Communication Skills and Customer Relations
Communication Skills and Customer Relations tests the communication process, service language, active listening, complaint handling and guest relationship management. Expect scenario questions where the best response protects both the guest and the business.
Process and barriers
- The sender encodes a message; a channel carries it; the receiver decodes it; feedback confirms understanding. Noise, jargon, prejudice, poor listening and emotional state are barriers.
- The 7Cs are clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete and courteous.
- Non-verbal cues include eye contact, posture, tone, grooming and personal space, which vary across cultures.
- Active listening means attending, paraphrasing, questioning and summarising without interrupting.
Complaint handling
Use a consistent service-recovery sequence: listen without defensiveness, empathise, apologise for the experience, clarify facts, act promptly within authority, follow up and record the issue. On the telephone, answer promptly, greet, identify, listen, confirm and close.
Worked example
A guest says the soup is cold. The server should acknowledge the complaint, apologise, remove the soup, offer a freshly heated replacement or an alternative, inform the kitchen, check satisfaction after service and report the incident. Reasoning: the immediate goal is recovery, not proving the guest wrong; a quiet, specific response prevents escalation and gives management data to fix holding temperatures.
Traps
- Arguing or explaining policy before acknowledging the guest's experience.
- Overpromising a refund or benefit beyond authority.
- Interrupting and finishing the guest's sentences.
- Using slang, sarcasm or blame in written replies.
- Ignoring non-verbal signals such as a guest looking around for service.