Duration
1 day
Location
In-house
Availability
Good
Suitable for: IA What does this mean?
When people complain they want to be heard, understood and dealt with fairly. Responding to complaints is an important task often carried out by people who are not communication specialists.
This course will help people to think things through from the point of view of the person making the complaint, identify what needs to be included in the response, structure their letter well, and use clear and straightforward language with confidence.
It will guide participants through the process of writing a high quality plain language response that will meet the needs of the organisation and the customer. A plain language response uses words well, at a level the audience will appreciate, and its tone is human and direct. Overall it’s easy to read and designed to deliver information effectively. This type of response can help to maintain a positive relationship with customers: it’s a practical way to put your values (and policies) into action.
Before the course our trainer will get to know your complaints policies and procedures as well as your organisation’s values and communication goals.
She will then read and analyse examples of current responses to complaints. This will enable her to tailor the course to your organisation’s needs and clearly explain to participants how to apply the ideas in the course to their own documents.
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Course content
The course contains many practical exercises and examples to build on participants skills, including how to:
- Use the active voice and strong verbs
- Write shorter sentences that deliver more
- Get rid of waffle and jargon
- Empathise and apologise well
- Develop a letter structure that works.
Who should attend?
Everyone who wants to improve the quality of their written responses to complaints including managers, team leaders and executives.
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Our trainer
Caroline Bradley started out making community programmes for BBC local radio before working in press and communications for national charities for over 15 years. She’s a strong believer in straightforward communication and now specialises in training and advising organisations on how to explain who they are, what they do and why it matters. Caroline always delivers training that is informative, enjoyable and practical.
We can bring this course to you.
If you have five or more staff interested our
in-house training offers great value for money.
Complete the form below and we’ll be in touch.