1. Provide reception services
Handout 4: Understanding your organisation

2. Why is it important to understand your organisation?
To answer visitors’ queries
To direct telephone
To solve problems
To deal with unexpected visitors.
To answer visitors’ queries – Knowing what your organisation does will enable you to answer general enquiries or call the most appropriate person to do so.
To direct telephone calls – Many callers will not know the name of the person they need to speak to and will briefly explain their query to you so that you can put them through to the most appropriate person.
To solve problems – For example, if the person the visitor is calling to see is not available for any reason, you will be able to contact someone else who could see them.
To deal with unexpected visitors – Sales people often call unannounced on the chance that someone will be available to see them; you will need to know who will be the most suitable person for them to see or to make an appointment with.

3. The roles of your organisation’s staff Its services/products
Knowledge
You will need to know
The roles of your organisation’s staff
Its services/products
The layout of the premises
Health and safety procedures
Who to contact in an emergency.
Having the right knowledge will mean that you are able to solve minor visitor problems and know whom best to contact when you cannot.
The roles of your organisation’s staff – Not all visitors will know (or remember) the name of the person they are visiting; they may be calling ‘on spec’, or have a general enquiry. Knowing who does what in your organisation will enable you to direct the enquiry to the right person or department.
Its services/products – In order to answer general enquiries about your organisation, you will need to be familiar with its products/services; you will need to know what your organisations does. You should know where to find out specific information, whether from a written source or a member of staff.
The layout of the premises – In order to direct visitors to eg washroom facilities.
Health and safety procedures – You must know what to do in the event of an emergency evacuation or other risk to health or safety and who to contact when there are problems you cannot solve.

4. Sources of information
Internal telephone directory
Organisation chart
Staff handbook
Intranet/internet
Company literature
Health and safety policies/procedures.
Internal telephone directory – To enable you to phone through to the right extension number.
Organisation chart – To understand the different roles of staff, who their managers are and how their roles relate to others. An organisation chart shows the structure of the organisation and the lines of communication, ie who reports to whom in the different functional areas. It will indicate the name of the most appropriate person to contact with a query; you can then look them up in the internal telephone directory to contact them.
Staff handbook – For information on procedures to be followed in different circumstances.
Intranet/internet – For accessing staff movements, finding out where staff are via online schedulers and . Your organisation’s web page is also a source of up-to-date information about your organisation’s products/ services. Visitors often have general enquiries, eg about the nearest train station, etc, that they direct at the receptionist.
Company literature – To provide information on the organisation’s products/services, terms and conditions.
Health and safety policies/procedures – To be followed in the event of emergencies or hazards.

5. Example organisation chart
Petra Holmes
Chief Executive Officer
Fara Ali
Sales Director
Sonny Patel
Sales Manager
Simon Parker
Finance Director
Rafa Gomez
Chief Accountant
Jill Clarke
Finance Officer
Glyn Reeve
Invoice Clerk
Jenny Chan
HR Director
The above illustrates a basic structure where the relationship between those in the organisation is shown with a line, eg in the Sales Department the Sales Manager reports to the Sales Director who in turn reports to the CEO.
The levels reflect the status of the person, ie those at the same level have the same level of authority.
When directing enquiries, you need to decided who is the person at the most appropriate level to answer the query; it would be most appropriate to direct a query about an unpaid bill in the first instance to Glyn Reeve, the Invoice Clerk.

6. Problems are likely to relate to:
Visitor problems
Problems are likely to relate to:
mistakes, errors or failures – human or otherwise
visitor behaviour
visitors’ special requirements
emergency situations.
In dealing constantly with people, there are always likely to be problems.
You will need to know enough about the organisation, its facilities and staff roles in order to solve basic problems, and know whom to contact in an emergency or when assistance is required.

7. Challenging behaviour
You may have to deal with those who are:
Angry
Rude
Confused/upset
Demanding.
A receptionist needs good people skills. You will need to be observant of people’s behaviours to spot the signs of frustration or distress that can lead to challenging behaviour.
Angry – No one likes to have their time wasted: if visitors are kept waiting for a long time or have their appointment unexpectedly cancelled, they are likely to be angry. You will need to diffuse their anger with the least disruption possible to other visitors.
Rude – Few people are naturally rude: when people are rude for no apparent reason, there is likely to be some unknown reason for it which may be completely unrelated to the current transaction. Do not react with rudeness: extreme politeness is your best weapon. It is very difficult to continue with rude behaviour when someone reacts with kindness or concern.
Confused/upset – Stressful situations lead to people becoming upset or distressed: perhaps a delayed appointment is going to make it difficult to meet a transport connection afterwards. Try to spot the signs of agitation and be proactive in asking if there is anything you can do to help. In the example mentioned, even just finding out how long the wait time will be may be enough to relieve the distress.
Demanding – At busy times, don’t allow demanding people to distract your attention away from the visitor you are dealing with. Don’t be tempted to break away from organisational procedures either, no matter how demanding the visitor is.

8. Tips for avoiding problems
Adapt behaviour/communication
Remain professional
Monitor visitors’ waiting time
Consider the impression on other visitors.

9. Techniques for dealing with angry visitors
Keep calm
Do not react/act defensively
Adopt suitable body language
Adopt the HEAT strategy:
Hear
Empathise
Apologise
Take action.
You will often have to take the brunt of visitors’ frustration over problems that are not of your making, eg they have had to wait a long time or the person they are calling is not available.
Be careful not to react to their anger or take it personally – check your body language is not giving out a defensive message either – crossed arms for example looks defensive; not making eye contact makes you appear to be avoiding the situation.
Keep your tone calm and level and choose your words carefully.
The HEAT strategy is useful to give structure to dealing with angry, complaining visitors:
Hear – Really listen to the person; make eye contact and focus on what they are saying.
Empathise – Put yourself in their shoes; show genuine concern for their situation.
Apologise – It may not be your fault, but you should apologise for any inconvenience they have been put to.
Take action – Let them know that you are ready to try to resolve the issue and what you intend to do.

10. Questions?