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Customer Communication

http://flic.kr/p/5DCPwJ. Customer Communication. Effective customer communication is important!. Customer evaluation affects your grade Criteria: productivity, communication, effectiveness, etc. Team and individual evaluations Poor communication may hurt other criteria.

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Customer Communication

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  1. http://flic.kr/p/5DCPwJ Customer Communication

  2. Effective customer communication is important! • Customer evaluation affects your grade • Criteria: productivity, communication, effectiveness, etc. • Team and individual evaluations • Poor communication may hurt other criteria

  3. How do you achieve effectivecustomer communication? • In terms of quantity of communication? • In terms of quality of communication? What pitfalls/principles/advice can you think of?

  4. Quantity Principles • Regular communication important (weekly?) • Long silences hurt confidence • “Are you even doing anything?” • Long silences followed by bad news even worse • Don’t communicate too much, though • Respect customers time • Save up low-priority items • Caveat: Too much is rarely a problem

  5. Quality Principles: Time Management • Be punctual • Show up early • Structure meetings • Agree upon agenda at beginning • Focus conversation • Beware of rambling • What do you really need from customer? • Respect the customer’s time • Don’t waste it!

  6. Quality Principles: Transparency • Set expectations • Make explicit your needs/constraints/concerns • Make explicit your assumptions about customer’s needs/constraints/concerns • Be open and honest • About estimates, risks, limitations, status, etc. • Even if bad news • Builds trust, confidence, empathy, sympathy, etc.

  7. Quality Principles: Conveying Ideas • Use concrete examples • Beware too much discussion of abstract concepts • Verbal is not the only way – show them! • Pictures are good! • Demos are good! • Speak customer’s language • Beware of jargon/acronyms • Online/phone communication is limited • Way more “bandwidth” in person • Way more personal in person

  8. Quality Principles: Whole Team • Full team participation • Not all at once, though • Customer must know each of you • Your name • What you’re doing • No opinion = negative opinion • Think of customer as part of team • And treat him/her accordingly

  9. Agile Communication Principle • Demonstrate incremental progress to customer • In form of running code • Even if progress is modest • Builds customer excitement • Builds customer confidence • Creates opportunities for feedback • Helps you give customer what he/she really wants

  10. Summary • Customer communication is important for everyone! • Not just team lead • You’ll be evaluated/graded based on communication • Make sure you have • Good quantity of customer communication • Good quality customer communication

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