The business world, particularly in the hospitality and customer service industries, is full of competition these days. All of the businesses are fighting over the scraps left over by the economic down turn and it is starting to get ugly out there. If you want to make sure that you, as a customer service representative, are doing your best and showing off those great customer service skills, make sure that your body language is telling the same story.
We all want to see that beautiful smile of yours sometimes but customers want to see it all the time. If you aren't smiling while you're dealing with the customer they might think you don't like dealing with them. Just like an actor on stage a customer service representative needs to go beyond the normal span of body communication and really stress how happy they are to be working for the customer or the customer isn't going to get the message. We want our customers to think we are happy because happiness is infectious. So smile, damn it!
Posture, posture, posture. If you don't have proper posture when dealing with a customer you have already gone halfway to losing the sale or making them angry. A customer service representative needs to be perceived as being happy to be helping the customer and more than willing to aid them in any way they can. A slouched and sullen looking body is going to tell the customer that they hate their job and don't want to be doing it but a straight spine and a happy demeanor will say just the opposite.
Stop looking down at your toes because there is nothing to see there but lost sales revenue. Keep your chin up if you want to help your customers and make them feel like you know what you're doing. Shy people are only shy because they don't know what they are all about. Don't be shy, keep your chin up and use your body language to tell your customers that you know exactly how to fix their problem and then tell them how you're going to fix it.
People like to talk with their hands a lot, have you noticed that? Well, that's because your hands will be able to express subtle tones in your words as you move them about the air. They are the punctuation marks sometimes and they are the accents. Remember to always try to keep an open palm when you're speaking directly to a customer. Don't use your fingers to point in different directions, just keep it cool and professional. Think about all those movies you've seen with butlers. Do they ever close their fists or point? Nope.
These are just a few ways you can improve your body language and thus improve your customer service skills but there are many more ways that you can probably figure out on your own. Just remember that body language makes up over half of all communication and you need to know what you are telling people. Don't just brush it off like it's going to come naturally, make an effort.
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