Tactful bill Collection

First Time: The Victim approach:

• As a first step for money collection, use a friendly approach.
• The technique relies on two methods:
o Closed end questions
o The CSR plays the role of the victim.
• The voice of the CSR is to be friendly and involved, looking for the customer best interest.

Scenario:
XX : Good morning Mr. Howard, this is Catherine from XYZ wireless.  I was wondering if you have any challenges facing you with our services.
-  Answer: No
XX :Well Mr. Howard, I am now in a rather delicate yet challenging situation!
- Answer: Please explain
XX :Your mobile number has a number of unpaid bills. This amount is due and lack of payment will lead to line suspension. This is a situation we do not want to reach. So the best way to avoid it is to pay the total amount of XXX before the (DD/MM) at any payment point near you.
Would you like me to inform you of the nearest payment point to you?
- Answer: Yes please-
XX :give him the nearest location to him
-  Answer: No-
XX :Thank you for your attention and time Mr. Howard let me just remind you, the sum is XXX and needs to be paid before (DD/MM). Thank you Mr. Howard.

Second Time: Elevator
The second step in money collection is to use a more firm tone of voice. By firm we do not mean aggressive or aggregative, you do not threat to blame, you still maintain a friendly voice and use three methods in your speech:
- Closed end questions
- CSR plays the role of the victim
- The CSR asks the customer for the best solution possible.

Scenario:
XX : Good morning Mr. Howard, this is Catherine from XYZ wireless, I was calling you regarding your bill payment that was due on (DD/MM). During our first telephone conversation, I tried, and am still trying to help you in all ways possible; yet I can see on my system that the payment is still pending.
How can I assist you in order to avoid further challenges?

Third Time: The consequences
The third step is the fact stating. Your voice is neutral but friendly, and you state the bad news in a cascade.

Scenario:
XX : Good Morning Mr. Howard, this is Catherine from XYZ wireless. I regret to inform you that due to lack of payment, we have no choice but to implement the company’s policy regarding line suspension. This can be avoided if the payment of XXX is done within the next coming … hours. When you do so, please contact us in order to intervene and avoid such a regrettable situation.

Reacting to Conflict

People respond differently to different conflict situations. Not only that but the same person can respond differently to each conflict situation he/she is faced with depending on the type of conflict , where the conflict is happening , the type of person whom he/she has the conflict with and whether it is a workplace conflict or a personal conflict with a family member or loved one. Following we will go through the different ways people respond when faced with a conflict situation and guidelines on how to deal with each.

Passively - " I surrender approach"

A non-confrontational approach where an amiable person is ready to do anything to avoid getting into a conflict situation , the person is ready to give up his/her opinions, requests or even personal comfort just to avoid the fight. For this type of personality, being liked by everyone is very important. This type of person will do anything not to hurt the feeling of others even at the expense of their own time or happiness.

If someone in your team responds to conflict passively in that manner, be very careful as they may never clearly verbalize their dissatisfaction .This type of employee will just suddenly quit one day , you need to closely monitor that person , make sure they are not constantly overworked and at the same time try to encourage him/her to say no sometimes  when you feel overwhelmed .

 
 Passive-Agressive - "Not getting into the fight"

Very similar to the passive " i surrender " approach is this approach as well , where the person who reacts to conflict in this way will do anything to avoid getting into  and face the conflict situation. The main difference is that this person take a somewhat more passive-aggressive approach where he or she may hide information to make  the other party look bad , or not showing up to an important meeting or event , they prefer to voice their dissatisfaction via a strong toned email rather than deal with the conflict face to face.

This type of person needs a lot of reassurance to open up and start voicing their disagreements more openly, they also need to feel that it is safe to talk and there is some degree of confidentiality cause remember they are not comfortable dealing with confrontations and are ready to do whatever it takes to avoid it. 

Facing the Fight

These are colleagues or employees with the driver kind of personality. they can get aggressive with any hint of conflict or whenever they feel threatened or treated unfairly. some of them even thrive on conflict and have no problem at all getting on with the confrontation anytime anyplace.
They may lack sensitivity to others feelings and  when they disagree with someone , they can even get insulting and may come across as rude sometimes even if they do not mean to be.

If you work with colleagues with this type of reaction when faced with a conflict situation , you may want to help this person to focus on solutions that meet everyone's needs and not just their his/her needs . This person may need constant reminding that utilizing the support of your team will make him/her reach their goals faster than doing it on their own.

Compromising

A compromiser looks at a conflict situation as a waste of time or a distraction from getting his/her job done so a compromiser tries to avoid conflict  as soon as it arises by coming up with a quick solution to the problem that is somewhat fair and gives everyone a little of what they want  to get it over with and return back to their normal work routine as soon as possible.

Getting to a quick compromise without looking closely into the matter may not be the best way to go, this may be a quick fix but it may not last and the same or a related issue may arise again quickly so if you have a team member who is always happy to jump to  a quick fix  compromise solution to the conflict you should encourage him/her to look more carefully at the bigger picture, take their time and ensure that the proposed compromise is fair and is a sustainable and  satisfactory solution to all parties.

Collaborative approach

 People with this style of approaching conflict look at the situation in a completely different way. They see conflict as a chance to improve the overall situation and possibly building better and stronger relations with the other party. these are the type of person who really enjoys working with others and are usually great team players and genuinely likes interacting with others. These are the types of people who enjoy a good conversation and they always seek opinions of others.

This is the optimum perception of conflict to have , seeing conflict as an opportunity to go forward , make things better , build stronger relations not only resolves the conflict situation, but results in a more robust and cohesive team working environment.

Cost Vs Potential Benefits of conflict

Defining Workplace Conflict

A condition between or among workers whose jobs are interdependent, who feel angry, who perceive the other(s) as being at fault, and who act in ways that cause a business problem.

When Does a situation qualify to be a workplace conflict and I must do something about it ?

1. When the two parties are interdependent
which means that  for each person to get his/her job done depends somehow on the other person or in other words their jobs are inter-related

2. The two parties blame each other  that is they find fault in each other for causing the problem
The two parties are starting to point fingers and the situation is getting personal. They start blaming each other as persons and objectively criticiaing behavior

3. The two parties are angry and feel emotionally upset
Both parties are have and display negative feelings and  emotions because of the situation

4. The problem is affecting work productivity  (Major reason)
This is the main factor that differentiates any argument or misunderstanding from a real workplace conflict is that when the quality of work of each or any of the parties is starting to be negatively affected due to this situation.

Potential Benefits of conflict

• Conflict promotes growth, through learning to overcome challenges in unison with others

•  It promotes creativity and innovation as solutions are suggested to overcome the differences between the stakeholders

•  It promotes the development of interpersonal skills, as individuals strive to get on with each other in spite of their differences

•  It promotes mutual understanding of different values, aspirations and cultures (sometimes people are not trying to be difficult, they just have a different mind-set)

•  It promotes social change and progress, as society changes and develops and a culture unfolds

•  It promotes growth as the process of resolution overcomes the stagnation of the status quo (necessity is the mother of invention and conflict is one of necessity’s prodigies)

•   It can promote originality and reflection when your viewpoint is challenged

Cost of conflict

• Higher stress amongst the parties

•  Lower productivity as effort and resources are redirected into the conflict and away from the work in hand

•  Lower interpersonal cohesion as individuals - and their supporters - take sides and begin to stereotype each other

•  Time spent in resolution is taken away from other, more important matters

•  Inappropriate decisions are made to support the various causes and positions of the parties  Status and ego become more important than reason and reality

•  The possibility of increased costs to cover negotiation preparation, negotiation time, mediation and/or arbitration costs and, perhaps, legal costs

Additional intangible costs of unresolved conflict

✓ Morale: People are likely aware of an ongoing conflict, and this awareness can affect morale on all levels. Over time, when employees are unhappy and they share their disgruntled attitude with others, the situation wears on those who have to listen to them and shades their view of the company as a whole. Even staff who aren’t directly involved in the conflict may start to believe that the company doesn’t care, so why should they give it their all?

 ✓ Decreased customer service: Taking care of employees who interact with customers keeps clients satisfied. If someone who deals with clients
is unhappy, you run the risk of her taking it out, knowingly or not, on customers. The cost on the bottom line could be devastating.

✓ Reputation: Word gets around fast when people find a great enterprise that really values its employees. When conflict goes unresolved, it also affects a company’s reputation. When employees and customers begin speaking negatively about their experiences, reputations erode. Disgruntled employees’ comments can scare off a future valued employee and potential customers.

✓ Loss of skilled employees: In addition to the hard cost associated with employee turnover, consider the soft cost when a skilled employee leaves
out of frustration and you have to retrain a new hire. In addition, when a highly skilled employee leaves, he takes with him everything you taught
him and he gives his expertise to your competitors. Retaining skilled employees keeps production high and training time to a minimum.

Resolve conflict....Now

Conflict is a fact of life , it is  inevitable, no matter who you are, what you do, we all encounter conflict situations either inside or outside the workplace there is no running or hiding from this fact. But before we start freaking out about being in a conflict situation which will eventually happen sooner or later there are a few facts about conflict that we must understand.

First conflict is not usually a bad thing , just think about it , how many times did  it happen  to you throughout your life that you had a conflict with someone or started off on the wrong foot  and then you ended up being best friends. How many times have you had an argument or a conflict with someone else then after it was resolved your relation became stronger or better than it ever was before ?  the fact is that a conflict situation can actually be an opportunity if we choose to look at it this way for us to build stronger relations with others either in or outside our working environment.

Now that we got this out of the way and before getting into the actual process of resolving conflict , let's look at when is a certain situation or disagreement we have with a colleague, subordinate or supervisor is considered  to be a workplace conflict? Certainly not every minor disagreement  and some of the  major ones as well we may have with a co-worker can be considered as a workplace conflict. There is no rule that says you have to like and be liked by each and every single person in your workplace your company doesn't pay you the salary to like and be liked by everybody , sure it's important for the company if all employees are in harmony and do like each other but at the end of the day the company pays you to get the job done so for any situation to qualify as an official workplace conflict is as soon as it hinders or stops you from doing your job.

The Conflict Resolution process :

1. State the problem in a non-defensive manner
Simply stating the problem in a non-defensive way is the natural first step. Find a private area with the other party with whom you have the conflict and simply tell him/her that we do have a conflict situation and lets work together to get it resolved, please tell me honestly what exactly is bothering you and how is that related to me

2. Listen
Just listen and do all you can to encourage him/her to keep talking , It's very important to stay calm and in control cause he/she can start saying things that may not be exactly true or that you feel so unfair and it's natural to feel you want to jump in there and interrupt this person but it's very important here to resist this urge to interrupt. 

 
3. Ask questions and be sure that both sides of the conflict have been aired and understood
Ask a lot of open questions and TED (Tell, Explain, Describe ) questions to get him/her to talk more and explain the situation.
Keep asking questions till the other party explained everything from his/her point of view.

 
4. Remain non-defensive
This is the big challenge, staying in control and not letting yourself getting defensive while you are hearing possible untrue and unfair comments about you personally and resisting the urge for defending yourself because the right time to do so did not come yet.

5. Perception is 100% of the Conflict
Remember that perception is 100% of the conflict and must be dealt with in order to solve the issue and move on. Keep in mind that this person's perception is their own reality, try to see things from their view point

6. Get Permission to tell your side of the conflict
it's important to get permission first to tell your side of the conflict to make a point and make sure you both know that he/she has finished saying everything and now it's your turn. This should make him listen to you and give you a chance to tell your side of the story.

7.  Focus on Behavior not personality
Always keep your conversation focused on specific behaviors rather than on personality judgments you have about his/her personality

8. Be specific and provide evidence
Try to include evidence to back up your case and don't forget to be specific and avoid generalizations. Remember Specificity provides answers & Vagueness creates questions.

9. Agree on what the problem is
Try your best to agree both on what the specific problem is. It is very important to have concurrence from both parties to agree to what exactly is the problem.

10. Agree on a solution and plan of action
Agree together on a mutually convenient compromise and put the action plan together of who does what.

11. Follow up
Schedule a follow-up meeting to see if the proposed solution and plan of action is effective or do we need to try something else.

 
12.  Keep the dialogue going
Remember you never know maybe you will end up being best friends, it happened a million times before.

Romance At work

Some companies have tougher rules than others regarding developing special relationships for example in schools and colleges a relationship between students and teachers is a big no, a relationship between two teachers is ok . In the corporate world as well , the etiquette of office romances involves a combination  of good judgment and discretion.

Believe it or not about half marriages are between people who met at work. so workplace romance is quite common although of course all the normal ups and downs of a relationship can affect and is very visible inside the office , when things work out fine , the two lovebirds are very comfortable with each other while other times when do not go as well they can bring their personal trouble to work.

Also keep this advice in mind:

If adhering to your company's procedures do not require you must disclose any special relationships, do not feel obligated to do that. a lot of people prefer to keep their professional life completely separate from their personal life.

If your company doesn't permit any dating between the employees, you have to either adhere to that or keep it a secret, which adds a burden at the back of your mind all the time of having to be careful of everything you and your partner say or do not to be found out which can take your focus away and may affect your job performance. So make sure  the relationship is worth it  and working and looks like it's going to last .

Some companies do permit dating but they require you notify your line manager or direct supervisor, if that is the case then it's strongly advised to do that as soon as possible.

Billing Your Company for Expenses

Needless to say that if you are involved in any work related activity where you have to travel or purchase something for business use,  it is reimbursable but you must provide original receipts or invoices backing up your expense report.

It is generally more advisable to use credit cards while out on company time rather than cash as this will give you an additional record on your credit card statement

Naturally most companies would appreciate any effort from your side to cut cost , nobody likes to go back with a huge expense report and have to justify each entry.

It is also advised to clarify and confirm your understanding of what is an acceptable and what is an unacceptable expenses from your company before going on the trip.

Padding your expense report is unfair to the company. Even if the company isn’t always fair to you, you have no reason to be unfair in return.

Travelling with Colleagues

Traveling on business with colleagues, especially those you like, can add immeasurably to your trip. Conversely, traveling with those you merely tolerate or those you dislike can turn a pleasant trip into something trying.

Travelling with colleagues gives  you a good opportunity to get to know each other better, although its always advisable to set some sort of  limit to the personal information you are ready to share with your colleague, after you are on company time and you need to be constantly aware of the line between what's personal and what's professional.

You may be tempted to go everywhere with your colleague when you’re in a strange town, but your insecurity isn’t an excuse to do something you probably wouldn’t do at home. That means if your colleague wants to visit friends,you don’t have to tag along just because you’re lonely.And it means that if your colleague wants to go to a bar or find entertainment for the evening, you don’t have to tag along just because you have nothing else to do.

If you’re thinking about sharing a hotel room, find out ahead of time whether your colleague snores or walks in his sleep. Both situations can be unnerving and can lead to the loss of a good night’s sleep.

Sexual harassment at work

To have a clear definition of sexual harassment simply if someone promises you a job or a promotion in return for sexual favors or if you  or if someone else's sexual behavior creates a hostile or abusive work environment that prevents you from doing your job or if you are demoted or fired for refusing a request for sex or if you are requested to engage in any sexual behavior to either get or keep your job . then you are subjected to sexual harassment. The following tips can help you avoid these situations : 

Dress conservatively
Specially for women need to avoid any revealing clothing that can send sexual messages. avoid putting on a lot of accessories, heavy perfume or too much make-up.

Don’t discuss your sex life at work. “Don’t ask, don’t tell” applies to everyone.

Treat others courteously and professionally
Treat everyone fairly , professionally and be courteous at all times, mostly if you treat everyone professionally and courteously you get treated the same way.

Some  people’s personalities change when they travel.
During business trips, avoid meeting other people in hotel rooms, and leave bars and restaurants if your colleagues are clearly more interested in getting drunk than in relaxing after a hard day.

Know your company's sexual harassment policy
Get some information about your company's policies regarding harassment issues

Facing the Harassment
Talk to your  Human resources department ,Follow your company's policies and procedures for harassment if any  , Seek counseling and support , and do not ignore it hoping it will go away , it will not. in fact this can have a huge impact on your professional life as it prevents you from doing your job as well as the impact it can have on you personally.
 

Complaint handling etiquette

Show empathy
showing empathy means having the capacity to understand and to be aware of and sensitive to the feelings , thoughts and experiences of others specially those who come to you with a complaint. If you can give the complainer that you empathize with him or her  saying things like " yes you are right this is frustrating .." , " If i were in your place, I certainly would have felt bad.."

Listen carefully and be courteous at all times
Try to really put yourself in the complainer's shoes  , you will see some real sense of why they are upset and then you can really genuinely help them instead of resisting any complaint immediately.

Ask a lot of questions
to uncover the whole situation and make sure to find out exactly what the complainer wishes to see changed and how is the situation resolved from his/her point of view.

Promise less and deliver more
Be direct and do not make promises you cannot keep, if there is nothing you can do you better let the person no upfront. It may be disappointing to the complainer now but then they do not waste their time and seek other route.

See if you can get the complainer to do something constructive on his/her own towards resolving the problem
Think well before you agree with the complainer, lets face it not all complains you will get are legitimate, people complain for all sorts of different reasons from feeling like it to those professional complainers who do this for a living and make money out of compensations. so think well and make sure the complaint is legit.

Silence may not be golden while handling a complaint.
Saying nothing may imply agreement, which could compound the problem later. If you disagree, say so tactfully.

Etiquette with VIP's

There is no doubt that who you know can have a great effect on your career and future goals in your professional life. Networking  has never been more important than it is nowadays specially contacts you nurture with VIP's and senior level management both in and outside your company
Here are some quick etiquette rules and tips that can help you build better stronger relations and quicker rapport with hot shots

Ask Good questions
When you’re unsure about how to interact with an important decision-maker, your best bet is usually to ask nonthreatening questions in order to determine the best way to move forward. Rather than freezing up or trying to prove how smart you are, ask respectful, intelligent questions

For example:

“What are our main goals for this year ?”
“What’s your number one priority  on this list?”
“What sort of qualities are you looking for in a _______?”
“How do you want me to proceed with so-and-so?”

Use thier favourite communication medium
Choose the way you are going to communicate with decision-makers and higher-ups based on the way they communicate with you. if  they prefer to communicate with you via email , send emails if over the phone, use the phone to contact them. They feel comfortable and familiar in their favorite communication medium.

Use firm language
Avoid using wishy washy kind of words like " I'll try " ,  use words such as, “I recommend” or “I suggest,”
rather than, “It seems to me” or “I think.”

Always treat them with respect and do not get into private life matters unless invited to do so

Cubicle / Partition Etiquette

Although in your partition or cubicle you can't see your coworkers but you can certainly hear what's going on next door so cubicles and partitions give only an illusion of privacy. the following cubicle/partition etiquette considerations can help make workflow much more smooth within the sometimes limited space in many workplaces nowadays.

- Your Cubicle / partition is a reflection of you so it's a good idea to keep it clean and well organized which will ultimately give a positive image of you .

- Try to keep eating in your cubicle to a minimum, smell of food can be distracting to coworkers around you

-  Discuss critical matters outside of your cubicle/partition , choose a more private setting

- Although everyone expects and accepts the occasional social call,receiving multiple calls (don’t fool yourself into thinking that your next-door neighbor won’t be listening) and getting lots of visits from coworkers who want to chat will annoy everyone around you. Keep chatting to a minimum.

- If possible, make your personal calls away from your cubicle while you’re on a break or at lunch, or make them while the people around you are in
meetings.

- Do not enter someone's cubicle/partition uninvited you need to be aware of people's privacy and personal space

- Do not interrupt someone in his cubicle/partition while he's using the phone with sign language and other moves to try and get his attention

- Be aware of how your voice projects (if you laugh loudly, for example, ask yourself if others can hear you and how it affects their concentration).

Meetings  Etiquette

What do you think about meetings ? are you attending too many meetings ? are they  a total waste of time, or do you think they are an effective way to communicate to large groups and a good opportunity of team members to get to know each other  more.

Businesspeople attend billions of meetings each year. The cost of these meetings is enormous . Even the cost of conducting a day-long meeting with 10 staff members is high. In addition to the meeting room, coffee, meals, travel, and audio-visual equipment, you have to add the cost of staff members pulled away from their jobs. For this reason alone, meetings need to make good use of everyone's time.

Meetings if poorly run can be a complete waste of time, especially if there are too many meetings, with too many participants and when the meeting itself has no real purpose they can run for longer than scheduled and become a platform for talkative people and few right decisions come out of them and they can even complicate straightforward issues.

On the other hand, meetings if they are run effectively can be an effective means to :

- Communicate to a group
- Meeting people face-to-face
- Improving the quality of decisions
- Getting to know people
- Drawing from a variety of different experiences and backgrounds
- A great team building tool

General Guidelines for holding effective meetings

- Do not hold a meeting simply for the sake of it

- Meetings should begin and end on time

- Meetings must have a complete meeting agenda that is circulated in advance to all participants

- Invite only people who need to be there

- Jobs must be assigned to the meeting participants , for example someone to take notes , someone to make sure we are following the agenda ...etc.

- Setting ground rules at the beginning of the meeting is also very helpful in getting  consensus about the timings , topics to start with and the order of speaking ..etc.

- Remember that arriving more than 10 minutes early  can be considered a breach of privacy if it's in someone's office

- If you Can’t help being late? Make a serious effort to phone ahead and let people know.

- When you do miss a meeting, make a point of apologizing forthrightly, rather than making excuses.

- Learn strategies for redirecting colleagues who go off on tangents during meetings.

Goodluck with your next meeting

Business Meals, Parties and Events

The main goal of mixing business with meals, parties, social events ..etc. is to get people to know each other better nurture personal trust and confidence in others whether its between staff and customers or staff of other companies for companies working and co-operating together on project or a strategic alliance or even to build better teams within the same company or within different tiers of a company.

From staff breakfasts to working lunches to cocktail receptions for clients, being in your best business form at any meal really pays off.
The following general guidelines will help ?

Confirm or decline promptly
Its good etiquette to respond to any invitation promptly whether you can make it or not . By timely responding to invitations others won't have to change last minute plans of reservations and any other logistics involved.

Dont' Show up late
Naturally a great start of an event begins with your punctuality, if you arrive late you give a rude and unprofessional impression of yourself and your company. If you have to be late due to unforeseen circumstances then you shouldn't be late more than 10 - 15 minutes maximum Otherwise you need to phone the host in advance and inform them politely that you will not be able to make it on time and state the reasons. 

Dress appropriately for the event
Find out from the host if you're not sure about the appropriate dress code ( if any ) for the event . Dressing appropriately shows respect and gives a positive image of you and your company.

Don't Bring an uninvited guest
Bringing someone uninvited certainly can stand out in some events needless to say some of the complications it can cause to the host of the events ( food, # of Chairs ..etc.). It is generally advised to avoid bringing uninvited guests along. 

Be friendly and cheerful
Introduce yourself to as many people as you can , be friendly and open to conversation. Networking in these events and getting to know more people can be very helpful in your career. Sometimes one conversation with one person can enlighten you in some way or give you an idea that may be life changing.

Keep up a Positive conversation
Keep conversations within the main interests that most people share , needless to say not getting into any confidential corporate information . Politics and religion related topics should be kept to a minimum or avoided altogether if possible.

Stay sober please
Its highly advised to use any alcoholic beverages in all business and social situations in moderation. Specially within a business event nobody wants to deal with a drunk making a scene.

Give Positive feedback 
Do not complain about location or venue to everyone around and start making negative comments and become a source of negativity towards the event. If you see something wrong notify the host/the person responsible for organizing the event discreetly

Know when to Leave
You should be sensitive to know when is the best time to leave , generally when about half the guests start to leave is a good time.  Try not to be the first or the last one to leave.

 Follow up with a thank-you note, e-mail, card, or letter of appreciation.