Effective Communication is More Than Mere Speech
Acquiring good communication skills does not mean stopping at reasonably fluent speaking abilities. Communication skills involve a lot more than speaking. Once you are good at speaking, you need to figure out the nuances of effective and convincing speaking. In fact, most of the jobs that involve speaking such as BPO jobs, sales and marketing jobs and so on require you to convince your clients about the superiority of what you are selling them. If you are troubleshooting, your speech should sound professional and convincing enough for the customers to have faith in the steps that you are telling them to take. Hesitant and unclear speech can ruin the whole deal when it comes to effective communication.
So how do you go about speaking fluently and convincingly? The first thing is to know what you are talking about extremely well. If you are asked to make a presentation or demonstrate a product, make sure you research extensively and know all about your topic. The way it was manufactured/conceived, implemented, its benefits and salient features etc. Knowledge of other related products and how your product is ahead of competition will is also extremely important. Apart from speaking, use illustrations, pictures and statistics. Appear confident during your presentation and answer all questions with the same poise and confidence. You’ll do well to rehearse your presentation before facing important clients and customers.
Most companies will train you so that you get to know all about their products and services. But you need to have the willingness to learn. Memorizing tech specs and attempting to recite them from memory won’t lend your voice any air of confidence. Confident speech results from your deep understanding of the topic and the initiative to develop that understanding should come from you
Provide Effective Feedback
One of the important aspects of communication, one that is usually not given much importance is the ability to provide feedback. In a job that requires extensive networking, communication and sessions with clients and customers, the need for feedback is paramount. Your feedback could be asked for if you are a part of quality control or if you are required to review and write about new launches and products. Feedback becomes an important responsibility if you are a part of a material development team or working in a publishing house.
Feedback has to be objective and should be formulated after thorough examination. Make sure you have reviewed the product in question intensively before working on a feedback. Your feedback has to be goal oriented and you need to think about all the various ways to improve the product. Positive feedback is graciously accepted but when you are giving negative feedback, you need to ensure you have valid reasons and suggestions on what has gone wrong and how you think that could affect the quality and appeal of the product. For example, if you are objecting against controversial content in learning material or a book, you need to clearly state how the content in question can cause trouble and what you think should be done to alter it.
Make your feedback impersonal and always remember to cite sources if you have consulted any. Credible and esteemed sources can lend a lot of value to your feedback-both positive and negative.
Fast and Accurate:The Keywords of Typing
In this post, I would like to focus on a skill which i feel is somewhat neglected by trainers and trainees alike. When you talk of job training or improving employability, the first few things that come to your mind are communication, organization, writing etc. However, several positions in the industry require you to possess efficient and fast typing skills in addition to the obvious ones. It will definitely add to your credentials if you work on your typing speed and accuracy.
Practicing typing is largely similar to practicing writing, with the difference being you can choose not to be imaginative and just copy text from a book or article. While typing, keep a watch handy so that you can calculate how many words you are typing in a minute. Most companies which are keen on your typing speed would want to know your WPM (Words Per Minute) count. As you go along, pay attention to accuracy as well. It won’t do to have your fingers flying all over the keyboard at lightning speed only to create content which is full of typos. Try to stay away from the “delete” and “backspace” buttons as much as possible and hit each key only once to form words.
Start slow and with practice, you will surely pick up pace.
Learning English:Exposure Emphasized
One of the most important things you need to remember as a BPO employee is that the people you will be calling might be very different from you and me. They are based in different countries and belong to various cultures. The way they speak and use languages are different as well. Different countries bring in certain unique words and expressions to the English language which are derived from their cultures and their native languages. While training a BPO employee, companies usually spend a lot of time familiarizing him/her with these unique expressions since failure to comprehend these might lead to a breakdown in communication.
If you are aspiring for a BPO job and looking to enhance your employability, you will do well to look at some of these unique words and phrases and make a habit of using them while speaking. I am pretty sure an expression like “It’s a lemon” will perplex most of us in India but in the US, this phrase is commonly used to describe something that is defective. Thus a good knowledge of these expressions will surely help you get ahead of competition if you are looking forward to a rewarding BPO career.