Lesson 3 – Developing and Maintaining Relationships

Developing and Maintaining Relationships

Relationships are the key to a functional, positive customer care team. There are several important concepts involved when developing and maintaining relationships with your team members and your customers.

Clear Expectations

Every partner in a relationship has certain expectations of other partners. Most expectations remain unspoken until they have been violated. One way to develop and maintain effective relationships is to make your expectations of one another clear.

Recognizing the Reciprocal Quality of Relationships

We can use the reciprocal nature of our relationship with others to establish interpersonal cooperation and trust. Remember two clichés: “It’s a two-way street,” and, “You only get back what you give.”

Understanding Different Communication Styles

We can communicate more successfully with others and establish more meaningful relationships if we not only understand others’ styles, but can also attune our styles to theirs in a complimentary way.

Recognizing the Power of Your Behavior

The better you are at connecting with other people, the better the quality of your life. Is there a natural talent for getting along with people, or is it something we can learn? The truth is that it’s a bit of both.

Likeability Works

No matter what you do or where you live, the quality of your attitude determines the quality of your relationships, not to mention just about everything else in your life. The good news is that attitudes are yours to select. And if you are free to choose, why not choose a really useful attitude?

In face-to-face situations, your attitude precedes you. It is the central force in your life; it controls the quality and appearance of everything you do. In telephone communication, you have to work a little harder to overcome the absence of body language. When communicating electronically, you have to be able to overcome the absence of tone of voice. Are your people ready and capable to communicate in any situation?