Relationship Management

at the Work Place

Samuel Aikhomu, MCIPM

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Contents

1. Relationship Management
2. Communication
3. Listening Skills
4. Customer Relations Management (CRM)
5. Good Relationship Management

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Course Objectives

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

Establish clear, valid and objective expectations for organizational

relationships and communication
Increase the effectiveness of listening abilities
Support organizational activities like recruitment, training, career growth
paths, and branding
Improve understanding the behaviour and personality of people at work
through careful, methodical preparation focused on retaining and growing
the values and culture critical for the organization to survive and prosper in
the long-term.

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Relationship Management
Relationship management aims to create a partnership between the
organization and its audience rather than consider the relationship
merely transactional.
Consumers who feel that a business responds to their needs are
more likely to continue using the products and services that a
business offers.
Additionally, maintaining a level of communication with consumers
allows the business to identify potential sources of costly problems
before they come to a head.
A strategy employed by an organization in which a continuous level
of engagement is maintained between the organization and its
audience.
Relationship management can be between a business and its
customers (customer relationship management) and between a
business and other businesses (business relationship management).
Relationship Management Skills
Whether you run a large company with hundreds of employees or a small
business that knows all of its customers by name, great relationship
management skills will always set you apart from your competitors and help
you retain customers.
Awareness of customer needs -Unless you know what your customers need,
youll struggle to attract their attention and convince them to do business
with you.
Knowing your industrys priorities is an essential part of demonstrating your
value to prospects and building relationships.
One of the best ways to learn more about your target market is by surveying
existing customers to learn about what they do and dont value. You can do
this using online surveys and interview forms that simplify gather
information.
Direct marketing skills- Many businesses carefully monitor the amount of
money they spend on customer acquisition, but not their time. Your time is
valuable, and being able to quantify the value of your time makes calculating
your relationship management ROI simple.
Relationship Management Skills Contd
The ability to connect with strangers -Reaching out to prospects and turning
them into customers isnt easy. Even the most capable salespeople feel
anxiety and fear when a certain prospect has less interest in doing business
than they previously imagined.
One of the most important relationship management skills is the ability to get
along with strangers. From cold calls to prospect met at trade shows and
events, the skill of conversion and persuasion makes relationship
management far easier.
Ambition and motivation- An ambitious, motivated attitude is
essential for business success. People that are willing to reach out to
prospects and call existing customers to learn what theyre interested
in almost always excel past their complacent, passive counterparts.
Theres nothing wrong with being ambitious in sales and customer
service in fact, in the age of automated customer service and
online support forms, plenty of your customers will appreciate
speaking to a representative that cares about them.
Relationship Management Skills Contd
Sales funnel knowledge - Its a lot harder to get your first customers than it is
to get your second.
Many small businesses struggle with relationship management because they
cant acquire new customers at the right cost and pace for constant growth.
One of the most important relationship management skills is the ability to
acquire new customers while retaining existing ones. The easiest way to do
this is with an automated, systematized sales funnel.
Strategic thinking skills - When youre managing less than 100 customers,
its possible to get by without any strategy.
However, when youre managing relationships with tens of thousands of
customers, the ability to form strategies becomes essential for success.
Regardless of how good your customer service skills are, its impossible to
manage relationships using a team without a strategy in place.
From guides for solving the most common problems to simple principles,
relationship strategies matter.
Relationship Management Skills Contd
Strategic thinking skills - When youre managing less than 100 customers,
its possible to get by without any strategy.
However, when youre managing relationships with tens of thousands of
customers, the ability to form strategies becomes essential for success.
Regardless of how good your customer service skills are, its impossible to
manage relationships using a team without a strategy in place.
From guides for solving the most common problems to simple principles,
relationship strategies matter.
CRM software knowledge -Managing thousands of customers is far
from simple. By using modern customer relationship management
(CRM) software, you can keep a record of interactions with
customers across your entire organization.
From Salesforce.com to Zoho CRM, knowing how to use the most
common CRM applications will give you a huge advantage in
maintaining relationships across large companies and organizations,
as well as forming new ones.
 Customer Service -6 steps to
Customer Relationship Management

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Developing, Motivating and Managing your People

Many organizations may have hired the right people, there is still a
need to orient them into the organization's customer relationship
culture and define key communication skills.
In Call Centers and Technical Support departments, there is a
tendency to rely on technical/functional skills and neglect
interpersonal skills development. This can result in providing
acceptable material service, the more tangible aspect, yet
unacceptable personal service, the competitive differentiator.
Therefore to build a customer relationship culture, it is important to:
1. Provide training in key areas required to deliver exceptional
personal service
2. Reinforce these skills using ongoing coaching and feedback
3. Measure current performance levels
4. Reward performance using a combination of monetary awards and
non-monetary recognition
Establishing Effective Service Delivery Processes

Effective processes and procedures provide the foundation for

smoothing or inhibiting the material service element of the customer
interaction.
Efficient service delivery systems appear transparent to the
customer.
Poor systems create those 'speed bumps' that necessitate personal
intervention in order to satisfy the customer requirements.
The critical elements in ensuring a positive material customer
experience are:
1. Mapping the service delivery processes
2. Evaluating critical success points in the process
3. Defining service standards and objectives for these essential points
4. Establishing service delivery procedures to optimize material service
5. Creating service level agreements to smooth internal service
delivery
Building in Continuous Improvement

No matter how effective the service delivery processes, or well-

trained the service deliverers, things go wrong. Products have faults.
Customers get frustrated. Things slip through the cracks.
The organizations that are built around managing the customer
experience are able to resolve these issues effectively. This process
known as "recovery" is an important differentiator in building
customer loyalty.
In order to recover effectively, it is necessary to:
1. Actively seek customer feedback and complaints: you cannot
improve if you don't know what went wrong in the first place.
2. Train staff how to handle customer complaints effectively using the
correct mix of empathizing, apologizing and resolution.
3. Make sure that the real problem is solved, not just the symptoms.
4. Focus on proactive (prevention) as well as reactive (cure) problem
solving.
Ensuring Managers are the Key Change-Agents
As consultants, we observe that senior management often has the
vision, intention and commitment to introduce a comprehensive
customer relationship management system. The "make or break"
element is in involving middle management in the change process,
and empowering them to be the key change-agents.
To do this, it is important to:
1. Engage the management team early and often in the process
2. Involve management members in articulating the customer
experience strategy
3. Teach managers coaching skills so that they are able to articulate
and reinforce the key personal service skills
4. Use managers as facilitators when rolling out interpersonal skills
training
5. Reward managers on establishing, monitoring and updating service
delivery processes
6. Ensure managers are able to act as an example to their teams.
Communication in Relationship Management

Communication serves four major functions within a group or organization

Control
Motivation
Emotional expression
Information
Communication acts to control members behaviour in several ways
Organizations have authority hierarchies and formal guidelines that
employees are required to follow the rules, job related grievances, use of job
descriptions, company policies and procedures, where all these occurs, it is
said that communication is performing a control function.
Communication also monitors the members of organization in the areas of
work flows and decisions or task to be allocated

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Functions of Communication Contd

Communication foresters motivation by clarifying to employees what is to be

done, how well they are doing or not doing well and what can be done to
improve performance
For many employees their work group is a primary source for social
interaction.
The communication that takes place within a group is a fundamental
mechanism by which members show their frustration and feelings
satisfaction
Communication therefore provides a release for emotional expression of
feelings and for fulfilment of social needs
The final function that communication performs is in the role in facilitating
decision making. It provides the information that individuals and groups need
to make decision by transmitting the data to identity and evaluate alternative
choices

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Communication Process an Impact on
Relationship

Before communication can take place, a purpose, expressed as a

message to be conveyed is needed to customers or clients or
employees.
It passes between a source (sender) and a receiver.
Communication process is the step between a source and a receiver
that result in the transference and understanding of meaning
Encoding is converting a communication message to symbolic form
Then message is what is communicated.
Channel is the medium through which a communication message
travels.
Decoding is retranslating a senders communication message
Then feedback is the final link in the communication process, puts
the message back into system as a check against
misunderstandings.

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Listening Skills in Relationship Management

Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages

in the communication process involving customers needs, clients
requirements and expectations

Listening is key to all effective communication, without the ability to

listen effectively messages are easily misunderstood
communication breaks down and the sender of the message can
easily become frustrated or irritated.

Listening is so important that many top employers provide listening

skills training for their employees. This is not surprising when you
consider that good listening skills can lead to better customer
satisfaction, greater productivity with fewer mistakes, increased
sharing of information that in turn can lead to more creative and
innovative work.
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Listening Skills Contd.
Many successful leaders and entrepreneurs credit their success to
effective listening skills. Richard Branson frequently quotes listening
as one of the main factors behind the success of Virgin. Effective
listening is a skill that underpins all positive human relationships,
spend some time thinking about and developing your listening skills
they are the building blocks of success.

Hearing refers to the sounds that you hear, whereas listening

requires more than that, it requires focus.

Listening means paying attention not only to the story, but how it is
told, the use of language and voice, and how the other person uses
his or her body. In other words, it means being aware of both verbal
and non-verbal messages. Your ability to listen effectively depends
on the degree to which you perceive and understand these
messages.

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Customer Relationship Management
(CRM)

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Customer Relations Management
Customer relationship management (CRM) refers to the practices,
strategies and technologies that companies use to manage, record
and evaluate customer interactions in order to drive sales growth by
deepening and enriching relationships with their customer bases.
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a term that refers to
practices, strategies and technologies that companies use to
manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the
customer lifecycle, with the goal of improving business relationships
with customers, assisting in customer retention and driving sales
growth.
CRM systems are designed to compile information on customers
across different channels -- or points of contact between the
customer and the company -- which could include the company's
website, telephone, live chat, direct mail, marketing materials and
social media.
CRM systems can also give customer-facing staff detailed
information on customers' personal information, purchase history,
buying preferences and concerns. 20
Customer Relations Software

CRM software consolidates customer information and

documents into a single CRM database so business
users can more easily access and manage it.

The other main functions of this software include

recording various customer interactions (over email,
phone calls, social media or other channels, depending
on system capabilities)

Automating various workflow processes such as tasks,

calendars and alerts, and giving managers the ability to
track performance and productivity based on information
logged within the system.
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Common Features of CRM Software
Marketing automation: CRM tools with marketing
automation capabilities can automate repetitive tasks to
enhance marketing efforts to customers at different
points in the lifecycle.
For example, as sales prospects come into the system,
the system might automatically send them marketing
materials, typically via email or social media, with the
goal of turning a sales lead into a full-fledged customer.
Sales force automation: Also known as sales force
management, sales force automation is meant to prevent
duplicate efforts between a salesperson and a customer.
A CRM system can help achieve this by automatically
tracking all contact and follow-ups between both sides.

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Common Features of CRM Software
Contact center automation: Designed to reduce tedious aspects of a
contact center agent's job, contact center automation might include
pre-recorded audio that assists in customer problem-solving and
information dissemination.

Various software tools that integrate with the agent's desktop tools
can handle customer requests in order to cut down the time of calls
and simplify customer service processes.

Geolocation technology, or location-based services: Some CRM

systems include technology that can create geographic marketing
campaigns based on customers' physical locations, sometimes
integrating with popular location-based GPS apps.

Geolocation technology can also be used as a networking or contact

management tool in order to find sales prospects based on location.

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Building Good Work Relationships

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Making Work Enjoyable and Productive

Good working relationships lead to enjoyment and higher

productivity.

How good are the relationships that you have with your colleagues?

According to the Organizational Psychologists, people who have a

best friend at work are seven times more likely to be engaged in their
jobs. And it does not have to be a best friend researches found that
people who simply had a good friend in the workplace are more likely
to be satisfied.

In this session, we are looking at how you can build strong, positive
relationships at work.

It is important to have good working relationships.

We need to strengthen our relationships with people that you do not
naturally get on with.
Why Have Good Relationships?
Human beings are naturally social creatures we crave friendship and
positive interactions, just as we do food and water. So it makes sense
that the better our relationships are at work, the happier and more
productive we are going to be.
Good working relationships give us several other benefits: our work is
more enjoyable when we have good relationships with those around us.
Also, people are more likely to go along with changes that we want to
implement, and we're more innovative and creative.
Good relationships give us freedom: instead of spending time and energy
overcoming the problems associated with negative relationships, we can,
instead, focus on opportunities.
Good relationships are also often necessary if we hope to develop our
careers. After all, if your boss doesn't trust you, it is unlikely that he or she
will consider you when a new position opens up. Overall, we all want to
work with people we're on good terms with.
We also need good working relationships with others in our professional
circle. Customers, suppliers, and key stakeholders are all essential to our
success. So, it is important to build and maintain good relations with
these people.
Defining a Good Relationship
There are several characteristics that make up good, healthy working relationships :
Trust This is the foundation of every good relationship. When you trust your
team and colleagues, you form a powerful bond that helps you work and
communicate more effectively. If you trust the people you work with, you can be
open and honest in your thoughts and actions, and you don't have to waste time
and energy "watching your back."
Mutual Respect When you respect the people that you work with, you value
their input and ideas, and they value yours. Working together, you can develop
solutions based on your collective insight, wisdom and creativity.
Mindfulness This means taking responsibility for your words and actions. Those
who are mindful are careful and attend to what they say, and they don't let their
own negative emotions impact the people around them.
Welcoming Diversity People with good relationships not only accept diverse
people and opinions, but they welcome them. For instance, when your friends and
colleagues offer different opinions from yours, you take the time to consider what
they have to say, and factor their insights into your decision-making.
Open Communication We communicate all day, whether we're sending emails
and IMs, or meeting face-to-face. The better and more effectively you
communicate with those around you, the richer your relationships will be. All good
relationships depend on open, honest communication.
Where to Build Good Relationships
Although we should try to build and maintain good working relationships with
everyone, there are certain relationships that deserve extra attention.
For instance, you will likely benefit from developing good relationships with key
stakeholders in your organization. These are the people who have a stake in your
success or failure. Forming a bond with these people will help you ensure that
your projects, and career, stay on track.
To find out who these people are, do a Stakeholder Analysis . Once you've
created a list of colleagues who have an interest in your projects and career, you
can devote time to building and managing these relationships.
Clients and customers are another group who deserve extra attention. Think of
the last time you had to deal with an unhappy customer; it was probably
challenging and draining. Although you may not be able to keep everyone happy
100 percent of the time, maintaining honest, trusting relationships with your
customers can help you ensure that if things do go wrong, damage is kept to a
minimum.
Good relationships with clients and customers can also lead to extra sales, career
advancement, and a more rewarding life.
How to Build Good Work Relationships

What can you do to build better relationships at work?

Develop Your People Skills - Good relationships start with good people skills.
Take our How Good Are Your People Skills? quiz to find out how well you
score with "soft skills" such as collaboration, communication and conflict
resolution. This self-test will point you to tools that will help you deal with any
weaknesses that you have.
Identify Your Relationship Needs - Look at your own relationship needs. Do
you know what you need from others? And do you know what they need
from you? Understanding these needs can be instrumental in building better
relationships.
Schedule Time to Build Relationships - Devote a portion of your day toward
relationship building, even if it's just 20 minutes, perhaps broken up into five-
minute segments. For example, you could pop into someone's office during
lunch, reply to people's postings on Twitter or LinkedIn , or ask a colleague
out for a quick cup of coffee. These little interactions help build the
foundation of a good relationship, especially if they're face-to-face.
Focus on Your EI - Also, spend time developing your emotional intelligence
(EI). Among other things, this is your ability to recognize your own emotions,
and clearly understand what they're telling you. High EI also helps you to
understand the emotions and needs of others.
How to Build Good Work Relationships

Be Positive - Focus on being positive . Positivity is attractive and

contagious, and it will help strengthen your relationships with your
colleagues. No one wants to be around someone who's negative all the time.
Manage Your Boundaries - Make sure that you set and manage boundaries
properly all of us want to have friends at work, but, occasionally, a
friendship can start to impact our jobs, especially when a friend or colleague
begins to monopolize our time. If this happens, it's important that you're
assertive about your boundaries, and that you know how much time you
can devote during the work day for social interactions.
Avoid Gossiping Don't gossip office politics and "gossip" are major
relationship killers at work. If you're experiencing conflict with someone in
your group, talk to them directly about the problem. Gossiping about the
situation with other colleagues will only exacerbate the situation, and will
cause mistrust and animosity between you.
Listen Actively - Practice active listening when you talk to your customers
and colleagues. People respond to those who truly listen to what they have
to say. Focus on listening more than you talk, and you'll quickly become
known as someone who can be trusted.
Difficult Relationships
Occasionally, you will have to work with someone you don't like , or
someone that you simply can't relate to. But, for the sake of your
work, it is essential you maintain a professional relationship with
them.
When this happens, make an effort to get to know the person. It is
likely that they know full well that the two of you aren't on the best
terms, so make the first move to improve the relationship by
engaging them in a genuine conversation, or by inviting them out to
lunch.
While you are talking, try not to be too guarded. Ask them about their
background, interests and past successes. Instead of putting energy
into your differences, focus on finding things that you have in
common.
Just remember not all relationships will be great; but you can make
sure that they are, at least, workable!
Key Points

Building and maintain good working relationships will not

only make you more engaged and committed to your
organization; it can also open doors to key projects,
career advancement, and raises.
Start by identifying the key stakeholders in your
organization. These people, as well as your clients and
customers, deserve extra time and attention.
Then, devote a portion of your day to laying the
foundation of good relationships. Even five minutes a
day, if it is genuine, can help to build a bond between you
and a colleague. Be honest, avoid gossip, and try to
compliment people on a job well done. After all, the more
you give in your relationships, the more you will get back
from those around you!
Thank you

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