COMMUNICATION SKILLS FOR AGENTS/SPONSORS

Communication is a process by which two or more people exchange ideas ,feelings,facts or impressions such that each part gains understanding.
For communication to carry more weight and conviction.The communicator (sender) must posses certain qualities that is confidence in the subject matter ,credibility as viewed by the audience reliability.
Messege is the link between sender and receiver or the information the sender wishes the audience to receive.
When Giving a talk,many people are nervous for the first time they give a talk to the audience even through the phone.It is wise to keep on your toes and prevents you from thinking .
Most of the times the nervous caused poor preparation .The prevention is to be courageous and prepare your materials in time .You should have confidence in yourself,your materials that is the knowledge of the subject and a lot of rehearsals is necessary.Addressing lack of confidence is to prepare materials and arrange them inorder and using aid diligently.
During the talk have time for lighter moment by giving jokes. The fear of being frank from what you do not know or limited knowledge. It is very possible to be honest with yourself and refer whatever you do not adequately know to experts.Reasearch material in time.You may have the full knowledge of the subject matter but what may lack is preparation of your homework.
When communicating in the written words:Don't hedge know what you want to say .It is appropriate to use active sentences that is
subject/verb /object
For example "The compost pile will built by Farmers" it is wrong and the correct is :"Farmers will built the compost pile."
It is necessary to writing jargon and complicated sentences.And the dates need to be written in the correct format these days starting with month ,day and then year(06/24/2010).

Quality of an Agent/sponsor:The roles of an agent/sponsor is to be an Educator,Coordinator ,Organiser,Advisor,Advocate,Facilitator ,Communicator ,Motivator,Listener,Intiator,Demostrator or Provider.
All the roles above develops the skill and the motivation to solve the general problems. The agent/sponsor provides link between the customers/clients and the organisation and put in place mechanisms for clients/customers to gain knowledge of the products or services or the skills.The information includes the technicalities,access relevant information and help to learn new things whilst adapt new changes.
The four qualities of knowledge the Agent/sponsor should have are:
Technical the sponsor/agent must be adequately trained in the technical aspects of the work.
The sponsor/agent must well versed with local traditions and values.The understanding of customers/clients ' culture and social fabrics (networks).
The organisational policy,goals and vision should be familarised.The knowledge of th developmental programmes and bureacratic procedures.
The skill of facilitating adult education since the sponsor/agent will work with all community people so the familiar with the approaches of adult education.
Personal Skills arean organisational and planning the abilities to plan the work and organise its implementation.
Communication is effective with the good knowledge of the common language in the community both verbally and non verbally.
Analysis and diagnosis of the problems,must be able to examine situations and propose the course of action to be taken.
Honest ,realiable and trusted.
Punctality that is time conscious to attend every scheduled progrmmes.
Communication is about expressing what we think and feel.Its not about talking ,but listening is also very impartant to make it a complete thing.
Communication is more than words it includes our appearance, and our habit when we expressing our emotions and appreciations.
As human beings with unique talents of communicating we should learn to communicate better with other people so that we can share our views without hurting their feelings.
Communication tips:
Always talk to anyone with respect,listen with your full attention and encourage other people around you,even children to express their views freely.Be open to them as you can assist everyone to understand his/her feelings by asking questions and say out their feelings ,like "you feel angry" or frustrated or happy.
Encourage some people to solve their own problems ,but give them tips wherever necessary.Never deal with issues when you are angry .
Hold meeting with people and discuss problems and decisions and give everyone a chance to talk.
People are very excited if they are given opportunity to express their feelings including their happiness ,disappointments and anger.

Important qualities of an Agent/sponsor!

Honest to the company and customers.
Vigilence to be alert and always ready for customers.Professional to manage time accordingly and avoid mixing leisure and work that is don't be playful during working.Hardworking is really working with extra effort don't be lazy.
Be initiative to think on your own .Don't just wait to be told everything ,responsible to be able to care of all procedures.
Cheerful in smiling to happy,be patient to bear troubles without complaining and be polite and sencere so that avoid to be rude and rough to customers.
Clear speaking ,fluency so that you can be heard.
SMART is to be as follows:
•Systematic ordery manner of perfoming daily duties rather than doing duties on a random basis.
•Measure and perform duties on given,planned or agreed time anything beyond regarded as overtime .All duties assigned to be completed inorder to avoid overtime.
•Achievements of an agent should be undertaken and have completed.Agent should be involved in undertaking such activities .Avoid to assign others to undertake the said duties.
•Realistic to be the actual performer of the said task and always be available at your work so that you always ensure that you don't deligate others to perform the said job.
•Time speed the ability to perform day to day duties within the stipulated period of time and ensure that any given job should be completed within the desired period.
Skills to be passed by the Agent/sponsor:
This is whereby the agent is regarded as a good interactor of good communication when dealing with different types of customers/clients at all times.
Conceptional skill views the organisation and find out how the agent fits in that organisation.Tactical skill to use your knowledge and intiatives when undertaking the said job/task.
Roles to play:
Any duties given within an organisation to the agent should display several behaviours.The agent must be the leader of his/her job.Be able of monitoring job cycles for examples challenges that can be encounted.Maximum security should be maintained and all procedures that relates to security to the said task should be implemented.
The two way representative is whereby the agent in most cases inform the management about the basic requirement needed by customers.
Liason role is whereby agent has to be able to effectively communicates with customers at levels
Why Agents/sponsors are needed?
These people are needed to make sales or invite people to the organisation. The sales are maximised as many people are joining the company and increase sales.These are the people who determine the survival of the organisation through meeting the company 's objectives,aims and goals.
Complaint Handling:
Complaints or conflicts management remember the motto .If the customer says,"I am not happy about something ." This means this complain has to be looked into it.
How to hold/solve customer's complaints?
Remove the complainant from others before influence them ,leave your premises saying bad comments about your service.Bad news travel faster.
Introduce yourself to the customer and ask him/her to explain the problem without interupting him/her.Now repeat the complain then concede before answering (respect of view point)
Always assure your customer that you can help and don't think personal.
Examine the product you have sold and check whether the customer bought from your organisation by asking receipt check record numbers and the packaging.
If the complaint is genuine apologise and persude the customer to accept another product which is better.Avoid cash refunds unless the customer threatens you.Thank your customer for raising a complaint because you realised your mistake , then take steps to check your products regulary before be on sale time and again.
Ask your customer to remain your customer and wish him/her a pleasant day.When the customer leave your premises check and remove products with a similar mistakes/faults.Remember about 90% of customers don't complain on what happened to them.

Games people play in business and Market

Dealing with people means directing their emotional conscience instead of bribing them taking advantage of their desperation.
An organisation is for the people who work in it and those who buy the products and services.Eric Berne in around 1950s developed a theory of communication called Transactional Analysis (TA).This theory lists three ego states exist in each of us. These are Organisation's Agent/worker and the Customer.We often switch from one ego state to another depending on the situational position we are.
People are usually not aware of how their behaviour looks to others and understanding TA helps us better control our emotions and modify our behaviour.
Playing the agent /sponsor game:
(a)The Nurturing Agent
This person characteristically calls you "my dear " and says things such as "how bet" or "don't worry".They express concern , care ,reassurance ,support ,praise ("well done").
(b)The critical sponsor
This person makes pronouncements such as "you can't do that " or "it shouldn't be allowed " . These people are usually judgemental and their pronouncements are never based on the facts or an analysis of a situation. They are often opinionated ,judgemental, blaming , faultfinding.
PLAYING CUSTOMER GAME: Such a person maintains all the impulses of a customer and expresses feelings and emotional responses.
(a)The natural customer
Enjoys your products and services ,laughter and funny.This person says "sounds great" or "yes lets buy it".
(b)The Rebellious customer
Throws temper tantrums or sulks or refuses to cooperate and says things such as "I don't care" or "why should I do it?" More subtly they make statements like"don't take any orders of him " and "oh don't bother me.''