# Customer Focused Communication
The first step: Identifying customer needs
- identify all project stakeholders
- active listening
- asking open-ended questions
- Rejecting customer requirements skillfully
# 1. How do you usually identify all project stakeholders, customers
in particular? (identify all project stakeholders)
# 2. How do we avoid these common mistakes in emailing
customers? (active listening)
- Update stakeholder identification register regularly
- Review stakeholder management plan before every release in big projects
- Email everyone affected by the project (including all the downstream and upstream systems)
- Have contact persons
# 3. What are open-ended questions? Give a few
examples.
Open-ended questions don't have a yes/no answer. Open-ended questions can also be mirroring customers and body language.
Examples:
- What is the most important feature you'd like to have?
- Why do you this is important?
- How would you like us to implement it?...When...? ...Where...?
# 4. decide on the influence/power and interest level of the highlighted five stakeholders.
# 5. Rejecting customer requirements skillfully(use soft language)
Tell the customer what they need to do and what we need to do in order to achieve this goal.
Example: "It might work. But we need at least two more team members to help with the task. "
# 6. De-escalating conflicts with angry customers effectively
Your team hasn't provided timely updates to the customer because you are busy catching up on delayed tasks. The customer hasn't received updates even after repeated inquiries. They become angry in the end. What would you do next?
- Step 1: Meet the customer face-to-face or call them to apologize and explain why this happened
- Step 2: Discuss solutions
- Step 3: Email them the action points after the meeting
