Excellent communication is a vital component to any business. Not only does it improve customer satisfaction and retention, but helps boost team morale, company revenue and its overall reputation in the market. This is why when hiring employees for any role, it’s crucial you find candidates with exceptional language and communication skills. The question that we are asking in this article is - how can employers ensure they find candidates that possess top quality language and communication skills?
According to Salesforce, there are several data-backed attributes that make a good communicator in business. These are as follows:
Clarity is important across the board - whether you are hiring customer service representatives, salespeople, medical personnel or consultants. When it comes to customer facing roles, clarity is especially crucial. In one study,
33% of customers said that
the ability to answer questions efficiently and clearly is the most important skill a customer service representative can have. To achieve this, the representative must a) know what they are selling and to who, b) be able to speak fluently in the customer’s language and use words and sentences that are clear and concise, and c) avoid jargon, mumbling or speaking too quickly. In other roles, clarity is part of the framework for teamwork, supervising others, and general business operations.
No matter which role you are hiring for, it is important that the candidate can work well under pressure and present good self control. Part of this process is regulating language and dealing with emotions. They should be able to speak to team members, managers, stakeholders and customers in a fair, cool, polite manner, even when facing great challenges.
Your candidates should have excellent interpersonal skills and know how to converse on a human level. This is especially important if they are in a customer facing role, because
Salesforce study has shown that for
customers the representative ‘acting and speaking in a human way’ was in the top5 most important quality they can possess.
The ability to use positive language is of vital importance in business. This involves using high emotional intelligence and excellent language skills to identify problems and redirect the narrative towards a positive solution. Positivity also boosts team morale and productivity.
Studies have shown (source: Proofhub) that positive and empathic management styles are preferred by employees, helping them to work harder and stay in their jobs longer. Knowing how to speak and write using positive language is a key factor in that.
Being polite in the workplace is always appreciated. But what constitutes politeness? Cultural constructs tend to determine how and what differentiates bad manners from good ones. Language plays a particularly big part in this, as well as a commitment to inclusivity and religious and cultural sensitivity. Excellent training packages for staff should consider the various ways customers can experience particular phrases or words, especially those that don’t cross-cultural barriers.
We have discussed why language plays an important part in all roles. But in customer facing roles, it is particularly important because it directly affects customer purchase and retention rates.
Having a good grasp of the native language of the customers can ensure communication is polite, effective, clear, human and positive. At some point in our lives, all of us have received a cold call from a customer representative with a poor grasp of language, making it difficult and undesirable to engage, respond or take action.
Conversely, a person with excellent English, cultural sensitivity and the ability to converse freely and politely is more likely to retain customer interest and fulfill their brief, whether it be selling a product, completing a questionnaire or informing a customer of an update.
Shopify realized how important language assessment is for their customer service.
We live in a globalized society. In the United Kingdom, more than 300 languages are spoken by residents, including Polish, Punjabi, Arabic, Bengali and French. In France, there are also a wide range of languages spoken, often originating from neighboring countries (such as German, Flemish, Basque, and Italian). And in the United States, there are more than 350 languages spoken with an enormous 12% speaking Spanish.
Given that many organizations have offices, staff and customers in multiple countries, it only makes sense that employees can speak the native language, as well as some of the other common languages spoken in that region. This ensures optimal communication at all times, without the language barriers.
It makes sense, therefore, that
assessing language during the recruitment process should take priority. This is where pre-employment testing can help.
When hiring candidates for your available roles, it is vital that you can properly assess their understanding of written and verbal language, and demonstrate excellent communication skills in realistic scenarios.
Pipplet allows you to do this.
Pipplet is an innovative language assessment solution that enables you to assess the language capabilities of future employees. Whether you are hiring for 1 role or 100, Pipplet makes it easy. After the assessment, Pipplet gives you accurate, meaningful data on each candidate, so that you can pick the best of the best for each position.
To find out more about Pipplet, just
click here, or
contact us for any question.
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