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1 Professional Receptionist Training Workshop Objectives

The receptionist is the first face a

customer meets as they enter a
building and the first point of contact
when a customer contacts your
organisation on the telephone. So your
appearance and tone of voice really
matter because you only get one
chance to create a good first
impression. This workshop will
empower you so that you can:

 Create a powerful first

impression
 Get the facts
 Discuss solutions
‘You only get one chance to create  Deal with difficult customers
a good first impression’

The Receptionist Role

As a receptionist it is your responsibility to meet and greet clients/customers that visit the
organisation or contact them by phone, in a manner that enhances the reputation of the
organisation you represent.

Many organisations have outsourced these responsibilities to facilities’ management

companies, who may provide receptionist services for a number of companies with in the
same building. This means the role of the receptionist becomes even more vital in
maintaining and enhancing the reputation of each of the organisations they represent.

Hotel receptionist may be responsible to:

 Assist in keeping the hotel reception area clean and tidy, at all times
 Deal with all enquiries in a professional and courteous manner, face to face or on
the telephone
 Fulfil all reasonable requests from guests to ensure their comfort, satisfaction and
safety
 Be responsible for evacuation, in cases of emergency, acting as first point of
contact for guests and the emergency services
 Administer all reservations, cancellations and no-shows, in line with company
policy
 Conduct regular security checks throughout the day and report any security issues
to line manager
 Report any maintenance issues immediately to line manager, including all furniture,
fittings and equipment
 Provide reports, as required, for housekeepers and management
 Deliver excellent customer service, at all times

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1 Professional Receptionist – The 90: 90 Principle to create a powerful first impression

Whereas General Receptionist may

responsible for:

 Meeting and greeting clients

 Booking meetings
 Arranging couriers
 Keeping the reception area tidy
 Answering and forwarding phone calls
 Screening phone calls
 Sorting and distributing post

‘People form 90% of their lasting

impressions in the first 90 seconds’

Why is creating a good first impression so

important when dealing with customers as a
receptionist? Because of the 90:90 principle:

‘People form 90% of their lasting

impressions in the first 90 seconds’

Like it or not we all form lasting impressions

very soon after meeting or listening to
someone for the first time. Which means,
‘You never get a second chance to create
a good first impression’ you need to
anticipate and manage the first few moments
of any encounter with a customer/client.
These judgements are based on an
unconscious interpretation of a variety of non-
verbal signals. The initial impression is not
easily shaken and there is a tendency to look
for evidence, which supports our initial first
impression, and filter out anything, which
contradicts it.

It’s wrong, unfair…but we all do it, and it’s

important that we recognise the existence of
this concept. We can then become conscious
of how our behaviour can influence those first
impressions and create a positive, opposed to
a negative one.
‘Customers form 90% of their lasting
impressions in the first 90 seconds of
contacting a company –your attitude
matters!’

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1. Professional Receptionist – The 90: 90 Principle to create a powerful first impression

How can we increase personal credibility?

Build rapport with your customer/client. This is

vital to create a non-threatening environment.

Personal Appearance

People form their lasting impressions very soon

after meeting someone for the first time. So a
smile and you own personal appearance all
help to increase your personal credibility.
The way you say things the tone of your voice,
your body language, will have a bearing on the
level of rapport you build and the way your
message comes across. How can this be
achieved? ‘Smile and the whole world smiles
at you’
By carrying out the following:

 Smile and the whole world smiles at you

 Give eye contact about 60-70% of the time
 Listen and show that you care
 Be conscious of what say and how you say it
 Be conscious of your body language
 When you’re on the telephone smile when you take the call!
 Have a PSI Positive Self-Image
 Keep a tidy working environment
 Relax on the telephone a tense voice makes you sound emotional or
irrational
 Mentally rehearse your opening comments… it helps to create a good
first impression

Group Activity

How can we create the right first impression?

What can we do to become more professional at dealing with clients?

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1. Professional Receptionist – The 10 40 50 Principle - how does you message come across?

The 10 40 50 Principle

Students of human behaviour have

concluded that the impact of the spoken
message is achieved through a combination
of WORDS VOICE and BODY LANGUAGE.
What is surprising is the balance of these
three factors:

 10% through words themselves

 40% through the tone of the voice
 50% through the body language

The ability to read and understand these

areas will determine how effective we
become and building rapport
How does your message Body Language
come across?
The use of positive body language helps to
build rapport. An assertive person will
What you say- 10%
demonstrate positive body language using
open gestures, which radiate a sense of
How you say it- 40%
confidence and readiness to listen to the
other person.
Body language- 50%
By contrast, an aggressive person will
demonstrate negative body language and
behaviour, which puts the other person down

Low Credibility behaviour

People demonstrate low credibility behaviour
when they:

 Make poor eye contact

Using the telephone  Have a weak handshake
 Rub their noise when speaking to a person
Face to face  Become easily distracted

Hot Telephone Tips

 Answer within three to five rings

 Greet Caller “Good Morning/Afternoon (company name) Jane speaking how can I
help you”
 Have a pen and paper ready
 Listen to query
 Ask Questions
 Get and use the clients name, telephone number and address
 Take ownership of any issues
 Offer a range of solutions
 Summarise and agree action with the caller
 Under promise and over deliver

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1. Professional Receptionist – The 10 40 50 Principle - how does you message come across?

Group Activity

Watch the You Tube clip ‘When the phone rings’ and list below three:

 Things the temporary receptionist failed to do whilst taking the call

 Discuss and state three negative consequences on the business of the
receptionist actions
 Write down the steps she should have taken and teach the group

The things the temporary receptionist failed to do

State three negative consequences on the business of the receptionist actions

Write down the steps she should have taken and teach the group

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jSw6mij-EI
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2. Professional Receptionist – Get the facts- ask the right questions

What type of questions can you use to identify client/

customer needs?

1.Open Questions
2.Open Probing
Questions

3.Leading
Questions
4.Closed
Questions

5. Pause

1. What are open questions?

Questions that start with What, Why, When, Where, Who
and How

How long have you been waiting for a call back?

“What is the name of the department”?
“When did he say he would call back?

These questions help you to identify the customer/client

needs however it allows the customer to keep control of the
conversation, increasing the amount of time you spent
talking to them.

2. What is an open probing question?

These are questions that start with:

“What was the specific problem”?

“What actually happened”?
Who exactly are you looking for”?

This type of question helps you to focus the customer on their

problem and you keep control of the conversation.
3. What is a leading question?
Leading questions confirm what you have identified as you
have listened to the customer. Examples of leading
questions are:

“So you want to book the room after 3.30pm is that

correct Mr Jones?”

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2. Professional Receptionist – Get the facts- ask the right questions

“So it is a problem with items within the buffet is that

correct?”

Leading questions help you to keep control of the

conversation and sets the customer up for the next question.

4. What is a closed question?

A closed question encourages the customer/client to answer
yes or no or give one-word answers. Examples of closed
questions are:

“Do you want me to contact the building manager?

Would you like me to take a message”?
“Would you like me to find out if the room is free for that
time”?

Asking this type of questions keeps you firmly in control and

allows you to bring the conversation to a close.

5. Use the Power of the Pause

A pause requires a response, it keeps the customer/client
talking and gives you an opportunity to think and listen.
When you pause after asking a question you demonstrate
that you’re in control.

“The person that asks the questions is

the one who’s in control”

Group Activity

Break up into groups of three and carry out the role play
decide who will play the:

 Receptionist
 Customer
 Observer

Once the role play has been completed the observer should
give feedback and then everyone should change roles, until
all delegates have had the opportunity to play all three roles

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 3. Professional Receptionist – Discuss Solutions- learning to listen

Listen effectively
To effectively increase personal
credibility you need to develop good
listening skills

Why is listening important?

It will help you to interpret
customer/client verbal and non-verbal
signals –
A ‘message’ is much more than words-
anger, sadness, enthusiasm and many
other signals are displayed non-verbally
and can dramatically alter the meaning For effective discussion to find a
of words. So developing this skill will solution with a customer/client you
give you a deeper appreciation of your need to:
customer needs how they are feeling.  MAINTAIN EYE CONTACT

What is active listening?

The ability to listen actively is as  LISTEN
important a skill as speaking.
It enables you to:  ASK EFFECTIVE QUESTIONS

 SENSE – when you gather all the

 FIND OUT THE RESULT THE
signals being sent to you, both CUSTOMER/ CLIENT WANTS
verbal and non-verbal
 CONSIDER – when you try to make
 TACTFULLY LET THE CUSTOMER/
sense of what you have sensed and CLIENT KNOW WHAT CAN BE
consider what it means. ACHIEVED
 RESPOND – when you ask
questions and reflect back on your  AVOID USING JARGON WITH
understanding CUSTOMER/ CLIENT

 GET CUSTOMER/ CLIENT

INVOLVED IN SOLUTION

 LOOK FOR WIN WIN SOLUTION

 UNDER PROMISE AND OVER

DELIVER

 SUMMARISE AND CHECK

UNDERSTANDING
1.
Group Activity

Break up into two teams and brainstorm what:

“What stops effective listening” “What encourages effective listening?”

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4. Professional Receptionist – Dealing with difficult customers

As a receptionist you will come

across customers/clients who are
unhappy and make demands that
may be considered unreasonable,
however an unhappy customer is
usually giving you an opportunity
to solve their problem. So how
should you proceed? These are
the four key steps to take:

1 Build Rapport
1. Build Rapport
‘Get their name and give your own.
2. Get the Facts Manage their feelings use the ’feel felt
found formula’:
3. Discuss Solutions
“I understand how you feel, I felt the
4. Take Action same until I found out…”

Having managed their emotions move

them to stage two.
4. Take Action 2. Get the Facts

Once you have a good grasp of the problem
do what you can to help the customer; offer
them a range of solutions and let them
choose If they become abusive Never fight
fire with fire because you end up with
ashes!’ Find the problem solver and pass
them over. Finally check that they’re happy
with the agreed outcome by summarising
using phrases like:
Ask the right questions find out the
details, who did what, when and where,
be sensitive and check your
understanding of the situation by
summarising the problem, “So when
you got to the room it was already
occupied is that right” Then move to
the next phase in the process
3. Discuss Solutions

“Let me check Mr Jones what we have
agreed”
“What we agreed then Mr Smith is to…”
Offer the customer a range of solutions
which could be an alternative room and
when you offer the solution to a
customer/ client state the solution in a
positive manner for example don’t say:

“We can’t give that room today” instead

say “We can give you an alternative
room with is bigger and has free
concessions”

‘Look for the win win solution’

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5. PERSONAL ACTION PLANS

Because of your attendance at this workshop please write in the boxes below one
thing you going to Stop, Start and Continue and one thing to Congratulate yourself
on.

1. STOP

2. START

3.CONTINUE

4. CONGRATULATE

DATE: DATE 1 MONTH FROM

TODAY:

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