Responding to customers who are dissatisfied can be a stressful and challenging task. But it is also a very important one. A customer who cares enough to contact you is someone who wants to keep doing business, and that means you have a chance to repair and even build that customer relationship.

Understanding what the customer really wants and dealing with it in a professional and personal manner will ensure that you maintain a strong rapport. Learning to use the appropriate tone and structure for your communication as well as discovering how to empathise with your client will make writing to them comfortable and even enjoyable.

In this interactive workshop, Andy Gurnett will guide you through techniques and strategies that help you get right to the heart of what your customer wants and respond in a way that wins respect and support.

Objective

At the end of the workshops participants will:

• better understand customer motivations
• know how to write with customer-friendly structure and layout
• be able to recognise real issues and how to prioritise them
• know how to hit the right tone
• have more confidence in writing back to customers

Outline

Understanding Customers

• Complaints, who cares?
• The value of complaints
• Putting yourself in the customer’s shoes
• Customer profiling

Modern Business Writing Refresher

• The 5Cs of business writing
• Modern business vocabulary
• Helpful subject lines
• Reader friendly structure and layout

Getting the Right Approach

• Preparing to write
• Understanding what’s wrong
• Dealing with feedback in social media

Adding Polish and Panache

• The three ‘P’s - Personal, Positive and Professional
  - Writing with a personal tone
  - Writing with a positive tone
  - Writing with a professional tone
• Case study

Who should attend

If you ever write to customers or want to improve your writing in general, this is the course for you.

Methodology

This one-day programme will be a mixture of trainer led-discovery, hands-on activities, discussion and case study.

Speaker Profile

Andy has worked in learning and development in Singapore and the region for over nineteen years. He ran the British Council’s Professional Development Centre for several years and, prior to setting up The Right Angle, spent two years as a Deputy Director working for the Singapore Government’s Institute for Adult Learning. Andy has trained thousands of people in a range of topics over the years and has developed a very clear understanding of what people and organisations need to make their learning successful. 

On the subject of written communication, in the last few years he has worked with organisations such as Sumitomo Corporation, the Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association, Fitch Ratings, SingTel, SingHealth, Mitsui & Co, Keppel Land, NTUC Income, Jurong Port, Vopak Terminals, and BYD Daimler.  

Andy has a degree in Electronics from the University of Keele in the UK, a post-graduate certificate and diploma in adult learning, and a number of practitioner qualifications in learning tools for team and leadership development. He is a professional grade member of the Adult Educators’ Network, Singapore. 

Andy has delivered presentations at a number of HR conferences, and in 2010 shared his ideas on creativity in photography (his pastime) at a TEDx Singapore event.