Handle Difficult Customer Questions in Sales and Customer Service

How to Handle Difficult Customer and Their Questions with Examples using IDEA Acronym

-Handling Difficult Customer during Business Presentations

Thoughts and attitudes of a presenter is one of the seven vital elements of effective presentation skills. IDEA is a business presentation mnemonic that helps to memorize various types of customer in a corporate presentation.

A presenter can use the term "Challenging Customer" or "hostile customer" instead of "Difficult Customer" as the former phrases bring positive impression about the customer.

IDEA mnemonic lists four key types of challenging customer of a business presentation

1.     Inquiring questions

2.     Distracting customer

3.     Expert

4.     Argumentative customer

Inquiring Customer Question Types 

Customer questions can be classified further:

1. One question after another
2. Question for which the trainer/coach doesn't know the answer
3. Irrelevant question
One Question after Another
In many business presentations, the presenter senses customers who ask too many questions, one after the other. Perhaps, the best way to handle it is to remind the customer that the questions will be taken towards the end of the presentation. This can be done using polite phrases like, "Shall we keep all the questions towards the end of the session?" or "Ok, you have another question? Go ahead, but this would be the last question that will be able to take at this moment."
Questions for Which the Presenter does not know the Answer
There are two steps to handle these questions. first, the presenter can accept his/her ignorance by saying, "I am sorry, I do not know the answer". Second, the presenter can divert the question to the rest of general customer to find the answer by saying, "Can someone from the customer help me to answer that question, please?".
Customer who ask Irrelevant Questions
One the best ways to handle irrelevant questions is to put back the question to the customer by asking, "May I know how this question is related the subject?" and then ignore the question by saying, "If the question is not relevant, then we have to disregard it for the moment, please"

List of Distracting Customer

Customer who interrupt the presentation can be termed as distracting customer. for example:
1. Customer who takes many phone calls in between the session. Solution: In the beginning, presenters can remind the customer to switch off the mobile phones.
2. Customer who talk to each other during the session. Solution: A polite phrase like, "May I know what you discussing, if it is relevant let all of us talk about it."

Expert Customer 

Expert customer are those who already know the subject of discussion more than the presenter. One of the safest method to handle expert customer is to involve them in the discussion. Nevertheless, the presenter should have the ability to control expert customer by bringing the expert to objective orientated discussion so that the topic is not deviated.

Argumentative Customer Types

These customer, who quarrel or disagree with the presenter, can easily handled once presenter divides the quarrel into two categories. One, quarrel on facts; two, quarrel on opinion.
• Quarrel on facts can be triumphed over by saying, "It is a fact, and I will give the source of reference after the session"
• Quarrel on opinion can be won by saying, "It is an opinionated topic and everyone has their own view"

Presenters' attitude is one of the elements of imparting skills (Presentation skills) which inturn one of the five i's of persuasion. Professionals like public speakers, corporate trainers and business coaches know how wealthy they become when they have good memory skills. And, mnemonic devices is one often used memorization technique as it takes a very little time to coin one. IDEA is yet anothe

r mnemonic and can come handy next time when a presenter is handling challenging customer and remember the different types of Customer during a presentation speech or public speaking.

Funny Climax Figure of Speech Sentences Examples

Here is a funny humorous climax figure of speech examples:

parents are the people who bears infants, bore teenagers and board newlyweds.

Patience: the most important ingredient for dating, marriage and children. see also tranquilizers.

SMS: Sending you MY BED to let you rest, pillows to give you COMFORT, and my BLANKET to keep you warm. Good Night! Sleep tight. I can't sleep now...because I lent you all my things.

Funny Presentations and Blunders

Funny Presenters Presentations

• Sometimes, people land up in a situation in which there is only one possible option -- present in front of the audience. 
• Giving away the punch line way before the joke
• Use of funny accent and dialect to grab the audience
• Presenters change their content at the last possible moment.
• Polite and friendly voice of a presenter will be as pleasing as the coolness on the reverse side of the pillow
• Is as natural as not knowing what day of the week it is.
• Some presenters gives a grand start introducing for some of the most sophisticated concepts, mind blowing statistics but forgets to introduce their names. First things last. They realize it in the first coffee break. It is not ridiculous for some speakers to change their content at the last possible moment.
• Some presenters are smartest. Audience ask every technical questions answered in no time but get fixed by simple questions of not knowing what day of the week is it.
• Presenters who pretend not to know that their audience has fallen asleep. Even those loud yawning only indicates positive acknowledgement to the presenters.
• Presenters who make screeching sound while they walk on the stage.
• A presenter who shifts  his body weight from left to right 13 times. In a 2 minute talk. But as long as he focuses on the topic that 
• Presenters who should at the audience by repeating the same point verbatim, in the belief that the louder they speak, the better the audience will understand the presenter.
•  Presenter moving from one audience to another in the presentation trying to pick one who is interested in participating while the audience hesitate and pretend not to look at presenter. 
• A presenter who never actually get around to the covering any topic because they spend all their time asking and writing out lists headed "expectations out of this training program" they are also mistakenly under the impression that are the most efficient presenter at this present time.
• Some presenters stand questionably in the stage wondering what they came in here for.
• Presenters if, when talking to the audience they know are visually challenged, presenter trying to accept them perfectly causally and normally, but find to the presenter's horror that their conversation is liberally filled with phrases (a) "has a eagle eye" (b)"eye for detail" © "eye catching scenes"
• One of the 500 participant from 30 yards across a crowded audience that he/she has a question to the presenter, wishes to speak with and that the presenter is expected to wait till the mic is passed to him from the presenters spot.
• When it comes to the predictions of audience question it is worse that the weather forecasting by meteorological department

Why humor doesn't work in speech

Because, audiences are not funny. Their questions are not funny. In fact, their questions are scary. 

Presenters are serious when it comes to preparing FAQs – No Humor Please

The day before the presentation, Presenters are smart enough to guess the questions that the audiences might ask. So the presenters seriously list 4441 most frequently asked audiences' questions about topic and then spend the entire night by-hearting the answers. Presenter is now confident to impress and amuse the audience.

Audiences are Humorous when it comes to breaking the prepared FAQs

But the real show begins when the presenter is mystified to hear 4444441 questions, other than those thoroughly prepared 4441 questions, are being asked for which the presenter does not have even a molecule of clue.

Answering questions that presenters don’t know is not humorous

Is this the way the corporate presentations work? Presenters would have happily performed -- jumping in joy – if the audiences demanded the presenters to even sing a song in parrot's voice, echo like Tarzan, or even walk like a gorilla. But asking the presenter to answer those 4444441 questions that are out of syllabus is not funny -- nor humorous. Forget about making an attempt to answer these questions, the presenter has no air to breathe.

Allow the presenters to be themselves 

Why do audiences ask questions? Why audience just don't keep quiet and allow the presenter to read slide after slide without missing even those full-stops and commas and facilitate the audience who have no clue what those punctuation stand for.

Questions suppress the presenters’ sense of humor

But wait a minute, does that mean audience should never ask any questions to the presenter? No, that is not the point. As audiences, they have all the right to ask questions. In fact, that is why audiences are there for. But audience should mindfully choose questions that could be answered by the presenter such as:

• What is your name?

• Do we have a coffee break?

• When are you closing the session?

And not questions like 

• Why is your presentation so boring?

• What is the topic that you are talking about?

• Your nose remained that way since your birth or only after smelling the mosquito coils?

These questions make presenters unhappy and suppress them in bringing out their sense of humor. They want to be funny and hilarious, crack jokes and share humorous incidents, but they can’t because of those above questions.

Presenters Love audience who do not ask questions

Try this next time. Even before the presentation starts, you, as an audience, promise your presenter that you will not ask any questions through out the session and see how excited the presenter becomes to bring out humor skills till the lie is realized.

Sometimes audience are talkative they talk so much that presenters forget their roles.

When a presentation is bothering form other room: can you be a bit louder we are not able to hear anything that you say.

Sometimes there are more presenters than the audience.

It is recommended not to be confused by the black eyes of the present for the presenter wouldn't have slept the previous might as he/she was preparing for the speech of course I have 2 good children but do I have good schools to admit them?

1st line of the speech "waste no time; go now and build you nation…"

Some presenters commits a mistake of choosing an unusual subject but it shouldn't be so unusual that there are no audience at all for this strange topic.

Some presenters browse through website, find reference, plain English would definitely help

Presenting is easier than dropping over a cliff or drowning in the nearest creek. Once the presenter understand the basics -- what basics? -- it is as easy as changing the TV channels or taking a photocopy.

List of Interpersonal Characteristics and Traits and Qualities with Examples

Interpersonal Characteristics

Being aware of social behavior, some of the common traits of people such as proactive and reactive behavior

List of Interpersonal Skills
with Examples

Interpersonal Competencies

It includes Interpersonal communication, Interpersonal Convince

Interpersonal Convince (Persuasion and empathy): It is the set of persuasion and negotiation techniques you possess to convince someone. You can do this by using persuasive words, rapport building statements while communicating.

Interpersonal Communication: Broadly interpersonal communication can be divided into verbal and non-verbal communication. Effective verbal communication is about listening, questioning and expressing yourself. for example, to know how to give/receive compliments, effective feedback, ability to say, "No" politely, use of eloquent language such as figure of speech, delivering persuasive presentations with excellent speech prosody, both verbal and vocal, effective attention grabbers such as use of anecdotes, interesting self introductions, and good transitional words. It also includes avoiding common verbal communication barriers such as eliminating mother tongue influence (MTI), verbal speech fillers, negative words, judgmental phrases, redundant statements, and generalizations   Non-verbal communication include effective use of English grammar, structure and content words,

Interpersonal Conflict: Once you are aware of people behavior, either you manage them, or you try to change them by understanding common interpersonal conflicts and resolve them.

Interpersonal Collaboration: It is about understanding the team, and being aware of and handling team dynamics.

Interpersonal Change: Changing people around you through influence, persuasion and negotiation or even through authority and power.

Interpersonal Intelligence Examples List

2. Advantages of Interpersonal Skills

1. Facilitates to give and receive feedback effectively and efficiently
2. Achieve team goals in workplace

3. Different Types of Interpersonal Intelligence

List of interpersonal abilities is summarized using APE Mnemonic. You can use this as an assessment tool or test to see where you stand:

• Assertiveness
• Persuasion
• Empathy

3.1 Assertiveness

Being assertive is all about "I'm OK and You're OK". Assertiveness is about showing that you are right while others' are right. Ability to say no politely, providing feedback to achieve team goals are few examples of assertiveness at work. It also includes learning to make good excuses and say no politely, 

3.1.1 Interpersonal Conflict

Almost everybody experience conflicts in our life roles. Conflict with relatives, parents and spouse, children, friends and society. Resolving interpersonal conflict is a skill that requires conscious effort. In many instances, interpersonal conflicts happen while achieving team goals and it can be resolved using variety of conflict management techniques. When there is an interpersonal conflict, we try to either persuade, empathize or be assertive to resolve the conflict.

3.2 Persuasion

To be persuasive you have to build good rapport with people, enhance your verbal and non verbal communication skills. Be it at work or personal life, the art of persuasion is a special skill to lead interesting human relationships. Persuasion is one of the interpersonal communication techniques besides empathy and assertiveness. Levels of interpersonal communication can be broadly divided in to green, amber and red. green is when communication goes smooth, amber is little argumentative and red is fight.

3.3 Empathy

Developing empathy is one of the vital competencies to develop fascinating human relationships. Broadly, people possess three types of behavior: Sympathy, Empathy and Apathy. Using empathy statements can build interesting human relationships.

4. Importance of Interpersonal Skills

Why interpersonal skills is important? There are several jobs that demands interpersonal skills on priority such as sales, customer service and people counselling, social work, management and leadership positions.

5. Everyday Examples of Interpersonal 

We demonstrate exceptional interpersonal skills in our daily life subconsciously. When we talk to our spouses, negotiate with shopkeepers, empathize with friends and relatives are few common examples of interpersonal intelligence.

So What?

Good Interpersonal skills is one of the essentials of self-help besides intrapersonal skills. By enhancing your intrapersonal and interpersonal skills, you will able to persuade and empathize yourself and others.

Funny Chiasmus Figure of Speech Sentences Examples

What is Chiasmus

The sentences, statements are reversed order repeated to produce dramatic or artistic effect

Here are few examples in the form of funny jokes that has used chiasmus rhetorical device:

Examples

1.     A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well

2.     College: A place where some pursue learning and others learn pursuing.

3.     Some people love to go to movies and some people go to the movies to love.

4.     Our brain is a masterpiece, its divided into two parts left and right. In left nothing is right and in right nothing is left.

5.     Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things

Funny Epistrophe Sentence Examples

Here are few examples of funny Epistrophe in sentences in the form of jokes that are funny and humorous

• Interns think of god, residents pray to god, doctors talk to God, nurses are god.
• You should do two things in the morning-1) Pray to god so can live 2) have a shower so others can live.
• When you choose not to make choice, you do choose because you choose not to choose.
• The secret of a happy marriage remains a secret
• A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a workstation.
• The pineapple principle: The best parts of anything are always impossible to remove from the worst parts.

Structure and Content Words Examples List

In order to verbally communicate effectively, you should use both content and structure--also called function--words of the language.

SETS mnemonic quickly lists different types of English words:-

List of Content, Structure, Function Words

1. Structure words
2. Emotional words (content words)
3. Technical words
4. Signature words

Structure/Function Words is English Grammar

Though structure words are not as important as emotional words or technical words, one should learn the structure words that arranges a language through English grammar, sentence organization and paragraph structure as it acts as a skeleton of a language.

Some of the examples of structure word choice: In, at, or, and, nor, is, am, by, with, above, around, behind, on, if, even, either/or, neither/nor

Emotional Words bring Human Feelings

As the name suggests, words such as happiness, excitement, enthusiasm, charisma, love, tenderness are some examples of emotional words which adds color to a language. Emotional words are yet another set of content words.

Technical Words are Content Words

From business emails to customer query, a song to a novel, a telemarketing script to a television script, technical words--also called content words--are those important key words that related to the topic of discussion. In fact, these words are specific to that subject without which the topic cannot be comprehended.

Examples of top five content words related to the topic Email would include cc, to, bcc, out of office, and outlook. In addition words like read receipt, mail merger, send, and receive are other important related content words.

Signature Words are Writer Secrets

Many writers preserve, repeat and explore these words and it is difficult to identify these signature words unless the author reveals his/her signature words. These words and expressions also include idioms and phrases.

Besides non-verbal communication skills, verbal communication plays equal role during human-human communication and interpersonal interactions. Whether you are giving a presentation speech or trying to resolve a conflict or trying to persuade someone, words are so important to build interesting human relationships. This simple acronym, SETS, can come handy anytime you'd like to recall the set of content and structure (function) words in a jiffy.

Sympathy Definition Example Statements

Sympathy Definition

Showing sympathy is one of the interpersonal relationship skills that can help you to build interesting human relationships in both personal and professional life situations.

Sympathy Meaning

Sympathy is feeling sorry about the person, situation or the event. You express sympathy in cases of death of a relative, friend, neighbor or pet. Sympathetic tone is as important as the words, phrases, statements of sympathy.

Sympathy Words, Phrases, Statements, Messages Examples

Sympathy Words

You have to be sensitive in using words while showing sympathy. Use of euphemism is one of the most polite and diplomatic ways. For example, instead of using death or suicide can be replaced with euphemisms like passed on, passed away, departed, left his life, deceased, or no longer. 

List of sympathy phrases:

1. Be brave
2. Handle it courageously
3. Cheer up
4. Chip up
5. Give time
6. I have a friend who is going through the same situation.
7. Lot many are going through the same situation as yours.
8. His virtues will always be remembered by all of us
9. Her legacy of wisdom, humor, and love of the family will never be departed from our hearts/souls
10. Though rich memories will always be in our hearts.
11. He/She can never pass away from my heart 
12. His/Her affection, friendliness and warm heartedness will long be remembered by us
13. His/her noble thoughts, righteous intentions will be in our remembrance forever.

List of Sympathy Messages

1. John was such an wonderful person, talented and affectionate, rich memories of his deeds will be in my remembrance forever.
2. I feel privileged to be his friend. I've learned a lot of life lessons from him. His legacies will never be forgotten.
3. John is one of my most admiring friends that I have ever had in my life.
4. Like so many others who were drawn to John by his charm, courage and warmth, I'm one of them who would long be remembered of John.
5. He is the most special person in my life, and I always enjoyed his company and respected this thoughts so much. His philosophies and teachings will always be our hearts endlessly.
6. Ms.Anita  will always remain alive in the memories of us, we love him and treasure his deeds as long as we are alive.

Though empathy and compassion is the most admirable behavior in order to build fascinating relationships, You can use words of sympathy during inevitable situations such death of the person or a natural disaster.

Why Did you Leave your Last Sales Customer Service Job Sample Answer

A mnemonic tool is a simple technique for remembering almost anything. The best about mnemonics is that they are easy-to-remember and may be flashing quickly in the brain once the information is needed.

Why did you Leave your Last Job

Use the "HONEST" mnemonic to remember how to answer the most common interview question. In any common interview, certainly, you will be asked this question "Why did you leave your last job?" Whether you were fired from your last job or you left it on your own accord, use this simple mnemonic to answer this popular interview question professionally.

HONEST mnemonic stands for:

• Honesty
• Opinion
• Others blame
• Economical in answering
• Straight forward
• Tone of Voice

Answer This Interview Question with Honesty

When addressing any interview question, be honest. Nevertheless, you should also try to outline the honest answer with a positive frame.

For example, if you left your last job because you were underpaid or under-appreciated. Do not mention that your boss was overbearing and under appreciative corporation. It is a good idea to tell that your last work didn't give you the chance to grow professionally and there is no chance for advancement opportunity.

Avoid Your Opinions

Few opinions include, "I think the management is worse in my previous company", "Colleagues in my previous company are not cooperative", "Nobody knows how to run this technical process properly", "There is no enough skilled people in my previous organization"

No For Blaming Others

Do not blame your previous organization or boss. Do not show your anger due to the resignation.
For example:
Question: "Why did you leave your last position / job?"
Answer: "I want to apply for a more challenging position." Or "I want to have a chance to work in a larger and more robust organization."

Economical Answers are Safe

Answer any common interview question economically.
Bad example:
Question: "Why did you leave your last position / job?"
Answer: "They didn't meet their promises and my salary was insufficient. My manager was not up to it and every time failed to deliver."
It may be acceptable to say that he/she wanted a chance to improve his/her salary. Unfortunately, he/she decided to tell additional information concerning the relationship with the previous boss which is irrelevant to the question asked and only guarantees to lessen the chances of passing the interview.
Good example:
Question: "Why did you leave your last position / job?"
Answer: "I had an opportunity to apply for more advanced role in a company with a larger portfolio."
This behavior is honest, positive and economical. The interviewee addressed in a brief that he is confident and valued; someone who enjoys with a challenging spirit.

Be Straightforward in Answering any Professional Interview Question

If you left your last job under bad circumstances, be direct and focus your interview answer on the future.
Naturally, no one likes the interview process but let's face it, as you only get one chance to get the job, right? Firstly, you have to be on your best mood. Secondly, be prepared well to answer the most common interview questions, especially "Why did you leave your last job"? Simply, remember the mnemonic "HONEST" to remember how to answer this question professionally and to avoid the dead end of the interview. Answering interview questions is a skill. Acquire it, and memorize it.

Tone of Voice

Tone of voice is the emotion behind your voice. Be polite, professional, courteous and kind while answering this question.

Handling HR interview questions requires both intrapersonal and interpersonal skills. Excel your interviews by communicating effectively and efficiently.

Persuasion Vs Negotiation Examples List

Persuasion Vs Negotiation

To build interesting interpersonal relationships, we influence people either consciously or sub-consciously. Conscious influence is about persuading, convincing and negotiating with others to prove your opinions and beliefs.

Bargain, Convince, Persuade, Influence Negotiate

Subconscious and conscious Influence:
Subconscious influence is influencing people without they knowing that you are influencing them. And, Conscious influence is they are aware that you are trying to influence them. You can do that by convincing them through bargaining, persuading, or negotiating. However, you have to get into their strong beliefs, opinions and actions that are prevailing from their birth. In order to be successful, you must first believe in yourself, your thoughts and your actions. Second, you communicate it through interactions and actions. 

For example, you’d like to buy an apartment for yourself. Which builders would you choose? Say, there are three different builders, A, B and C. if you blindly choose A without knowing why you chose it, it is (subconscious) influence. You’ve been influenced without your knowledge. But, on the other hand, if you consciously study all three builders for quality, credibility etc and then decide one among the three, you are consciously influenced.



Now that you are consciously influenced, you decide to buy a house from builder A, you call the store, and the builder quotes 20,000 dollars, but you want the
builder to reduce the price to 10,000 dollars. If the builder convinces you, either emotionally, or through facts and figures, and sells the house for 20,000 dollars, he has persuaded you. During persuasion, the party doesn’t lose anything from his pocket. However, say,  you are persistent and doesn’t want to spend 20,000 dollars, You can either bargain, persuade or negotiate. Let us get more clarity.

Bargain Vs Persuasion Vs Negotiation Vs Convince

Bargain is blindly demanding. When you bargain, you don't produce any facts on your argument. For example, You say, "Hey Mr.A, I can spend only 10,000 dollars for this apartment, So, please sell this apartment for 10,000"

Persuasion is when you convince him with facts and figures or any other support information to justify your argument. For example, you say, "Hey Mr.A, last week my friend bought an apartment in this locality for $ 10,000 and more over this locality does not have good access to some of the basic necessities such as hospitals and supermarkets. So, please sell this apartment for 10,000"

Negotiation is win-win or lose-lose situations. As a first step, he brings down his price to 19,000 dollars. And, if you agree for 19,000/- the builder lost 1000/-. During negotiation, you lose from your pocket too.

So the difference between persuasion and negotiation is, during persuasion you do not lose anything from your pocket while during negotiation you lose from your pocket.

Convince is to provide evidence to your argument. And, you produce several convincing evidences or proofs and persuade someone to agree to your argument. However, if the other doesn't get persuaded after convincing, you negotiate with them. The more evidences you have  to convince them, the more it is easy to influence, persuade and negotiate.

Once we study different personalities of people, understand their characteristics, importance and values, we will be able to persuade or negotiate with others or even resolve conflicts. However, we should know why there is conflict so that we can resolve them amicably.

Proactive Reactive Behavior Language Examples List

Proactive Vs Reactive Behavior Examples

Developing Proactive Behavior

Being proactive is thoughtful controlled behavior while being reactive is immediate. For example, if you say, you are a, "Cool" person, you would be cool in any life situations, whether you lose your job or win a lottery ticket, you would be cool that is being proactive, whereas, reactive behavior is your conduct that depends on the situation, when you win a lottery ticket, you would be happy while you lose your job you would feel sad.

Examples of Proactive and Reactive Behavior

Example: Another everyday real life example, Imagine, at home, you are busy cleaning your house and a cockroach sits right your lap. You would respond in two different ways. One, you would quickly jump out, blowing away or beating the cockroach to get away from it. This is an example of reactive behavior. Otherwise, you would slowly take a deep breath, think for a moment, take a sheet of paper or stick that may be lying around, lift the cockroach gently, put it in a box and leave the cockroach in a safe place. This behavior is an example of proactive behavior. Some people are born proactive while others acquire this skill. Being proactive is harmonizing your behavior with others and situations.

Case Study-Real Life Example:- Sridhar, author of this blog, believes that food can make you become a proactive person. He has completely changed his diet, consuming only vegetarian food such vegetables, fruits, rice and dal, by completely cutting down, or consuming in residual amounts of spices and few specific food varieties such as chilli, garlic, onion, and oil and fried food. Eliminating salt completely or taking it in residual amounts also helped him to in becoming more calm and composed person. He says, "After changing my food habits, my whole life changed, I'm proactive, especially during conflicts and crisis situations. Undoubtedly, food is a natural medicine. I don't get angry so easily these days. Even when I'm with people who are angry, I'm not influenced by their behavior that I use to before changing my food habits. To become a proactive person, I took 9 years but I worked consciously and today it has become a habit, subconsciously instilled as one of my attitude"

If being proactive is not inborn it will take time to acquire this attitude as in a behavior that you are trying to change in you. That way, any new habit takes time and becoming proactive is not an exception. However, it is not impossible.

Please note that none of these two behavior is either bad or good. It is yet another set of human behavior. Classifying them as good/right or bad/wrong would be judgemental. Accepting different types of behavior will help you to build interesting interpersonal human relationships, resolve conflicts and help you to lead a harmonious life in the society.

Developing New Habits, Manners, Behavior

Etiquette Examples List

Etiquette Vs Mannerism Examples

Etiquette Vs Manners: The simple difference between etiquette and manners is that there is no difference. Manners, a English Word, in French language is called etiquette. However, drilling down, dictionary.com defines manners as, "The way things are done or happens" and etiquette is defined as, "Code of behavior". For example, eating manners is take the food, from the serving plate, to your mouth, chew, swallow is manners. It is how we eat or the manner of eating. Etiquette is do you follow socially acceptable behavior while you eat. That is, do you ensure to use clean hygienic spoon, do you take the food from the plate without making any noise, so that it doesn't disturb the people around you, chew food with your lips closed so that you do not spit on others or make them dis-comfortable by talking and chewing at the same time

Why Etiquette is important

Five vital reasons we follow etiquette in our personal and professional life; Comfort, Consideration, Courtesy, Confused, Care for nature.

Comfort: if you are not comfortable following an etiquette, The significance of that etiquette will be arguable. For example, if dressing etiquette says that you've to wear a suit on a business presentation and, due to hot weather conditions, you're not comfortable wearing it, You would not wear a suit. Your comfort is as important as code of conduct/behavior.

Consideration: You follow etiquette so that others are comfortable by your behavior. For example, you avoid listening to loud music in a crowded elevator as it disturbs others. You don't wear provoking clothes so that others do not get distracted by your dress.

Courtesy: Etiquette is followed as token of respect. For example, it is not mandatory, for a gentleman, to open doors for ladies, either in a corridor or a car; However as a token of respect and courtesy you can always follow this corridor etiquette. It is not mandatory to get up and offer sear to a senior, either you boss or elders, be we follow this etiquette as a code of respect.

Confused: Sometimes we follow a set of conduct so that others are not confused by our behavior. For example, shrugging your shoulder, without uttering a word, to an audience question, during a business presentation, can confuse the audience. Your shrug of shoulder can be perceived in several ways. It can mean, "Why did you ask that question", "I don't know the answer", "I have a different opinion about that question", "I'm insulted by your question". So presentation etiquette is you use both verbal and non-verbal communication to express yourself. While you shrug your shoulder, you also say, with a polite tone of voice, smilingly, "I do not know the answer, I'm sorry"

Care for Nature: Offlate, sustainable living habits is becoming a necessity and we follow certain etiquette to protect our nature and surrounding that live. For example, to conserve water, we do not waste water while using public toilet. However, it is being argumentative whether care for nature can be considered as etiquette. Being ecofriendly is a personal choice. So, it is up to you decide. However, in a business scenario, if your company as a policy/ strict rule on environment friendly practices, it is considered as manners and you are bound to follow company rules.

Factors of Etiquette: From cubicle, corridor to toilet etiquette, there are few vital factors that are common among all types of etiquette:

Display: Whether it is the color of your dress or picture that you post on your office cubicle, visual appearance is considered as important etiquette factor.

Distance: How close you stand next to a person is important. Social, public and personal zones are some of the common non-verbal aspects. For example: etiquette is you do not stand to close to a person who is a stranger.

Duration: For example, you should avoid spending too much time in the toilet unnecessarily.

Direction: The direction of standing posture in an elevator makes a difference. You always face the people in the elevator.

Dimension (Size, Shape): For Example, You ensure that you do not occupy too much of space in the elevator so that others are accommodated conveniently.

List of Personal and Professional Etiquette:
Rest room (Toilet)
Dining
Dress
Verbal (Language)
Bus
Corridor (Street)
Queue
Lift (Elevator)
Meeting etiquette
Email
Telephone
Party
Visitor
Equipment etiquette (printer, laboratory, use of coffee machine)

You can develop fascinating interpersonal relationships if you work on your mannerism and etiquette. What to do is manners, How well you do it is Etiquette.

SMART Goals Acronym, Mnemonic Examples List

How to Write College Admission Essays Using SMART Mnemonic

Using the most popular SMART acronym Nine out of ten college students who write college admissions essays use popular writing techniques and persuasion strategies to win the hearts of the evaluator. SMART mnemonic, though widely used in project management vocabulary, is now extending its hands to help students write college admission essays better and smarter. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time bound. This is article is not just fun to read but easy to apply too.

Specific: Examiners look for candidates who are specific, clear and concise in their thoughts and opinions in the essays. For instance, If you think you believe hard work and smart work together play vital role for success, give specific instances and incidents in your life that supports your belief to persuade the examiner.

Measurable: Here, measurable means a measurable tone of voice. Does your essay have a friendly, polite, yet persuasive style of language? Does it contain phrases that are positive, words that are politically correct, statements that do not provoke any community, culture, tradition and custom beliefs in to arguments? If yes, you have more chances to get good scores in your essay tests.

Attainable: "Once I graduate from your University, I will cure AIDS, eliminate this deadly disease from the world" is one statement made by a medical student in one essay. Is this promise attainable? If yes, what are your support details? Are these details persuasive enough so that the examiner accepts them as practical evidence?

Realistic: Though you are selling yourself in the admission essay, the sales pitch must be realistic. Too exaggerated vocabulary such as "I saved the life of millions" or "I am the only responsible son in the family other any of my siblings" could be avoided.

Time Bound - Do you still carry the old resume as your essay? Or using the out-dated essay format that you used last year? Or copy-paste an essay template to all the colleges irrespective of the subject, place and course? It is time to up-date your college admission essay. Time bound is including all your recent achievements in a chronological order with the recent awards and recognitions at the top of essay.

So, be smart, use SMART Mnemonic to enhance your essay skills

Here is a blog that is exclusively dedicated for mnemonics and acronyms to give valuable tips on soft skills, behavioral skills and interpersonal skills

Sales Call Presentation Conclusion with Examples

Though, sometimes, it seems that learning a memory skill is time consuming, it actually saves time in the long run, because once the skill is thoroughly acquired it can be applied quickly to remember almost any information in the long term memory. Mnemonics and acronyms are one such memory tool and memory enthusiasts use it primarily to code the information in order to save time on long repeated memorization. STAKE is yet another acronym to briefly remember how to remember a sales promotion conclusion:

STAKE mnemonic stands for:-
A Conclusion Paragraph

1. Solution
2. Think
3. Argument
4. Knowledge
5. Execution

Solution

Solution based conclusion paragraphs is mostly seen in science and management articles. After bringing all the technical principles in the body, the conclusion elucidates possible solutions to a problem. Rather than talking about “Why”, the conclusion talks about “How”

Example

A science article “How to make a fuse tube light glow” explains the each part of the tube light and the principle behind the working of tube light in the body and concludes by giving solutions to make the tube light glow.

Think

To make people reflect, to understand and to comprehend a concept, one must conclude the paragraph of an article by giving the different choices to the reader. The writer gives various view points but leaves the decision of choice to the readers in the conclusion

Example

The writer, in an article, “Kids Watching TV”, brings both the positive and side effects in the body, while the choice of whether kids should watch TV or not is left to the readers in the conclusion by making this think and make a right choice.

Argument

After providing strong points on both the sides of the argument, the writer concludes by taking one side of the argument, gives more details on why the choice is made. They use appropriate transition statements to make their point persuading.

Example

So, after analyzing both the advantages and disadvantages of kids watching television, I strongly believe that kids should watch TV because it brings the entire world in one click. However, parents should ensure that kids watch relevant channels that are suitable to their age.

Knowledge

Bringing facts, and opinions on paper is making people aware about the world they live in. the basic aim is share information so that people can use it when it is required. The conclusion paragraph of descriptive articles will be based on awareness and knowledge sharing.

Execution

Almost all sales letters will make the prospect take action. Words like “Act now”, “Call our executives and book your order now before it is too late”, “All that you have to do is mail this business letter and we will take care of your order” are some of the common conclusion paragraphs used in many popular sales palm lets.

It is believed that information stays in the long term memory if repeated at regular time intervals. So, to remember how to conclude a paragraph of an article, just repeat STAKE mnemonic as often as possible until it registers in your long term memory to remember sales promotion conclusion.

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Basic English Rule on Singular and Plural Expressions of Noncount Nouns

List of Idiomatic Phrases

Though there are many rules in english on count--also categorized under mass nouns--and non-count nouns, students get confused especially while handling non-count nouns. Whether to add "s" at the end of the words or not? What is the plural word for non-count nouns? And so on. Here is a list of noncount nouns that always carry an idiomatic expression.

Memorize the following singular and plural idiomatic expressions examples

A piece of advice two pieces of advice
a piece of bread two pieces of bread
a piece of equipment two pieces of equipment
a piece of furniture two pieces of furniture
a piece of information two pieces of information
a piece of jewelry two pieces of jewelry
a piece of luggage two pieces of luggage
a piece of mail two pieces of mail
a piece of music two pieces of music
a piece of news two pieces of news
a piece of toast two pieces of toast
a loaf of bread two loaves of bread
a slice of bread two slices of bread
an ear of corn two ears of corn
a bar of soap two bars of soap
a bolt of lighting two bolts of lighting
a clap of thunder two claps of thunder
a gust of wind two gusts of wind

More example sentences that contain singular and plural expressions of noncount nouns:

Non-standard: A mail travels faster when the zip code is mentioned on the letter.
Standard: A piece of mail travels faster when the zip code is mentioned on the letter.

Non-standard: Is there a limit of two carry-on luggages for each passenger?
Standard: Is there a limit of two pieces of carry-on luggage for each passenger?

Non-standard: Each furniture in this showroom is imported from Tailand.
Standard: Each piece of furniture in this showroom is imported from Tailand.

Non-standard: I'd like a steak, a salad, and a corn's ear with butter.
Standard: I'd like a steak, a salad, and an ear of corn with butter.

Non-standard: The department of medicine purchased a new equipment to diagnose the cancer disease.
Standard: The department of medicine purchased a new piece of equipment to diagnose the cancer disease.

Non-standard: A pop song is a popular music.
Standard: A pop song is a piece of popular music.

Non-standard: I have two soaps.
Standard: I have two bars of soap.

Non-standard: Hybrids have one more corn per plant than the other varieties.
Standard: Hybrids have one more ear of corn per plant than the other varieties.

Non-standard: A wind blew on my car.
Standard: A gusts of wind blew on my car.

So, avoid using the noncount noun without the singular or plural idiom to express singular or plural.