customer service skills for culturally diverse communities instructor: jean crossman-miranda, mft...
TRANSCRIPT
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Customer Service Skills for Culturally Diverse Communities
Instructor:
Jean Crossman-Miranda, MFT
An Infopeople Workshop
Spring-Fall 2007
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This Workshop Is Brought to You By the Infopeople Project
Infopeople is a federally-funded grant project supported by the California State Library. It provides a wide variety of training to California libraries. Infopeople workshops are offered around the state and are open registration on a first-come, first-served basis.
For a complete list of workshops, and for other information about the project, go to the Infopeople website at infopeople.org.
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Workshop Overview
• Interpersonal skills necessary to satisfy – and exceed – customer expectations
• Basics of effectively serving multicultural customers
• Cultural norms, needs, and expectations of customers from diverse communities
• Handling unusual or difficult library customer interactions
• Good translation resources
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The Japanese refer to a customer as “o-kyaku-san,” which is the word used for a visitor in your
home.
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Our Customers Need to Feel...
• Welcome
• Understood
• Important, respected
• Comfortable and cared for
• ….that their problem(s) has been solved
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Why Do Multicultural Customers Come to the Library?
• What are they looking for?
• What are their expectations for:
– libraries?
– librarians?
• On the other hand… What do we want from customers?
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Role of Libraries in Other Cultures
• National libraries acquire and preserve items of cultural heritage
• University and academic libraries
• Research libraries for technical, industrial, and specialized occupations
• Many are not open or free to the public
• Many have no-lending policy
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Characteristics of Superior Customer Service
– Reliability
– Assurance
– Credibility
– Empathy
– Responsiveness
– Tangibles
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Culture is Like an Iceberg
Food, Music, Dress, Language
Norms, Values, Expectations, Assumptions, Habits, Dislikes, Attitudes, Rules, Roles, Status, Tradition, Mores, Behaviors, Family Structures, Communication Patterns
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The “Rules” Are Different
• Cultural blunders
– misunderstanding
– miscommunication
– conflict
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Sources of Intercultural Misunderstanding
• Language
• Nonverbal signals
• Cultural values
• Expectations of behavior
• Ethnocentrism
• Stereotyping, preconceptions
• Expectations about the environment
• Lack of knowledge about another culture
• Lack of sensitivity to differences between people
• Prejudice, racism, discrimination
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Cultural Disconnect: Slogans
• Chevy Nova– “does not go”
• Ford Pinto– “tiny male genitals”
• “Come alive with Pepsi” in Germany– “come alive out of the grave”
• Coca Cola in China (“Ke-kou-ke-la”)– “bite the wax tadpole”
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The Big Picture
One culture cannot be judged by the standards or values of another. The assumptions we make about people determine, in large part, how we interact with them.
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How Do Cultures Differ?
• How we view Time
• Our sense of Space
• Whether we value the Individual or the Group
• Whether we emphasize Tasks or Relationships
• The importance of Saving Face
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Sense of Time
• Elastic or rigid?
• Important to be on time for an appointment?
• Other priorities more pressing than commitments and schedules?
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Sense of Space
• Personally and professionally
• Crowding
• Side-by-side or face-to-face?
• Psychological space
• Touching someone you don’t know
• What is considered polite? rude?
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Individual or Group Orientation?
• Cultures that value the Group
– self is viewed and decisions are made within context of group and by assessing how the action will affect others in the group
– benefit of the whole group is kept in mind
– person may be embarrassed to be singled out, even for praise
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Tasks or Relationship Orientation?
• Task-oriented culture
– getting down to business right away
– don’t like idle small talk
• Relationship-oriented culture
– want to get to know you before getting down to business
– rapport building comes first
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Saving Face
• Preserving one’s dignity and respect– takes precedence over everything else
• Rejection or perceptions of inadequacy– matter of honor– can cause shame
• Never point out customer’s mistakes
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Other Behaviors to Notice
• Animation/emotion – neutral, restrained, passionate – OK in public?
• Directness/indirectness - facing speaker, response
• Eye Contact – when speaking, listening
• Gestures – frequency, expressiveness
• Turn taking and pause time – urgency, status
• Vocal patterns – range of volume, pitch
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Follow Your Customer’s Lead
• Be sensitive
• Be flexible
• Spend time
• Be patient
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Flexibility Is Key
• Different cultures conduct business differently
• What is customary and acceptable in one culture may be unacceptable in another
• Find out the customer’s expectations regarding comfort, respect, and courtesy
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Useful Phrases
• Try not to say “No.” This causes customers to lose face, and they often find it rude.
– “I can help you better if you do this….”
– “That will be very difficult.”
– “I am not sure that can be arranged.”
– “I will see what I can do.”
– “Which do you prefer?”
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Listening to Word Choice
• Be sure customers put their needs before yours.
• Listen for statements like:
– “Whatever you think is best”
– “How do you feel about….”
• Customers may try to satisfy you, not themselves.
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Overview of Effective Multicultural Customer Service• Greet your customers
• Establish rapport
• Determine, meet, and exceed customer expectations
• Bridge language and accent barriers
– when speaking and listening
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Useful Language Resources
• Cheat sheet with basic phrases in other language
• Where to find?
– in your collection: phrase books, maps, bilingual materials, dictionaries
– websites/webliographies
• Phone interpretation services
• Connection with local resources: businesses, cultural groups/centers, schools & universities
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More Cultural Disconnection
• “I saw the Pope” – T-shirts printed in Miami– I saw the potato
• “Finger-lickin’ Good” in China– Eat your fingers off
• “It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken”– It takes a hard man to make a chicken aroused (Mexico)
• “Turn it loose” - Coors beer in Latin America– Suffer from diarrhea
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Reading Body Language
• Culturally determined and learned
• Ambiguous and open to interpretation
• Just a few universals: smiles, laughter, sour expressions
• Smiling and laughter can indicate confusion
• Listen for voice tone, inflection, pauses
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“We respond to gestures with an extreme alertness and…in accordance with an elaborate and secret code that is written nowhere, known by none, and understood by all.”
Edward Sapir
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Two Types of Gestures
• Illustrators
– hands illustrate speech
• Emblems
– have precise meanings
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Development of Gestures:by Decade
• New gestures are always being created
– 1940’s - thumbs up
– 1950’s – square
– 1960’s – peace sign
– 1970’s – whoopee (twirl finger)
– 1980’s – gag me
– 1990’s – stupid
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General Cultural No-no’s
• Buddhist cultures, head is sacred – no touching
• Muslim cultures: the left hand is considered unclean: no touch, pass, receive, or eat
• Pointing with index finger is rude in many cultures
• Pointing toward yourself insults the other person
• Open hand over closed fist in France
• Saying “tsk tsk” in Kenya
• Whistling in India
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Idioms from the U.S.• He tried to throw his weight around.
• He put his foot in his mouth.
• I gave her a piece of my mind.
• It’s raining cats and dogs.
• Break a leg.
• I’ll eat my hat.
• She kicked the bucket.
• They bit the dust.
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Idioms from Japan
• He has a crooked belly button.– the person is contrary or negative
• She has a higher nose.– she is proud - a good thing
• It’s like pounding a nail into tofu.– something that is futile or hopeless
• The nail that sticks up gets pounded down.– being unique or different gets you punished
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Idioms from Ireland• Your dress is massive.
– your dress is very attractive.
• Jack left a black dog.– Jack left an unpaid bill.
• He’s a pavi.– he is tough and uncouth.
• That Mary’s septic.– Mary is extremely vain and affected.
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The Big Ones
• What are some of the most difficult situations you have had to handle in providing service to diverse customers?
• How did you handle them? What did you try?
• What was successful?
• What was unsuccessful?
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Lost in Translation: Signage
• Thailand dry cleaner: “Drop your trousers here for best results.”
• Paris Hotel Elevator: “Please leave your values at the front desk.”
• Japanese Hotel: “You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid.”
• Paris Dress Shop: “Dresses for streetwalking”
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Quickly Found Resources
• Your Collection
– phrasebooks
– dictionaries
– bilingual material
– maps
• Websites, other libraries
• Speakers bureaus
• Restaurants
Local Resources
• Business community
• Consulates, legal
• Universities & schools
• Community centers
• Newspapers, publishers
• Health & medical
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What Needs to Be Translated for Multicultural Library Customers?
Signage
Library rules, policies, procedures, FAQ’s
Schedules, flyers of events
How-to’s (e.g., sign up for/use computer)
Displays
Publicity and outreach materials
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Job Aids for Customers
• Laminated sheets in different languages
• Checklist of services for customer to check off what s/he needs
• Use diagrams and pictures as much as possible
– map of layout of library
• Use calendars showing dates, times, events
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Job Aids for Library Staff
• Laminated sheets in different languages:
– greetings
– questions
– directions and Instructions
– phrases
– customer service guidelines and/or checklist
• List of phone/online interpretation services
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Local Translators and Translation Services
• Create job aids, do presentations, volunteer, be on call to answer questions, or speak to a customer
• Do walk-around evaluation of library layout and materials placement
• Advise on collection, materials, “must-haves”
• Advise on intercultural communication and appropriate customer service
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Restaurant Mistranslations
• Dreaded veal cutlet (Vietnam)
• Pork with fresh garbage (China)
• Cold shredded children (China)
• French creeps (U.S.)
• Strawberry crap (Japan)
• Toes with butter and jam (Bali)
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Malmö, Sweden
Library’s “Check Out a Person” Program