The #1 concern, and the concern of School Business Managers, was how to professionally interact with rude, angry or upset customers at your school.

We know this because since 2012 (when Just For Schools commenced), it has been the most requested training topic for Education Support Staff.

Professional skill development in the area of difficult customer interactions is not a one dimensional, one session, or one time activity. The art of professionally interacting with challenging humans has many layers of soft skills (people skills) and below gives you an overview of just some of the sessions we deliver at Just For Schools to build confident and professional frontline ESS:

• After Shock – Managing stress after difficult customer interactions.

• Staying Positive. Team harmony in times of customer outrage.

• Am I making it worse? Self awareness for frontline Education Support Staff.

• The fuel of bad behaviours. Understanding and using empathy with challenging customers.

• Taking The LEAD. A 4-step process to lead customers from emotional to rational.

• The Power of Stopping. 3-min daily activities to create a culture of confident communicators.

• I can’t hear you! What stops us all from active listening and how to turn it on.

• When customers are rude. How to gain respect face to face and over the phone.

So, as you can see from above, there are loads of professional and personal development sessions we deliver to help frontline ESS arrive and leave work feeling confident. It’s what we specialise in, and it’s what frontline ESS have needed since customer service began.

And here we are today, the start of 2022. We have been riding the COVID rollercoaster for 2 years, and frontline ESS are being asked to manage more and more difficult and demanding customers.

Sadly, a post on Instagram last week of a supermarket employee sitting in their car taking deep breaths before they started their shift, was not surprising. The comment read:

“Getting ready to answer the same questions over and over and over regarding RATs, product shortages, masks and no staff etc. I’m preparing to be abused. I can handle it, but not sure for how much longer.”

So, that’s the greatest fear – the fear of the unknown. The comments of support and shared feelings on the post were not just from supermarket staff – this kind of fear and fatigue impacts all industries. Even highly experienced and skilled customer service staff have limits.

There are of course polite and caring customers who greatly appreciate and support frontline ESS, but that doesn’t stop the anxiety fatigue that comes from an uncertain future; who or what will I have to deal with next?

What can you do about this?

Call us to discover the option that best fits your team, your time frame and your budget. 

Maybe you won’t learn anything new, but knowing that you are doing the right things now and putting in place a plan for the future will alleviate stress – yours and the stress of your frontline ESS.

By Cate Schreck – Author of “The A- Z of Service Excellence” Download the First Chapter for FREE

The post What Frontline Education Support Staff Fear Most About 2022 appeared first on Just For Schools.

Below is an overview of an interaction I recently had at a clothing store – maybe you can relate.

I walked into the store……

• I received an instant happy greeting with eye contact from what appeared to be a genuinely “pleased you are here” staff member.

• Staff member asks “How can I help you?” I said “I’m just browsing”. I kept my head down and moved away from the staff member

• Staff member didn’t take the hint. Staff member me and suggested I check out the specials.

• I say, “OK, sounds good – I’ll check them out in a minute”.  I hoped that would be enough to get them to leave me alone. It wasn’t, they kept hovering and offering more things.

• When I go to pay for the item I came in for, they told me just how great the store was and asked for my details so I can get a discount next time

• I like discounts so I fill out the required form and leave…almost tripping over myself in my hurry to get out the door.

• That same week I get a text message from the store saying I need to follow 3 easy steps to open my account and a link to do it. I don’t do it, I don’t have time. I didn’t do it later, I forget.

• Two months later I return and I don’t get a discount. I ask why and the person who serves me sighs and say’s ‘I don’t know’ then hands me the forms to start again.

The same scenario can also happen in a school environment.

• A new staff member joins the team and spends the first day sitting at a desk filling out forms with no understanding of why the forms are important. They miss signing in 2 spots and miss a section on 1 form completely..

• Staff have to advise parents/guardians of a new process. They advise this on the website and in the newsletter in the hope that people read/click, understand and ‘obey’. Many parents keep doing the old process and many more do the new process wrong.

• Some staff are sick of co-workers not cleaning up after themselves in the staff room so they put signs up reminding them it must be done. The staff room remains a mess.

When we tell people what we want them to do and how to do it, it leaves out respect and empathy for the person receiving the information. This can damage not only the reputation of the School, but the job satisfaction of all staff.

When we want others to do something new or different we must engage them early with a WHY – a WHY that inspires them to take action and/or a WHY that will have a positive outcome for them.

But, you also have to sell yourself whilst you communicate the WHY and HOW ie: be self aware, use positive body language and tone of voice, offer empathy, actively listen and encourage questions. These thoughts and actions are collectively referred to as Soft Skills.

The WHY and HOW communicated with excellent soft skills entices people to BUY products/services or BUY INTO processes, try new thing and embrace change.

Often the reason for leaving out the WHY is because we are busy. 

Emotionally intelligent ESS know that only telling people what and how, can lead to disharmony, mis-understanding and probelms with future interactions. More work and more time is then needed to repair the damage caused but not thinking and sharing WHY in the first instance.

Having the skills to ‘sell’ is a key part of any role in any business, including ESS in Schools. It allows them to confidentally sell ideas, sell change and sell new, better or different ways.

To sell well, ESS need highly developed soft skills.

Soft skills are our ability to communicate in a way that leads others to trust us, to want to listen to us and to recommend us to others. Soft skills make people feel valued and respected.

How do you improve the sales skills of your ESS?  Click here and all will be revealed.

By Cate Schreck – Author of “The A – Z of Service Excellence”

The post Why ESS need top level sales skills appeared first on Just For Schools.