Level 1 exam — Customer relations

Exam — fresh questions

12 questions to validate speaking to customers: welcome and first impressions, active listening and empathy, speech and vocabulary, phone, email and chat.
Answer everything, then click Check: your score and explanations will appear.

1.1 · Application

1. Queue at the counter, 3 customers. First move?

Announce: "with you in 2 minutes" (announced waiting is accepted) Hide Serve in silence Ignore them until you are free

Announced waiting is accepted; silent waiting irritates before the service even starts.

1.1 · Arbitration

2. Why name a known customer?

Proven recognition: they exist, you know them, you take care of them To waste time Useless To flirt

"Hello Mr Karim" + announced action: respect in ten seconds.

1.1 · Recall

3. Which is a welcome killer?

Availability Smile + name Head down + "yes?" without looking up Tidy desk

Ten minutes to win back the points lost in ten seconds.

1.2 · Application

4. Customer talking for 2 minutes non-stop. What to do?

Yawn Cut them off to save time Silence + notes + signals: visible listening makes them cooperate Hang up

Interrupted, they repeat and double the time; listened to, they vent then cooperate.

1.2 · Arbitration

5. "I understand this delay puts you in difficulty": effect?

Useless Annoying Agreeing on everything Naming the emotion defuses without deciding the substance (experience acknowledged, facts next)

Empathy = acknowledging the experience; the substance is handled after, not during.

1.2 · Application

6. When to offer a solution?

After the "yes" to the full reformulation (facts + emotion + impact) Never By email only Within the first 10 seconds

Without the yes, any solution feels imposed: summarize first, solve next.

1.3 · Application

7. Explain a "night batch" to a non-technical person. How?

Say nothing Hand them the technical docs Keep the term, they will understand Translate: "automatic processing overnight" (no jargon outside peers)

A customer who does not understand will not dare say so — and leaves in silence.

1.3 · Arbitration

8. Same information for someone in a hurry vs an anxious person?

Same pace for all In a hurry: essentials first; anxious: detailed reassuring steps Ignore both Write a novel

Same substance, three paces: calibrating is respect, not wasted time.

1.3 · Recall

9. Which one is sure to hurt?

"I will take care of it" "Calm down" (has never calmed anyone) "Here is what I can do" "We will fix this"

Ban: "calm down", "you should have", "it is procedure" with no explanation.

1.4 · Application

10. 3-minute file search on the phone. What to do?

Hang up Keep them waiting with no word Silence + music for 3 min Announced, time-boxed hold + check-ins + callback offered beyond that

"2 minutes, is that OK?" + check-ins: announced waiting creates no complaint.

1.4 · Arbitration

11. OAR: what is the final R for?

Nothing Recap + dated next step: the promise becomes a contract, the call is not forgotten To drag on To bill

Open-Analyse-Resolve: without a dated recap, the call evaporates.

1.5 · Application

12. Tense email received at 6pm. Reflex?

Forward to the boss Reply hot right away Draft + pause + read aloud (or switch to phone) Ignore for a week

Writing stays: the pause avoids the sentence that inflames.

What's next?

Score ≥ 80%: move on to Level 2 · Handling requests well (qualifying the request, giving a clear answer, managing deadlines and follow-up, CRM and ticket tools, knowledge base).
Score < 80%: revisit the missed sections (welcome 1.1, listening 1.2, speech 1.3, phone 1.4, email and chat 1.5), re-read the explanations above, then retake the test.