How effective are you at communicating with your customers? Chances are you think you’re pretty good, but you might want to explore all the elements necessary to evaluate your total effectiveness at listening to and responding to your customers in an objective, efficient and professional manner. Following are Five Fundamental Factors that collectively measure your effectiveness. Take the quiz and see how you rank against 68 percent of the population:
    On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being “I’m really good at this,” give yourself an honest ranking:

____ Evaluating what is said:

    How open are you toward other people and how willing are you to hear what others are saying, rather than be thinking about what you want to be saying?

____ Awareness:

    How conscious are you of the feelings and opinions of others with whom you are communicating? Do you recognize the unique individual value of the individual or do you just see him/her from their organizational role?

____ Sense of Timing:

    How good are you at evaluating a situation in such a way that the statements, decisions, and actions you take are the most effective, accurate and timely?

____ Surrendering Control:

    How comfortable are you with surrendering control of a given situation or its outcome to another person or group of people, or do you feel a strong need to retain control yourself? (Very comfortable would be 10)

____ Understanding Attitude:

    How good are you at reading between the lines or understanding the body language, stress, and emotions of others?

_____ Total Score

    Each of the above are critical factors in achieving effective communications with your customers. If you have been totally honest you will likely see some areas in which you can make some improvements. By focusing on strengthening your critical communication skills you will enhance your ability to interact with your customers, thus improve your overall results. Good luck. Oh, yes; how did you score against 68% of the population? Well, here are the norm scores:

 Evaluating What is Said (7)
 Awareness (8)
 Sense of Timing (7)
 Surrendering Control (7) and,
 Understanding Attitude (8).