.

As companies push toward profitability,it would be wise to seek help by invoking customer service excellence. What do you think?

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This part of my post is mainly for my recent readers who took time, not only to read, but also to comment on what they read. What more can I ask? Here are my replies  I will first reply to each in turn, using the names they chose as Author then follow up with a short post which I hope everyone will find interesting and a good reason to come back here in ... << MORE >>

An Upsurge

Suddenly, there seems to be an upsurge in the number of people who are willing to sound more pompous in their delivery. And how are they achieving their aim? By preceding several sentences with an initial and over-worked "most importantly". Then, having done this, they continue along a road of  no return, a treacherously downhill and rocky path, as they attempt  to communicate what falls into the realm of "most importantly".
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Janet Carmichael

Miracle Soft Skills Performance Improvement

May 15,  2011

     

 Allow me to introduce my recently published book, Say What? Here’s How you Can Say and Write it Better. 

Say What? is the result of many years of my own intense discomfort every time I hear or see the English Language “slaughtered”. It is my way of spreading the word to people that there is a better way to say or to write something they might have just said or written.  It is all about accurate and effective communication skills.

Why not consider a short workshop for your staff to help remove communication lapses that are dealt with in the material of my book? There may even be other communication issues that are unique to your employees' needs:

• Writing effective emails
• Report writing
  
• Active listening and its benefits in the work place
  
• Speech
• The Platinum Rule—an improvement on the Golden Rule
  

Say What? safely steers you clear of many pitfalls in communication, offering help to communicate with confidence and credibility, and ultimately help in creating a more successful career, a successful work environment, a successful life.

Did it ever occur to you that some find it difficult to choose between these two  pronouns,  I and me? 

Look at these incorrect sentences:

Kailey brought flowers for you and I.   

You and me will buy those books tomorrow.   

 

(Image from Microsoft clipart & pictures)

You wonder, "Can I safely say you and me this time

Or is it now just you and I?"

Corrections:

Kailey brought flowers for you and me.
You and I will buy those books tomorrow.

Explanation:
 
Flowers is the DIRECT OBJECT. These are what Kailey actually brought. But Kailey brought the flowers for some people—you and me. How can she bring flowers for I?
Use, instead, "Me", the INDIRECT OBJECT,  the receiver of the flowers.

I, on the other hand, is a subject pronoun—always doing, never receiving.
Say also, "You and I will buy those books tomorrow."  Would you ever say, "Me will buy those books tomorrow?" Of course not!
The pronoun "I" is part of the subject of this sentence —always doing, buying, always performing an action—the subject of the verb.
                                                                    

Now, here's another type of error:

There are never instances of 12:00 a.m. or 12:00 p.m.

It is either 12:00 noon or 12:00 midnight.  Believe me.

 

(Image from Microsoft clipart and pictures)

  So, when you're asked, "What time is it?" as you get between the sheets,

Your clock says 12:00. You know it's right. It's always on the beat.

But a.m. or p.m. to complete your answer is just not right;

Just say, with confident precision, "It's 12:00 midnight."

The way we communicate with people—both in speech and in writing—is a true indication of the effect we have whether we are in the classroom or in the boardroom. To depend on usage or on rote can be embarrassingly unreliable. Be sure that what you say or what you write is correct. Learn the rules of the “game” and follow them.  Send me your questions and I'll gladly answer them. "Seriously?" you ask. Yes, seriously.

 The Bonus

Visit my blog at http://blog.miraclesoftskills.com where lively, and interesting articles deal with these issues  You are welcome to a free subscription and encouraged to leave your comments. Visit www.miraclesoftskills.com  and find more areas of interest within Miracle Soft Skills Performance Improvement.  The name says it all.

     The Game: Playing to Win
       
The Grammar Effect

What is it about the word Grammar, that immediately transforms the healthiest of complexions into a sickly pallor—the color draining from the beautiful original that was present just seconds before the word was mentioned?  Strangely, people exhibit different emotions at the mere mention of this word: fear, annoyance, anger and yes, at times, just plain nonchalance—but rarely the heightened interest and excitement (Yes, I did say excitement) that it merits.

So Many Nays

I have heard real arguments that Grammar is ancient; that people should not be hampered by anything that slows the pace of communication; that there are too many exceptions; that there is an element of snobbery somewhere among those who insist on using correct Grammar; that during early childhood and the acquisition of language, children speak without a need for the rules of Grammar. And I can offer a good rebuttal for each of these arguments; but rebuttals would not lessen the hostility or, at times, the apathy that is evident toward this essential part of the communication process. That the importance of Grammar has withered and is about to die seem of no consequence, since nothing is being done to forestall its hastening demise.

 Changing Scenes

Having been active in the teaching of English for many decades, and in different countries,  I have witnessed policy on the teaching of Grammar change from being
 
a) An absolute necessity in classrooms everyday, with many exercises to reinforce its correct use and application—and with great results, to 

b)  One in which Grammar must be incidental— or prescriptive, requiring it to be corrected only when the student uses the incorrect forms or structures in a Writing exercise. And now, a natural progression, to

c) One in which the entire teaching profession has apparently become afflicted with the "No Grammar Virus" which requires that the subject receive scant attention—if any—in the classroom. 

An Unfair Competition

The emphasis is placed, instead, on Math and the Sciences—a plausible emphasis I agree since one cannot deny that Mathematics and the Sciences are crucial to our world. But let not this emphasis in one direction plus the requirements of standardized tests dim the importance of teaching the rules of Grammar. This is a real necessity if the student ever has the need to write or speak correctly and confidently. And who doesn't have that need?

 Consider this a plea for good communication skills. Writing, incidentally, is an important part of the school's curriculum, a curriculum that seemingly does not similarly cater for Grammar. Is something missing here? How will students construct a sentence correctly if they are unaware of the rules of sentence construction? How will teachers teach Grammar effectively if the system that prepares them for their jobs pays scant attention to the rules of Grammar? How will students master the conjugation of verbs of a foreign language if they do not first learn to conjugate the verbs of their own language?

A Definition 

I will inject here a word of caution: Let's not confuse Grammar with Punctuation, as is so often done; neither should we bring Spelling into this discussion, inspite of its importance in effective communication. Punctuation and spelling are two different areas of study, each requiring its individual discussion. So then, what is Grammar?

In a nutshell, Grammar is the branch of language study which deals with the way words relate to one another in a sentence as we write or speak our thoughts. It is based on a set of rules. 
Here is one of the simplest rules: The verb must agree with its subject in number. This means that if the subject of a sentence is singular (pertaining to one) then the verb in that sentence must also be singular. 
                     Subject     verb
Example:The girl swims in the pool. 

Likewise, if the subject is plural (more than one) then the verb must be plural. 
                       Subject     Verb
Example: The girls swim in the pool.


The Dire Consequences

 When we know the rules and apply them, our sentences are well constructed and we are able to communicate at a level of competence. Abandon the rules, and the consequences could easily be a prevalence of sentences like these:

• You was not there when I called this morning.
•  He and me are good friends.
• Jenny brought the rose plants for Pat and I.
• She was suppose to be at the office today.
• There is several reasons to be happy today.
• You're tired now. Go and lay down.

 In each of the sentences above, a rule was broken.  Can you identify the errors, correct them, and determine which rules were broken? If you take the time to do this, you could check in at my next post to see if we agree on something. You may also have noticed that I am not attempting to touch the new language of texting, unqualified as I am. 

The Game: Playing to Win

Did someone say, "Enough"? So, I guess I will stop here. But not before I make the important point, that any good sportsperson, in order to play well and win the game, must be equipped with a knowledge of the rules of that game. Can you imagine NFL teams vying for the Super Bowl Trophy with no knowledge of the rules of their game? Language presents a similar challenge. We need to learn the rules of our language—the Grammar—in order to proceed with confidence as we use it in our everyday lives, winning every time. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________


This post, like many others,  is based on the material in my recently published book,  Say What? Here's How You Can Say and Write it Better. 

Say What? may be obtained from BarnesandNoble.com, from Amazon.com or from the author, Janet Carmichael, by writing to jcarmic@miraclesoftskills.com

PS
As promised earlier, here is the information about the rss feed. I hope this helps:
 http://blog.miraclesoftskills.com/rss2.aspx

This post is dedicated to some of the comments from my readers and the answers I have given in response to those comments.  I will answer them all in time. I will.

 

First, I must respond to the many expressions of appreciation for the site, the posts and for your having stopped by to read. But here’s a question for you who have recently found the site, Say What?  Would you tell me how you happened upon this site?  I’m interested and, at the same time, extremely pleased that you found it.

Say What? is the name of my recently published book about Effective  Communication. Please take a moment sometime soon to read this book: Say What? Here's How You Can Say and Write it Better

 

In Chapter Three of Say What, I dealt with a number of words that I named “non-words”. These are words like irregardless and conversate.  Now, tell me honestly, what else could we call them? They are not words, but some people use them, never-the-less.  Yet, who knows what is in the future of these words that today evoke such merriment when we hear them, English being the "crazy", wonderful, living language that it is? I still think those two are outside the realms of such a possibility.

 

But I digress. Back in May 2010, my blog "Let's Wage War on the Non-word" appeared here and one commenter asked this question:

 

Question

 Do you differentiate between spoken and written "non words"?  For example, you would rarely see bidness (business) or strimp (shrimp) in the written form. Surely, these are mainly spoken.

 

Are we communicating?

My Answer

This is true, and I must confess that although I have heard strimp, I have never seen someone actually write the word strimp. The same is true for bidness.

 

However, I have found that the way someone pronounces a word is exactly the way that person will painstakingly attempt to write it. As a result, written or spoken, the effect on communication remains the same—ineffective; unless, of course, you and the speaker or writer belong to the same speech community. By that I mean, you speak the same dialect.

We know that communication, in order to be effective, must deliver the same message to the listener that the sender intended. Therefore, since in most cases, what people say is what they write, this habit often leaves “outsiders” (of the speech community) completely unaware of what is being communicated.  Communication, therefore, becomes ineffective.

 

Quite often the problem goes beyond the “non-word”. Let’s take as an example, the word, F-e-b-ru-a-r-y. Many people say F-e-b-u-a-r-y, completely ignoring the little “r” that’s dying to be heard, and, as a result, they also write F-e-b-u-a-r-y. Then they look completely astonished when you gently break it to them that the word is really Feb-ru-ary, and not Feb-u-ary.  

After such a discussion, one person glibly told me, “Well, I think you’ll just have to give up on me with this one.” She had become so accustomed to saying Feb-u-ary, that none of the methods I was using at the time was going to help her break the habit.  Changing to another method seemed to produce the result we needed.

 

The same goes for words like re-cog-nize. People who say this word without the “g” sound tend to write it without the letter “g”. And I’m also quite sure you are aware that some people write and say “Old Timers” when they really should be writing and saying “Alzheimer’s”. 

 

This has been my experience, but I would not be in the least bit surprised if there are instances in which some people say one thing and do, I mean write, another.

 

Let's replace the silence with effective communication


Question

Have you thought of making a video?  and

Have you thought of adding a video so as to keep your readers entertained?

                             

My Answer

I promise I will eventually add videos. And although I cannot guarantee your entertainment, I can promise you will find them worthwhile and informative. I'll be working on your suggestion and thank you.

 

Comment

I do have to admit that I appreciate studying your weblog, even when I do not agree with you. . . .

 

My Response

Wonderful! Let’s hear your points of disagreement, CC.  I am far from perfect; and would like to hear the dissenting points. But I promise you, I can argue myself out of a corner if you place me in one.

 

 

Some readers have expressed a desire to bookmark the site.  Although subscribing is an option, you may not want to receive an email message each time a new post is out. There is also the relatively new-to-me rss feed, which, apparently, is the real answer to this question. But I must first have it set up on my blog. So what am I waiting for, you say; especially since some readers are already asking for it?  I’ll get to it. 

 

Before I end this post, I would like to give “Christmas Bells” my permission to use what is needed from these articles with a link back to me as suggested. 

 

Finally, here is a warm thank you again to everyone for your kind words and your great interest in what I enjoy doing. I will write a regular post next time.

I wish you all peace, light and love. 

 

It has been quite a while, I know. But here I am once more, and with me, my brand new 2011 resolution to respond within my blog to some of the comments I find so often from you, my readers— even some of those you posted since last year.

So far, I have responded to you in a few sentences, but in subsequent posts, I will discuss one, two or three comments in one posting—and perhaps get your further feedback. Right now, however, bear with me as I discuss a pet peeve of mine in this posting: De-Humanizing the Customer Service Process. It is still all about communication.
__________________________________________________________________________________

De-Humanizing the Customer Service Process

_________________________

 

   The Automated Voice

For many corporate decision makers, customer service bears little relation to the prosperity of their companies—or at least, that’s what they think.  And just when it seemed some companies could no more lower the quality of customer service they provide, the stark truth has become apparent.  They can, and they do.                                                                                         

 

There is an even more frightening truth: No one seems inclined to do anything about it; “it” being the not-so-new technology called automated customer service, which seems today to be taking on even wider proportions.  Here is a monster sadly plowing its way through industry, and more particularly, through the customer service departments of many organizations, leaving a trail of irate customers in its wake.

 

 

One can, perhaps, see the need for outbound voice messaging in certain situations, or even the need for a level of the interactive voice response technology at the beginning of a call.  The customer is prompted to press one, press two and yes, perhaps, even press three to get to the right department.  That’s fair. The frustration builds when this goes on relentlessly, when callers must provide an ever-increasing list of information, because “I can help you right here” says the voice.   By now, the voice has stepped outside the realm of “help” and has now become a real hindrance.  

The Voice

 

There is no respite in spite of customers’ pleas for an agent or representative, with the pleas becoming even more urgent when an obvious breakdown in communication has occurred. We get instances of this when the voice keeps saying, “Oh, I didn’t get that” or you spell your name for the third time and the voice repeats the spelling of your name incorrectly. And here’s a timely warning: hitting “0” does not always get you to a live agent, even at this point.

 
 

    The Suffering Customer

 

 

Arguments for this brand of customer service include the fact that callers are informed beforehand that the voice will ask a specific number of questions in order to get them to the right person.  But is it good customer service when—and if—the caller eventually gets to that right person, invariably, the same questions are asked all over again?

 

 

A List of Questions

 

Even a recent attempt by some organizations to make these voices “nicer” or “more competent” does not relieve the caller of the stress generated or the time wasted by this wildly inefficient and customer-unfriendly technology.  It may be true that these businesses are saving on hiring, they may even see immediate increases in revenue, since these calls are purported to cost companies only a few cents as compared with between five and seven dollars for a live agent’s call.   But does this compensate for the financial loss, when callers—customers and potential customers—in frustration, transfer their patronage to a friendlier environment elsewhere; if, indeed, there is an “elsewhere”?

And The New Yorker Has Its Say 

James Sorowiecki points out in his article, “Are You Being Served? in The New Yorker , September 6, 2010, that “Modern businesses do best at improving their performance when they can use scalable technologies that increase efficiency and drive down cost. But customer service isn’t scalable in the same way; it tends to require lots of time and one-on-one attention.”

 

One should, also, not lose sight of the fact that a satisfied customer is a great marketing tool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you

 I would like to thank the faithful and brave among you who come here to read and leave your comments.  Oh yes! I like those  comments. And, if you would just stop to notice, I do respond.  They, the comments I mean, are very encouraging. They even make me feel that what I'm doing is worth while.   I welcome them. 

"Your" instead of "You're"

In  today's article, I will underscore one particular digression from the straight and narrow that I mentioned in Say What? and  which keeps coming back like a horrible nightmare.

Someone I know very well went to a function recently. It was the celebration of a birthday. Everything was going beautifully until the  cake appeared.  At that point she could not resist taking a picture even if it was just to prove to herself that what she was seeing was true. Here are the words on the birthday cake. Can you see the error?      


                                                                                                                                 "                               " Your"  instead of " You're"                 


I mentioned this example on page 68 of Say What? and, as I said there, "In some cases we think the right thing was said",  however, when we commit it to a page, then the error that was present all the time, jumps out at us. In this case, someone committed it to a cake. The cake probably looked great and I am sure it was delicious, too; but the extra effort  it  would have taken to communicate accurately was sorely missing.

The Impressionable Young Among Us

I'm wondering— and so should you— how many children saw this and believed it to be correct? We all know how easy it is for them to learn anything that is placed before them at this stage. Yet, we continually throw away opportunities to expose them to the correct thing.  Now, let's deal with what is wrong with the words here? I know you've seen it by now. Your How Old?
As my teenaged grand daughter and her mother would say: "Really?  Seriously?"


         Grand daughter & Daughter


And now the FIX

Wasn't it intended to be You're How Old? We will even ignore for a while the need for the correct sequence of words in the construction of a question, but we can neither ignore nor forgive the use of YOUR in place of YOU'RE. 

An Explanation

Your is one word — a possessive pronoun— and it is usually followed by a noun, the thing possessed. Example: This is your hat.  I love your smile.
You're is a contraction of two words: you and are.  We form the contraction by: 

• First putting the two whole words together:  You are 
• Dropping the a in are                                      You re
• Putting an apostrophe in that vacant space between  u and r, thereby making a new word, a contraction of the two—              You're.

And that's all there is to this great, big mystery.

"You're Welcome"  not  "Your welcome

In like manner, some people respond to someone saying "Thank you" with words that sound like the correct thing, which is "You're welcome". But ask them to write it, and here is what you'll get "Your welcome".   So let us correct this one also: Incorrect:  Your welcome.   Correct: You're welcome. 

Getting this right will only improve your communication skills. What an incentive!