G. Road, Delhi.
Customer Care Executive: your Bill is Rs. 2350. I will request

a duplicate copy of your bill. You will receive it soon.
Customer: Thanks.
Customer Care Executive: Your Welcome. Anything else that I

can help you with?
Customer: No. That will be all.
Customer Care Executive: Thank you for calling Airtel.
91
Instructions to Ask participants to write their responses in the workbook. And
Facilitator show them the following slides.
Slide
Becoming Airtels Voice Ambassador
Slide Stages of a Telephone Call
Opening a call
Collecting information
Call processing
Solving the problem
Closing the call
Instruction to Play a pre-recorded call 9810159695.wav. Ask participants to

Facilitator discuss the stages of the call on the basis of this call. Allot ten
minutes for discussion after the call has been played.
Discussion Points 1. What is the first thing you should say when a
customer calls you?
2. Why should you greet the caller properly?
Instruction to 1. When a customer calls you, you have to greet him

Facilitator properly. You should greet him saying Good Morning or
Good Evening according to the time of the day.
2. You should greet the caller at this stage to reassure
the customer that he is interacting with a professional
organization.
92
Slide Opening the call
This is the first step in answering the call.
The customer should feel that he is interacting with a

professional organization.
You should:
Smile and greet the caller.
Ask how you can assist him.
Discussion Points The customer calls me because he has a problem. He will be

anyway talking about it. What is the need for you asking
questions for discovering his need?
Instructions to It is true that the customer will be expressing his need

Facilitator himself. But it is better to take a proactive approach to display
your concern. Often the customer is also not clear of what he
wants. In this case you can use probing to determine his
exact requirement. In fact collecting information is a very
important stage of a call because on the basis of this only you
can help the customer.
Explain through the following slides.
Slide Collecting Information
The purpose is to understand the customers requirement.
The information collected at this stage will help you to handle

the call.
93
Slide Collecting Information-Dos
You should:
Verify the customer before giving account related details.
Listen proactively and focus on the callers needs &

priorities.
Use probes to isolate the main problem.
Maintain an empathetic tone.
Clarify understanding.
Slide Collecting Information-Donts
You should not:
Use Jargons.
Sound indifferent or hurried.
Ask too many questions.
Instructions to Ask participants to read the following transcript and answer

Facilitator the corresponding question.
Transcript Customer: Hi this is Reema.
Customer Care Executive: Good Evening Reema. This is

Manoj. How may I help you?
Customer: I had requested for activation of ISD on my

connection in the morning. I was told that it would be
activated in 4 hours. It has been 6 hours now and I still cannot
make international calls.
Customer Care Executive: Will you be able to hold the line

while I check this for you?
1. Which stage is this telephone call in?
Instructions to Discuss for five minutes.

Facilitator
The call is in the processing stage. The customers
requirement has been determined and now it is being
94
addressed.
Discussion Points Why is Call Processing important?
Instructions to Facilitate a discussion for about ten minutes.

Facilitator
This stage is important because this is the actual stage where
you address the problem of the customer. You should process
calls professionally to ensure resolution.
Slide Call Processing
A skill you need to master.
Steps in call processing

o Call hold
o Call forward/transfer

Facilitator
Caselet (5 mins.) Anand wanted to purchase a fax machine. He called up a

well-known supplier of office equipments. The person who
picked up the phone asked him to wait till he transferred him
to the concerned person. He waited for two minutes before a
voice came on the other end. He again had to repeat his
requirement. The person told him that this is the computer
department and that he will get him transferred to the
concerned department.
This time he again waited for three minutes, only to have the
first person telling him that the person who takes orders for
fax machines is out and can be contacted tomorrow.
Anand was so offended by this treatment that he decided to

buy a fax machine today itself and FROM ANOTHER
SUPPLIER.
What can you identify as the cause of Anands decision?
Instructions to The cause of Anands decision is the lousy treatment given to
95
Facilitator him by the company on the phone. Due to this he decided to
buy from another supplier even though this company was a
famous one and probably sold the best product.
Derive that even if it is required to put the customer on hold, it

should not be for long and it is also essential to take
permission from the customer before asking him to hold. For
example in this case the company representative put him on
hold twice and that too for a long time. Ideally he should have
given taken his number and called him back instead of asking
him to call back tomorrow.
Slide Call Hold
Research shows that when a customer is put on hold for 1

minute he perceives that he has waited for 1 minute but as
this time increase the perception changes as follows:
On Hold for Perceived as

(minutes) (minutes)
2 3
3 5
4 9
5 15
10 30
Slide Call Hold
Provide the customer with an explanation for the hold/wait.

Use statements such as:
I will need to look up that charge on my system. It will
take me about a minute. Would you mind waiting while I
get that information?
I am still working on your request. I will be with you
shortly. This will take about 30 seconds more.
Apologize about the hold.
Thank you for waiting Mr. Sharma. I am really sorry for
the delay.
Mr. Sharma, thank you for your patience. This will take
a minute more. Would you like to wait further or would
you prefer to call back in a few minutes?
Slide Call Hold
96
Use fillers to manage dead air while on hold.
I am looking up your account now.
I am updating your record. Give me 30 seconds more.
Thank you for your patience.
Slide Call Hold-Dos and Donts
Avoid keeping the customer on hold.
Always ask the customer before putting him on hold.
Tell him what you are going to do while you put him on
hold.
If you need to put the customer on hold for a longer

period, come back to say that you are still working on his
request.
Instructions to Ask for two volunteers for the following role play. Ask
Facilitator remaining participants to note their observations.
Role Play Customer: You have been facing a problem with your bill for
the last three months. Every month you have to call to get
your bill and the call center executive tells you that your bill
has been sent. Last month also you accessed your e-bill and
made the payment. This is the fourth time and you feel that no
action has been taken to resolve your problem. You call the
customer care again but this time you will only speak to the
supervisor.
Customer Care Executive: You have received this call. Handle

it.
Instructions to Discuss the observations. Derive that transferring the call

Facilitator should be done appropriately.
Slide Call Transfer
97
Before transferring ensure that the details of your
conversation with the customer are accurately passed
onto your supervisor along with the customers name.
This ensures that the supervisor does not again ask for
that information and irritate the customer.
Also inform your supervisor about the language the
language the customer is using.
Use statements such as, Thank you for waiting Mr.
Sharma. I will have you connected to my supervisor
Raman Kapoor. Have a nice day.
Never disconnect till the call transfer has taken place.
Slide Call Transfer-Dos and Donts
Get the correct name of the person who is calling in and

the person whom he/she wishes to talk to.
Politely ask the person to hold on.
If the persons line is busy inform the caller. Do not put on
hold for too long.
Ask the person as to whether you can help in any way or
whether there is any other person you can pass the
phone to.
Slide Call Transfer-Dos and Donts

When transferring calls, tell the person who the call is
forwarded to, the name and purpose of the caller.
Give an option to call back if he/she has to hold on for too
long.
Give him/her the option that you would take down the
number and ask the concerned person to call back
Discussion Points 1. What is the next step?

2. What is the objective of this step?
Instructions to The next step is arriving at a solution to the problem.

Facilitator The objective is to satisfy the need of the customer.
Explain this step through the following slides.
Slide Addressing the Concern
98
Arrive at a mutually acceptable solution to the concern.
Slide Addressing the concern-Dos
You should:
Paraphrase and summarize the key points of the

discussion.
Suggest alternatives.
Offer a solution
Suggest the benefit of your solution.
Reach an agreement with the customer for the solution.
Slide Addressing the Concern-Donts
You should not:
Give incorrect or incomplete information.
Argue with the customer.
Sound Bored.
Suggest the benefit of your solution.
Discussion Points The solution to the problem has been reached. Is there
anything more left to be done?
Instructions to Yes, the last step of a telephone call is closing the call. It is
Facilitator very crucial as it helps to clarify the details of the agreement.
Slide Closing the Call
Offer assistance for anything else.
Thank the customer
End the call on a pleasant note.

Create a positive impression through warmth,
passion and a smile.
99
Wrapping up the call as other customers are
waiting for you.
Slide Verbal Communication and Good Customer Care
Speak Clearly
Be understandable throughout the call.

Do not use any slang errors / technical jargon.
Make limited use of speech habits like ums
and unhs.
Be Polite and Pleasant
Use words like Please and Thank You consistently

while requesting and receiving conformation.
Adapt your speech to the callers style. E.g.
Business like, Talkative, Hurried etc.
Apologize tactfully. (E.g. I am sorry that there was a
misunderstanding. Please let me explain..)
Pacify Irate Customers. (E.g. I can understand your
concern. What Im going to do for you today is.)
Expressed / Showed Sympathy
Express an understanding for customer

situations. (E.g. These plans are very simple.
Ill take you through them.)
Express sympathy for the customer (E.g.

when the customer has lost his mobile phone
say I am sorry to hear about your loss.)
When the mistake is from Airtels end say, I

am very sorry this was not clarified to you. I
apologize for the inconvenience this may have
caused you. Let me clarify this for you.
Take Ownership
Sincerely offer to assist the customer himself to the

customers request for supervisor.
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I would be happy to get you a supervisor but I
would like an opportunity to assist you first. If
you would help me with some information I will
try and ensure that I resolve your concern.
Explained assertively to the customer how to avoid

problems in the future.
In order to avoid a late fee we should receive

your payment by XX of every month.
Express genuine interest in working with the customer.
We would like to continue our relationship with

you. Id be happy to resolve this concern.
Address the caller at least 2 3 times during the call.
In case you have difficulty in pronouncing the callers

name you can always ask him for his help.
Please help me with your last name.
Slide The Way One Sounds
Energy The Energy in your voice reflects your

attitude and Enthusiasm.
Rate of Speech A normal rate is 125 words a

minute. Speaking faster can create concerns.
Pitch This can be a monotone, a low, or a high

Pitch. You should vary your tone and inflection.
Quality The above three factors make up your voice

Quality.
Slide The Forbidden Five
Phrases that you must NOT use at all:
NO
I dont know..
Youll have to
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Just a second
We cant do that
Dont say an upfront No. This might make the customer feel
insulted and unimportant. Instead say something such
as, To answer your question I can do X, Y and Z for
you today.
Instructions to Share the following video with the participants.

Facilitator
Slide Video Satisfying Customers
Instructions to Once the participants have seen the video, ask them the
Facilitator following question.
Discussion Point 1. How crucial is it to satisfy customers?

2. How can customers be satisfied?
Instructions to Once the participants have completed answering the above

Facilitator questions tell them, It is crucial to have satisfied customers.
Customer delight can never be achieved unless the customer
is first satisfied. Customer delight is the step to be achieved
after customer satisfaction. Let us see what are the kind of
statements we can use with the customers so as to satisfy
them.
Slide Use of Positive Reinforcing Statements
If there is a concern, instead of saying there is

nothing I can do say Let us look at our options
would you be interested in this or that?
102
Use the word and in place of but. This is because
but negates everything that was said before it.
Instead of saying, Your calls is important to me but I

cannot solve this immediately say Your call is
important to me and this will take some time. So what I
will do for you now is
Slide Golden Rules to Handle Customers
Smile with all types of customers, happy sad or angry.

Speak briefly and clearly.
Beware of the tone of your voice.
Actively listen to your customer.
Always inform your customer of your actions.
Come to an agreeable solution with your customer.
Honor your commitment.
Before responding, take time to recognize that the
customer is angry at the situation, not at you.
103
Slide Golden Rules to Handle Customers
Do not defend yourself.

Concentrate on solving the customer concern.
Apologize for the inconvenience the customer has
experienced
Restate the concern as the customer described it to
you to make certain you understand exactly what the
customer means.
Reassure customer that you will do everything
possible to solve the concern to his fullest satisfaction
Make certain you communicate clearly with your
customers, show them you understand how they feel.
Slide General Tips on telephone Handling
Be polite and express your willingness to help.
Listen and empathize.
Take ownership of the problems.
Be patient.
Respond to the call warmly and confidently.
Smile, customer can hear it on the phone.
Slide Voice Modulation
Speak clearly - pronounce words clearly.
Relax-pause and stop to breathe.
Vary the tone / pitch of your voice.
Speak slowly.
Smile to add expression to your voice.
Repeat message/address/phone number.
Be enthusiastic.
104
Slide 7Ps of Telephone Handling
Preparation - Have all information, paper and pencil handy

(product, prices, delivery dates etc.)
Promptness - Answer phone within three rings.
Politeness - Greet cheerfully, apologize for any delay.
Precision - Be precise and factual.
Professionalism - handle customers problem - not yours.
Practicality - Give what the customer needs.
Positive - Use questions that confirm the need of the

product to get your customer to buy.
Discussion Points 1. What are the various stages in a call?

2. What is the objective of understanding these
stages?
Instructions to 1. The various stages in a call are: opening, collecting

Facilitator information, call processing, solution and closing the call.
2. The objective of understanding these stages is to
improve our telephone handling skills.
Slide Basic Telephone Etiquette
Adopt proper etiquette and mannerisms based on gender,

time and objective of call. Good morning/ evening/.
Never have food or tea while talking over the phone it

makes a very lousy sound at the other end.
Wait for the caller to hang the receiver first.
Slide Basic Telephone Etiquette
Never keep the customer waiting or on hold for more than

30 seconds.
105
In case of longer hold periods inform the customer on
the time that will be taken.
Concentrate on the phone call do not do too many

things at the same time.
Instructions to Ask for two volunteers from the participants for each role-
Facilitator play. Seat them back-to-back. One will act as a customer
and the other will act as a customer care executive. Ask
remaining participants to note down their observations.
Role Plays (3 mins Customer Care Executive: You are a customer care
each) executive working with Airtel. You receive the following calls
during the day. Respond to the customer queries.
Role Play 1
You are Puja. You received your bill this month and saw that
you have been charged as per the wrong bill plan. You call
up Airtel Customer Care to get the error corrected and also
to request for the correct bill.
Role Play 2
You are a busy executive of a multinational company. When
you received your bill you saw that you have been charged
for GPRS rental but you had never applied for the service.
Instead you had requested for MMS activation, which you
have not even used in the past month. You are a bit angry
as this is causing unnecessary obligation on you to get it
corrected. You call up Airtel Customer Care.
Role Play 3
You are Savita. You have recently shifted your home to
another locality. You are an Airtel postpaid customer. You
call up Airtel Customer Care to request them to change your
billing address.
Role Play 4
You are Seema. You have recently purchased a GPRS
phone and want to get the service activated. You call up
Airtel Customer Care.
106
Stress Management (1 Hour)
Instructions to Ask all participants to come forward and stand in the centre of
Facilitator the room, in the form of a semi circle. Now give them the
instructions for the game. Tell participants that they are
supposed to follow the instructions given to them. But the
instructions are to be followed only when preceded by the
words Simon Says.
Now say the following statements, alternating between

preceding statements with Simon Says on some occasions
and simply without the preceding words on other occasions.
Statements:
1. Lift your right hand up.
2. Pinch the person standing to your left.
3. Laugh out aloud.
4. Hold your ears and pull your tongue out.
5. Say Hi aloud.
6. Wrinkle up your nose.
7. Squeeze your eyes shut.
8. Make your fists as tight as you can.
9. Say your name out aloud.
10. Bring a sad expression on your face.
11. Pull up your socks.
12. Lift your shoulders and try to touch your ears.
Spend not more than fifteen minutes on this exercise.
Instructions to Ask participants, How did you feel during this exercise?
Facilitator
Discuss their responses.
Then say: This fun exercise might have brought down the
anxiety levels amongst some of you who probably were
feeling fatigued after undergoing so many training sessions.
Stress can be effectively combated in multiple ways. This
would result in your feeling more relaxed.
Instructions to Give each participant a balloon. Ask them to blow into the
Facilitator balloon to the maximum extent possible.
Say: Keep blowing air into the balloon till I ask you to stop.
107
Instructions to Ask participants to stop blowing air when a few of the
Facilitator balloons burst.
Now say: Why do you think the balloon burst?
Discuss the various answers provided by participants and

then show them the following slide to explain.
Say: The balloon burst as a result of stress. But what is

stress? Let us see.
Slide What is Stress?
Stress is a negative or unpleasant condition that is

experienced when a person perceives that he or she is unable
to meet the demands or pressure placed on him/her.
Instructions to Now ask participants to answer the following question.

Facilitator
Discussion Points Why didnt all the balloons burst?
Instructions to Say: Some of the balloons did not burst because they could
Facilitator handle the amount of air filled into them.
Now draw an analogy between the air filled into a balloon and
stress.
Say: It is the same case between stress and human beings.
Some levels of stress can be good for individuals but beyond
that it can prove to be harmful. There exists an acceptable
level of stress, at which the individual performance is at its
peak. We can see this from the following slide.
Discussion Points 1. What will be the sources of stress for you?

2. Why do you need to manage stress?
108
Instructions to Facilitate a discussion for about ten minutes. Ask participants
Facilitator to think of a typical day in a call center. A Customer Care
Executive gets so many calls in a day from different kinds of
customers. Some customers may be angry or rude. Dealing
with such customers can be one of the sources of stress for
him. He needs to mange stress because as a customer care
representative it is his duty to treat the customer well and
resolve his problem.
Derive that in a typical workday a call center executive

handles so many calls. Even if it is his 100th call, he needs to
handle it with a smile on his face because it is the first call for
the customer and it is a moment of truth for the company. He
needs to understand the customer before thinking of his
stress.
Slide Sources of Stress
Continuous handling of calls.
Difficult/Angry Customers
Lack of cooperation from backend.
Instructions to Say: Some of the balloons did not burst because they could
Facilitator handle the amount of air filled into them.
Now draw an analogy between the air filled into a balloon and
stress.
Say: It is the same case between stress and human beings.
Some levels of stress can be good for individuals but beyond
that it can prove to be harmful. There exists an acceptable
level of stress, at which the individual performance is at its
peak. We can see this from the following slide.
Discussion Points How can Stress be effectively managed?
Instructions to Show the following slide to add some humor.

Facilitator
109
Slide
HR.Comic
Instructions to Say that we need to work out our own ways of coping with
Facilitator stress. Have a discussion for about ten minutes on how they
can cope with stress both at work and after work.
Slide Coping Resources at work
Positive Attitude
Prioritize What you need to accomplish during the
day. Manage your time well.
Stress Basket keep a basket handy and throw a
paper in it each time you feel stressful. Empty the
contents everyday before leaving.
Music
Laugh It boosts the immune system and reduces
stress.
Design your workstation put nice pictures around.
Slide Coping Resources after Work
Exercise Develop and maintain a healthy body. This

directly reduces stress susceptibility.
Relaxation Listening to music, reading a novel or
simply meditating help reduce stress.
Good sleep
.
Diet - Reduction in toxin intake in the form of alcohol,
tobacco etc. also helps reduce stress.
110
Instructions to Ask for two volunteers from the participants. Seat them
Facilitator back-to-back. One will act as a customer and the other will
act as a Customer Care Executive. Ask other participants to
note down their observations.
111
Role Plays (3 mins. Role Play 1
each) You are an Airtel postpaid customer. You have taken your
connection a few months back. Your phone is working fine
but the Caller ID (CLIP) is not being displayed when you
receive calls. You have enrolled for this service while taking
the connection. You have also paid the monthly charge for
this as well. Earlier you had called up Airtel Customer Care
Center and told them about this problem. However, no
action was taken. Today you are calling up once again. Tell
them that you are thinking of taking another (competitors)
connection if Airtel does not rectify the error. You are very
annoyed about the carelessness of the company.
Role Play 2
You are an Airtel customer who had a prepaid connection
earlier. You have just changed to a postpaid connection.
You were promised that your new connection will get
activated in two hours, but even after 24 hours, the
connection is yet to be activated. You are angry with this.
You call Airtel Customer Care Center and express your
annoyance.
Role Play 3
You are an Airtel postpaid customer, and you travel a lot.
While traveling, you are able to be in touch with your friends
through SMS. However, you also want to keep in touch with
the friends who do not own a mobile phone, but use e-mail
and Messenger. You want to find out if Airtel can help you
keep in touch with all your friends, including the ones who
do not own a mobile phone. You call up Airtel Customer
Care Center.
Role Play 4
You have a lot of friends and all of you communicate with
each other through SMS. More often than not you find
yourself sending the same message to a lot of people,
especially when you want to convey a plan to meet or a
sudden change of plan. You find it very inconvenient to keep
sending the same message to many people. You feel it is
painstaking and also wastes time. You call up Airtel
Customer Care Center to tell them about your problem.
Role Play 5
You are an Airtel customer and hold a bank account with
ICICI Bank. You are very busy and hardly get the time to go
to the bank to carry out transactions with the bank. You
have heard something about mobile banking but you do not
know anything about it. You decide to call up Airtel
Customer Care Center and find out.
112
Role Play 6
You are an Airtel customer. You want to activate Airtel Live
on your cell phone. You call up Airtel Customer Care.
Role Play 7
You have an Airtel post paid connection. In the past few
months you have had a lot of problems related to your bill.
You are not very happy with the service provided by the
company. You have considered switching but decided not to
as you are happy with the performance of the network. You
have now decided to switch to a pre paid connection so that
at least you are free from the hassle of bills. You call up
Airtel Customer Care.
Role Play 8
You are an Airtel post paid customer. You had activated your
roaming service last month when you went to South Africa
for a business trip. You used it primarily to receive
emergency calls from your family, which was only twice.
However when you received your bill, you discovered that
multiple international calls have been charged to your
account. You call up Airtel Customer Care.
Role Play 9
You are an Airtel post paid customer. You had activated your
roaming service last month when you went to South Africa
for a business trip. You used it primarily to receive
emergency calls from your family, which was only twice.
However when you received your bill, you discovered that
multiple international calls have been charged to your
account. You called up Airtel Customer Care and were told
that your problem will be rectified and a new bill will be sent
to you. However you only received an unpleasant call from
a collection agency on behalf of Airtel that your connection
will be withdrawn if you dont pay immediately. You were
surprised at this call. The next day your connection was cut.
You are enraged and call up Airtel Customer Care to
express your anger.
Role Play 10
You are an Airtel post paid customer. Last month you had
placed a request for a change in your bill plan and you were
told that it would be done with effect from the requested
date. However your bill for this month reflects your previous
bill plan. You are annoyed, as your bill plan has not been
changed. You call up Airtel Customer Care.
Role Play 11
113
You are an Airtel post paid customer. You recently put a
request for change in your billing address. You were told
that it would be done. You did not receive your next month
bill at the new address. You enquired at your earlier address
and got the bill. However, the delay led to an imposition of a
late payment fee. You are not ready to pay the late fee and
Role Play 12
You are an Airtel post paid customer. You recently put a
request for change in your billing address. You were told
that it would be done. You did not receive your next month
bill at the new address. You enquired at your earlier address
and got the bill. However, the delay led to an imposition of a
late payment fee. You are not ready to pay the late fee and
Role Play 13
You are an Airtel customer. As soon as you reach your
workplace the cell phone network goes off and you are
unable to make or receive calls. You have repeatedly called
Customer Care to get your problem resolved but havent
met with any luck so far. You have decided to leave the
network as it is of no use to you. You make your final call to
the Customer Care.
Role Play 14
You are an Airtel Post paid customer. You are currently
facing a financial crunch and want to cut down your cell
phone bill. It is mid-month and you are worried about your
bill. You call up Airtel Customer Care to know the amount
already spent for this month.
Instructions to the Discuss the observations.

Facilitator
114

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Customer Service

Explain what customer service is.

Ask participants to look around the room and identify one

For example, someone can relate to an air conditioner that

Keep a note of these replies as you can reiterate the

Instructions to Ask participants to answer the following questions.

2. What in your opinion resulted in the difference in the

Slide Customer Service

Customer service cannot be defined. It is about meeting

Derive that in a competitive industry a company cannot

Instructions to Say:Now let me tell you a story.

Ashton is tourist visiting India for the first time. He reaches

The next day, Ashton decides to visit Agra. He takes a taxi

The next day he decides to go to Jaipur. He takes a bus there

He has a good trip around town. On return to his room, he

Instructions to Now ask participants the following question.

Slide Outcomes of Customer Service

Dissatisfaction Satisfaction Delight

Delighted customers are those who have received service

Slide Importance of Delighted Customers

Delighted customers tell at least four other people about

Dissatisfied customers tell ten.

Uninspired, merely satisfied customers most likely tell no

Instructions to Give the batch the following examples.

Conduct the following exercise with the batch. Ask the

Then share the following example with them.

When a woman lost her husbands mobile phone, she called

Instructions to Ask participants to read the following caselet.

What made the customer come back to the bank?

Instruction to Discuss the answers to the above question with participants.

Say: This caselet surely makes us realize that customer

Caselet (5 mins.) Ram was travelling to Goa on Rajdhani Express. He had

What could Ram have done?

Instruction to Discuss the answers to the above question with participants.

Now ask participants that what would happen if a customer of

Derive that telecom industry is very competitive and there is a

Show the following slide.

In the mobile telephony industry today,

There are many players.

There is little differentiation between the products and

Instruction to Say the following:

Show the following slide and say that it is customer service

Instruction to Share the following slides with participants to further stress on

Slide Importance of Customer Care

If selling is all about creating customers, then customer

Studies indicate that,

1. Acquiring new customers is eight times as expensive

2. The average company loses 10% of its customers

3. A 5% reduction in the customer loss rate can increase

4. The customer profit rate tends to increase over the life

Instruction to Ask participants to respond to the following discussion points.

Discussion Points A customer of Airtel has a monthly bill of Rs. 1000.

What is his true value to he company? Is it 1000 or more?

For example in the above case, if the customer stays with

1 month = Rs. 1000

Also if the customer is satisfied with you service, he might

Show the following slide.

High Lifetime Value Referral Customers

Now say that any customer interaction is also a moment of

Instruction to Ask the participants to go through the following caselet that

Summarize with the help of the slide that follows.

In 1987, Carlzon wrote a book titled, Moments of Truth, in

Slide Every customer interaction is a Moment of Truth