Customer facing-Whether you develop your work in a company or if you are an independent professional. There are certain skills that can help you interact with others. Thus facilitating the achievement of objectives.
Today we are going to deepen something more in a concrete characteristic that possess some of the many types of activities in the labor sector. Working for the public requires some talents and skills that can be developed independently of the potential of each one.
The image, empathy and communication skills are the basis to develop a good work when our occupation requires working for the public. Whatever the business sector where the work is developed, when it is done also serving the public, there is a personal interaction that has its own qualities.
The generalized idea that is maintained on the kindness necessary to work facing the public is quite vague. This is a type of work that requires high social skills , people who know how to solve and overcome crisis in order to provide excellent customer service, resolution’s and personalized.
Communicative skills
Communication skills differ considerably from the popular belief that considers them easy to speak . This last concept is more linked to charlatanism, a disused quality in the workplace and one of the worst enemies of anyone who intends to work in front of the public.
The communication skills are very effective tools in any area of our life that charge even more value to the work performance of those occupations in which social interaction is necessary. Perhaps, the most important is active listening.
When we are the communicators, the information we transmit must be clear, taking care that it is consistent with our non-verbal language. The tone and the volume must agree with the content of the message and our corporal expression as well. Knowing how to maintain eye contact is a skill that improves with experience and is sensitive to genuine interest.
Empathy
Sympathy is a very valuable quality in public works. On the other hand, nothing more ugly than a person who tries to be nice, without being , and also does not get to find out what are the real needs of a client.
Trust is what professionally substitutes for hollow sympathy, and this acquires naturalness through a good dose of empathy. Get in the other’s shoes is the fastest and most effective way to care for someone and do it in a correct and professional way.
Those who have years of experience working with the public know that treating a client correctly does not refer so much to empty kindness , but to knowing how to maintain a conversation in the context in which communication flows. It does not make sense to be very close when the tone of the conversation is not that, just as it does not make sense to be very distant when the tone of the conversation is not consistent with the disposition either.
Personal image
There is no second chance for a first impression. This is an issue that leaves no option for negotiation. Presence is a quality that includes several aspects and all of them are important. If one of them fails, it devalues all others.
Good presence involves body posture, facial expression, attire, the appearance of our hands, hair, shoes, etc. In this sense nothing should be left to chance and the result should be natural, neat to the extreme and the result of knowing how to be and be.
In this sense there are dress codes and appearance in general that should be known and not neglected at any time. The personal image is one of the most important assets to work for the public.
Customer facing the public a specialty
Regardless of the type of work that is developed and the skills that are required, an occupation customer facing the public benefits from a second layer of skills related to interpersonal treatment. In this sense, managing them with ease affects the improvement of job opportunities and also in the good development of your professional career. In addition, it allows you to exercise it in a much more comfortable and satisfactory way for yourself.
There is a good offer of specialized professionals that can help you in this regard. Also the books and the literature that has published on the matter can help us; yes, transcending the theoretical plane: it is of little use to know the possibilities of active listening if we do not do it later. Thus, information is important, but practice is more important.
Trust, one of the axes of social skills
There is no way to trust others, if first you do not trust yourself. This is one of the great axes of social skills that, unfortunately, many people have not cultivated and developed. It is largely due to the fact that there is a whole learning history that leads us to doubt what we are and what we are worth.
Self-esteem and self-confidence lay the foundations in the first years of life. The relationship with parents is fundamental. The usual thing is that if the parents have difficulties in that area, the children also have them. It is not a mathematical equation, but it usually happens that way.
Now, it is always possible to develop greater confidence in oneself. Experts advise to avoid biting self-criticism and negative thoughts about oneself and others. Also learn to express emotions loudly and as accurately as possible. On the other hand, learning to maintain an upright body posture and not waiting to feel totally safe to act, also helps.
Communication, a fundamental aspect
Another axis of social skills is the ability to communicate. This is almost tautological, as it is obvious that if we do not develop communication skills, we can hardly establish fluid links with others. The fundamental thing here is not to learn to make flowery speeches, nor to be experts in oratory.
The best way to communicate with others is to speak from our emotions. It is not rational communication, but emotional communication, which allows us to build better relationships with others. One of the axes of social skills is being able to convey what we feel and who we are.
The ability to show our feelings and emotions without filters or prevention fosters empathy. It is also a decisive factor in generating proximity with others. In fact, it contributes significantly to others also opening their inner world and allowing us to enter it.
Connection, the key to healthy bonds
Connecting with others is to make a presence in their lives and know how to understand them from their logic and not from ours . It implies a high acceptance capacity. As in the case of self-confidence and self-esteem, it is impossible to accept others if we have not been able to accept ourselves before. That is, recognize and admit our strengths and weaknesses naturally.
Connecting with others is impossible if we do not know how to establish empathy . To achieve this, the first thing is to know how to listen. This implies not judging, nor conditioning our interlocutor. Allow him to be himself while expressing himself. Attend to what he says, without thinking about anything else and without the desire to change, modify or question who we have in front.
It always helps that you ask yourself what the person who is talking to you wants or needs . Try to understand what you are feeling and what you are looking for by expressing it to yourself. Genuine listening is the basis for an effective connection. Enrich your life and also the life of the person who talks to you.
The axes of social skills have to do with structuring ourselves better and, as a consequence, being more open and receptive to others. This can be learned and exercised. All these abilities significantly improve our life and make it healthier from the mental point of view.
