PROFESSIONAL 

COMMUNICATION
Verbal Expression in an International Workplace
 WHAT’S IN A MEETING?

• Misinterpretation during meetings, ESPECIALLY ON THE PHONE!

• Having multiple people, from multiple cultures on the phone can further
confusion.
 SITUATIONS: EXAMPLE 1

• You are on a conference call with your supervisor and team. Your supervisor
is trying to give your team directions. You can hear someone typing loudly in
the background. You hear someone giggle loudly then quickly press mute.
You are carefully taking notes so you remember what your supervisor said.
When it comes to the end of the phone call, your supervisor asks if there are
any questions. No one asks any. You don’t ask any either because you’ve
been taking notes. Your supervisor sounds frustrated.
EXAMPLE ONE: PERCEPTIONS

• If you are the collector taking notes, how would

you feel the call went?
• If you were the supervisor, how would you feel
the call went?
• If you were the manager, listening in to the call
recording afterwards, how would you think the
call went?
• In what ways could the call have been
improved?
 SITUATIONS: EXAMPLE 2

• You are on your 8th outbound call of the day. So far, all of your calls have
been easy and the customers have been happy. On your 8 th call, you reach
accounts payable and ask the customer if they have paid their invoice that
was due last month. They immediately start yelling. “I’ve told DELL this 5
TIMES about this!!!! Are you stupid?! If they don’t correct the billing address
how do they expect me to pay! I HATE DELL AND THEIR STUPID
COMPUTERS!” …You panic and start to stumble. “I’m sorry you say….I know
Dell really sucks. I can call back at a better time. “ and you quickly end the
call.
 EXAMPLE 2: PERCEPTIONS

• What went wrong?

• How could this have been handled
better?
• What is the best way to communicate
with difficult customers?
 WINNING AT VERBAL COMMUNICATION
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• Adjust your Mindset

• No one goes into a call expecting to
get yelled it so you need to be able to
quickly adjust your mind.
• Don’t take it personally!
• Shake it off afterwards
 WINNING AT VERBAL COMMUNICATION

• Listen Actively
• What does this mean?
• Listen to HEAR not to RESPOND
• “Let’s go over what happened”
• “Please tell me why you’re upset”
• How can you tell when someone is not
listening to you on the phone?
• Don’t multi task while on the phone!
 WINNING AT VERBAL COMMUNICATION

• Repeat their concerns

• “As I understand it, you are very unhappy the invoice was billed incorrectly. Let’s
take these steps to get it resolved”
• “I understand you’ve already voiced these concerns to the client, but I just want
to make sure we can update your account properly with your concerns so this
doesn’t keep happening.”
 WINNING AT VERBAL COMMUNICATION

• Leave the conversation with an Action Plan

• When ending a call with a supervisor or coworker:
• Let them know what you plan to do, even if it’s just a quick iteration of what
you learned
• When ending a call with a Customer:
• Let them know what YOU intend to do and what you need THEM to do
DON’T BE THAT GUY!!!