Search results for 'tag:Punctuation tag:Accents' matching tags 'Punctuation' and 'Accents'

When a Smile is not a Smile

mindatrisk — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:30:24 GMT

Hello, this is an article that I have written to promote some theory that I have written, I know it is quite long, but if anyone could check my grammar and punctuation then I would be very grateful. I am most concerned about the second paragraph. Thank you.

..

When a smile is not a smile â¦

â¦ A customer that seems to be cared about is not the same as a customer that is cared about.

Herein lies your biggest problem. You want the customer service consultant that really does care about your customers. You want the customer service consultant that will sprint the extra mile, preferably shoe laces tied up, but more than willing to trip up in making the effort. You want the customer service consultant that, when the customer is satisfied, is plucking the cherry that makes them delighted.

This is the customer service consultant that sees a human being, and not just a cardboard cut-out customerâ¦ that sees a human being who craves peace of mind, and not just someone to make money fromâ¦ that sees that delivering them peace of mind is the best way to make money from them, and with the customers abiding blessings. These are the customer service consultants that you want. And these are the customer service consultants that you rarely get.

Except â¦

â¦ you do already have them.

Climb atop of your desk (it looks grand and health and safety is overrated anyway) and cast your gaze across the room. You donât see it, and for some reason they donât either. But your workforce - every last one of them - actually really does care about your customers. They care a lot. But they have forgotten, so now they must be reminded. For their good, for your good and for the customers good.

This should be music to your ears. It is vital, vital, vital for your business that your customers are cared about. But how to make your consultants care? You could cc them into a warm fuzzy, but this will work against you as much as for you. You can tie a bulging bonus to a piece of string and hope that they play chase, but on a cold Monday morning with three months until that quarterly bonus and a screaming customer on the line this probably isnât the incentive to transform the moment into a customer care heaven scene. You could even Go TotalitarianÂ© and attach electrodes to their nipples, but then youâd have to relocate east, and we all know how customers feel about foreign contact centres.

The thing is, none of this can make them care about the customer. Instead they push, shove and drag themselves into as much pleasantry as they can summon to try to seem like they care, then get stressed under the pressure of pretending to be what they do not feel for nine hours and leave their job mid-shift on a âtoilet breakââ¦ Not good for business. Your consultants need to care, so how?

Well â¦

â¦ Human beings are naturally altruistic.

Most of us do what we can when we can for other people. Many endeavour to do volunteer work with the most vulnerable in our society. Why? Because it makes us feel good. Altruism is enjoyable. Serving other human beings is enjoyable. Now, if serving other people makes us feel so good about ourselves then why on Godâs concrete Earth is the customer SERVICE sector not populated by the shiniest happiest people in all the land? I mean, these are people who get to serve other people ALL DAY LONGâ¦ and get paid! Those early morning birds / cars that wake us from our slumber should be greeted with a fairytale smile and twinkle in the eye at the prospect of nine whole hours at the call centre! âCall centre work rules!â should be graffiti scrawled across red-brick campus wallsâ¦ But it isnât. Why not? No, seriously, why not? A bit of help hereâ¦ Please?

Okay, so I am not quite sure why it is that temples arenât erected in honour of customer service, but I do know that, at least metaphorically, it is a very real possibility. We have the ingredients cut neatly on the faux marble work surface, and now we have our super-food in altruism that is going to bind and nourish this recipe.

Because â¦

â¦ Your staff do care about your customers.

They care because they are human beings who care about other human beings and enjoy caring about other human beings. And to be quite frank (but still Richard), very few of us do justice to how much we care when interacting with others. What is needed most of the time is just that little dash of awareness to bring out our altruistic flavours. You see, awareness leads us to empathy, and empathy finds a nature within us that is worlds apart from ourselves sans awareness.

For a heavy but clarifying example, if we knew that a loved one were to die tomorrow then there would be very little that they could do to upset or anger usâ¦ and yet, we do not know that a loved one will not die tomorrow. So, what gives? Simply put, what gives is that we just do not think about that. If we did then our compassionate nature would flourish and accord instinctively, but we donât and so we donât.

Letâs think about the customer. It is well documented that there is a certain breed of customer out there in the capitalist wilds that have been observed and classified (even tagged) as âdifficultâ. They are the ones that do not grasp that, maybe just maybe, the problem that they have most likely did not originate with yourselves, and that you are just the unfortunates with a target white tacked to your forehead. But this does not matter! This flight is under your control! Because, with that liberal sprinkle of awareness, you will see beyond your prevailing perception that, actually, this customer, like all human beings, probably has a very good reason for sharing their complete and utter disregard with you, and if you knew that reason (money problems, depression, abuse, tight trousers etc. etc.) then you would most likely feel compassion for the customer and really want to help them outâ¦ because you are human and you know what it is to hurt and you do care when other human beings hurt too.

Customer service â¦

â¦ is just human interaction.

And like any human interaction it can a be stimulating, meaningful, rewarding and educating experience. It is ludicrous like a hamster tasting tomato or a square shaped circle or tomorrow being yesterday and today for contact centre work to be considered mundane, repetitive and unsatisfying workâ¦ Ludicrous, I say! This work is river-bed rich in opportunity for growth through a constant and varied interaction with other peopleâ¦ a variety of interaction that is unique to customer care. An obnoxious customer may test your patience, or your tolerance may be spread nano thin by a customers heavy regional accent, but each is a challenge that can be embraced as a remarkable opportunity to learn and grow and express yourselves as human beings who really do careâ¦ Not just to become an ace hot-shot customer service consultant, and not even just because you will enjoy more harmonious and supportive relationships, but most of all because â¦

â¦ You Will Be Happy.

Lest I forget that this here article has been written to promote my training program, it goes without saying - even though I am going to say it - that this will be FANTASTIC for business. Perhaps even more so than I dare to believe at the moment, what with me being such a young upstart armed with a hat rack full of paradigm busting, evolutionary catalysing ideas, and all.

What I do is simpleâ¦ I gently wake people up. A little nudge here and a metaphorical Clockwork Orange eye opener there, until that natural vein of empathy is tapped and an expanded awareness is buckled in, and all of a sudden your consultants are charmed and honoured to be talking to even the most profound hell raising customerâ¦ I mean, we are talking about another human being here, devil horns or polished halo, this is an incomprehensibly unique individual who deserves the happiness that we too pursue, and you know what, maybe our happiness is invested in our desire to deliver them their happiness? I wouldnât be the first crazy to propose that maybe, just maybe, happiness has something to do with love, and not 6 digits in the fools gold account.

I am the perspective engineer that turns your thinking inside out until your customer nightmares are embraced as divine opportunities to practice and develop qualities like patience and tolerance which in turn make your customer service even betterâ¦ Genius! You get the consultants that your dreams dare not allocate space for, with customers who stall in their rant tracks in case this is actually the Dalai Lama answering their complaint, in a working environment that will have your staff wondering whether the golden age of peace and love is to begin in the humble call centre.

However, my motivation is not, and never will be, to make you more moneyâ¦ conversely, it is exactly that which will make you more successful than maybe even your calculator allows for.

The truth is that the insightful company who recognises that compassion and altruism and all other such nice, heart warming, picnic scene feelings are the key to customer care is the company that is going to be heralded as a visionary. If that company is yours, and you see the potential wonderfulness in what I have to offer, with the chance to cast yourselves in the non-fluorescent light of a pioneering and compassionate company; explorers in new directions and methods to attain excellence for the hallowed customer, whilst shattering the Made in Another EraÂ© mould and reassembling the pieces to form a new and vibrant era in mature and humanist customer care and employee regard, thenâ¦ HIRE ME! Or you could just ask for more informationâ¦

Here I amâ¦ Contact me!

Email: <removed by mod. Please include your contact details in your profile, if you want other members to contact you.>

Phone: <removed.>

Thank you for reading, it has been a pleasure having you read these words. And remember that, with thinkingâ¦. there is no box.

About the authorâ¦.

I am Richard Horrocks. I am a pioneering spirit with a passion for serving all human beings. I am here to deliver progressive and multi-dimensional ideas to those corners and shadows where they are most neededâ¦. The freshest ideas since âMilk-from-the-udder-Shakesâ.

Re: I Want To Be Fluent English Speaker How Please?

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 05:58:38 GMT

Hello to all,

I believe that to learn English depends of the interest of individual and depending of the English knowledge you wanted to learn. like for instance, if you want to speak English all you have to do is to listen very carefully to some tools such as CD, DVD, tapes etc. either audio or video, any kinds of topics as long as educational and knowledgeable and while you are listening just follow and speak what they are talking this is a training of the tongue or tongue twisting trying to develop proper accent, pronunciation, intonation etc, if any words you donât understand have your dictionary besides you and open it. next step just prepare any topics as guidelines [ prepare the main topics, sub topics and conclusion] prolong, elongate and expound the topics you wanted to discuss make it in English version at first you might have the difficulty to speak but try and try until your English would connect and connect at this point your trying to bridge the gap. What is needed in English is that at least you have many words to know {synonym and antonyms} is what i mean.

The basic training of English is that you have to speak English by any topics. I understand that for a person who lived {not speaking country have the difficulty to speak English} on my behalf, English education must start first on basic like for instance if you need English conversation find a person who could talk with you English, or else speak and talk English with yourself even if someone listening at you and say something you are a fool forget it. What is needed is you learn something and speak English. if you have the difficulty to write English just read books literatures etc at this point you can get many ideas and your vocabulary broadens, watch the period, punctuation, commas, etc, if you are not a good English listener try to listen English teachings, news whatever that could improve your English, the four pillars of English are: reading. Speaking, writing and listening, if you have this all then you can speak English although not fluent as what others did but at least you can communicate via reading, writing, listening and speak. Fluent English would follow donât give up keep trying until success.

I am a Filipino not an English speaker, writer, etc but in terms of communication i could communicate. For to me to learn English depends on individual. If we have the basic then we have to improve, have the desire, act on it, and apply no need a tutor individual interest is vital here. Donât be shy to speak English if the English is crooked and someone laughs at you accept it consider yourself that you are not an English person, perhaps the person who laughs at you donât know how to speak English and even to communicate with. Thereâs a saying goes: a noisy person have little knowledge than a silent one. in this world what is important is communication regardless of races, nationality and religion. a crooked English is better than nothing, a crooked or a carabao English has the opportunity to become fluent rather than nothing. but if you have nothing at all nobody blames except yourself, your making your own fate and destiny donât blame your parents and the government its your own decision for what you are now, your right decision now will be your future someday but if you donât plan or decision today do you think you have something to expect in the future. To speak English needs perseverance, long patience and determination to reach the goal this is fundamental requirements. people who cannot speak English has less opportunity to go abroad particularly in the open country, and thatâs the reason why I wanted to learn English even basic for this is my only tool to go to other countries if opportunities permit.

From Philippines,

Rene

Re: USA or UK

Charlotte_T — Mon, 28 May 2007 14:14:19 GMT

Thethenothere123 wrote:
Grammar Geek wrote:
I haven't read through all the pages on this topic, but has anyone commented on how NON-homogeneous UK and US English is? It's not like there's one "British English" or one "American English" unless you're been to broadcasting school. Someone from Yorkshire and someone from Cornwall have about as much in common as either does to someone from Alabama or Maine.

That's a good point. I honestly can't remember whether or not anyone has made it. However, I did try to make the point that for the vast majority of the people that speak English, the only real difference is the accent and certain prefernces in word usage (which are almost always understood perfectly well by everyone). In addition to that, there are some extremely minor differences in grammar/punctuation conventions between AmE and BrE, and that's it.

I agree there're always differences between British English spoken by two people from different places, eg. London and Oxford. But why can we differentiate between BrE and AmE? That's because, generally, there're still a lot of similarities between accents of Yorkshire and Cornwall, although we can't deny there're actually not the same. I think we're all talking about this issue generally, don't we? We sort out the accents into 2 main groups: AmE and BrE. Then under BrE group there're a lot of 'sub-groups'. It's hard to discuss and study in details about accents of Yorkshire and Cornwall because even people living in the same place could have slightly different accents.

P/S I mean no harm and I'm just trying to tell my opinions.

Re: How to speak good english?

Goodman — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 23:10:09 GMT

_{I believe this question is best answered by someone who sees it from the former learner's point of view because natives don't have to go through the seemingly impossible phases that the ESL learners must go through. To put it in perspectives I would offer the following for your reference:}

_{There are many facets of in learning English, depending on what the level of expectation and willingness are, the result can be different.}

_{I say this because I went through the ordeal. To learn English, or any language well, one must learn and build a solid structure. This one worked for me:}

_{1) Good grammar (basics like Capitalization, punctuation, tenses, spelling and part of speech)}

_{2) Build a functional and practical vocabulary (not words you only see 3 times in your life time)}

_{3) Watch educational programs as often as possible to develop speech and sentence pattern recognition. These programs are usually produced by BBC or PBS whos used qualified people with perfect English skills.}

_{4) Read and practice. Many learners 's mother tongues are not spoken the same way and therefore do not use the facial and tongue muscel as does English. Therefore reading out loud is a good way to train these muscels to work with English pronunciations. This process takes the longest time because if one is to speak and sound fluently like a well-educated native, or somewhat like one, chances are, he can not do it if he mixes English pronunciation with the his native accent.}

_{5) Avoid using big words on simple sentences. Many learners have this habits. Sometime, it can be quite amsuing.}

_{6) Last one is - don't be shy about asking questions. No question is stupid! unless you repeated it 3 times}

_{That is my experiene and I think it has worked for me.}

Re: USA or UK

Thethenothere123 — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 06:10:13 GMT

Grammar Geek wrote:
I haven't read through all the pages on this topic, but has anyone commented on how NON-homogeneous UK and US English is? It's not like there's one "British English" or one "American English" unless you're been to broadcasting school. Someone from Yorkshire and someone from Cornwall have about as much in common as either does to someone from Alabama or Maine.

That's a good point. I honestly can't remember whether or not anyone has made it. However, I did try to make the point that for the vast majority of the people that speak English, the only real difference is the accent and certain prefernces in word usage (which are almost always understood perfectly well by everyone). In addition to that, there are some extremely minor differences in grammar/punctuation conventions between AmE and BrE, and that's it.

Re: Can't read out with proper rythm, what can i do?

nona the brit — Sun, 07 May 2006 23:55:31 GMT

Hi,

I listened to your reading and it doesn't seem as bad as you think. Your accent is very American rather than Asian. You are a bit hesitant in a couple of places but most people are when they are learning a language. You are easily understood.

If you look at the punctuation, that will help you get the right rhythm and pause or stop in the right places. You can pause for long enough to take a quick breath at a comma and take a good breath after every full stop (period).

Re: Questions for non-native speakers of English.

YoungCalifornian — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 20:12:06 GMT

Thank you for your answers. I often wonder how English is perceived by those who don't use it as a first language. Since I've known English all my life, I feel like I've never been able to appreciate the aesthetic qualities of the language. I've tried looking at texts written in English and guessing what spelling or punctuation would look especially odd to someone who is not as familiar with the language (for instance, I thought perhaps the many apostrophes in English words might look as foreign to a Frenchman as the all the accents in French words do to me). Knowing that English is a Germanic language, I also wondered if it sounds as harsh as German (no offense, Germans), and even went so far as to listen to songs mumbled in English so as to get some idea.

This is all very enlightening.

Re: People from english speaking country

mike in japan — Thu, 12 May 2005 13:23:42 GMT

rainadaman

Your English is not bad at all. I was easily able to understand exactly what you said, even though there were a few minor mistakes. Please do not be too hard on yourself. Of course, you can improve, but so can we all.

The biggest challenge Indian people have when using English, is accent and pronunciation. I suspect these pose your greatest challenge. You should also try to pay a little more attention to punctuation.

It seems to me you already have a great 'feel' for English. With a little more work you have the potential to be an excellent user of English!

Don't be shy to use the great skill you already have. Nobody will expect you to be perfect.
Just go ahead and enjoy what you are already good at.

Good luck!