Using introductory phrases:
I’m afraid … Actually, …
I’m sorry to say, … With respect, …
In fact … Quite honestly, …
Example: I’m afraid, that would be beyond our budget.
Reading
and Speaking (3)
1. What should you do to calm an upset customer?
2. What steps should you do dealing with angry clients?
A “Big Thing” in Business Relationships
A day in the life of a business person can be filled with joy and satisfaction or it can be frustrating and stressful. When things go wrong, some people lose control. Holding emotions in check and reacting professionally are not always easy. It is difficult to be nice to people who are not being nice to you.
Most of the time, it is not even your fault. It could be that the problem was with a product or a service delivered by someone else in your organisation. You are getting the blame because the unhappy person found you first, and it’s not pleasant. When faced with angry people, there are four key steps that will help you to calm them.
Step one is to apologize. It’s not your fault; no matter – apologize anyway. As a representative of your company you have a responsibility to see that things go well. Your willingness to help will have a positive effect. You are not accepting blame – you are simply saying, “I’m sorry about the problem.”
Step two is to sympathize with the irate customer. Let the person know that you understand his/her feelings of receiving a faulty product or poor service. The angry person begins to feel better as soon as his/her reaction is validated.
Step three is to accept responsibility for the situation. Let the customer know that you intend to do whatever it takes to make things right. You can’t help what has already happened, but you will come up with a solution to the problem or you will find someone who can.
Step four is to take action. Decide what you can do and tell the customer. You will replace the incorrect product or deliver better service as quickly as possible.
And the last is to remember to smile. It will make everyone feel better and behave better.
Reading
and Speaking (4)
1. How do you understand ‘team building’?
2. Do you prefer working in a team or on your own? Working in a Team
To be a success, you must know your business well. But you also must learn how you can work as part of the team. Be a good team player.
When selecting employees for jobs, employers seek people with certain personal traits and soft skills:
strong work ethics
positive attitude
good communication skills
time management abilities
problem-solving skills
acting as a team player
working well under pressure
flexibility/ adaptability
ability to accept and learn from criticism.
A team is really just a formal way to actualize and organize collaboration. Collaboration is at the heart of successful decision-making. Teaming creates harmonious work groups. It is a way to formalize the power of collaboration among individuals. It is a way to blend the talents, skills, and inherent creativity of diverse people. It is a way to use this collaboration so that the work group leverages its skills, time, and resources for their own benefit and that of the organization.
Look at the word ‘collaboration’, its core is co-labor, or working together. People combining their collective knowledge so that the sum total of the collaboration is greater than what could have been achieved individually. People with diverse knowledge, talents, and skills are able to combine their qualities and move toward some meaningful end.
So, team building is a process of awareness building. It’s helping people to understand that they are greater collectively than individually. It is an understanding that all of our decisions will be better when some degree of collaboration is applied. We have to cooperate with others to succeed.
Teamwork often involves finding solutions to various problems. The technique of brainstorming can be very helpful and productive in generating innovative ideas. Brainstorming creates new ideas, solves problems, motivates and develops teams. Brainstorming is a group or individual by creativity technique which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members.