Sen's new challenge in CIDA

After several days of researching practice and learning, last Friday, I receive a new task from Rebecca which is making phone calls to some organizations and agencies for selling Cre8net tickets. This new test really shocked me. Making phone calls is always my weak point. The reason why Toks gave me this task is the "what the student want to learn from this internship" options which I chose three weeks ago in my internship agreement. Obviously, one of my choices is--to improve my English speaking ability.

This is the biggest challenge I ever met in CIDA yet, even in UK! Despite the truth that I did PR job before, I still do not like tale with strangers via phone. I am worried that I will ruin our event ticket selling. To be exaggerating, the fear is from inside rather than the outside pressure. Notwithstanding, I had no reason to escape from this challenge, this is a "must do" mission.

Rebecca is quite nice, she told me take my time and starts to call when I feel comfortable and prepared. In this period, my first step is to search the contact number from their websites, and take notes.

Fortunately, Ashley emailed me the Cre8net script which I could follow to read during my calling. He helped me practice via phone several times and taught some communication techniques. To be specific, the key note is: try to make myself slowly and clearly. Basically, people over the phone will ignore my accent and understand my meaning if I speak slowly. Moreover, he tried to correct my pronunciation with patience. Their help really means a lot to me.

Here is part of my script:
Hello there, my name is Sen  and I am calling from CIDA.  We are now running an event/conference on April 24^th, called Crn8et. I am wondering if you have heard about it? 
1.If they say yes---That’s great. I am wondering if you want to attend it? Or can I email you more information?
2. If they say no---Ok, fine, do you want to have more information about the event?
Ok, this is our third year running Cr8net; essentially it’s a conference for the creative industries. It’s a great chance for industry leaders, including academics to come together, debate and network. ..."

I used Google translate to translate every sentence, not for understanding the meaning but for listening to the correct pronunciation. Before I made every call, I entered the name of the target person in the translate frame and catch the standard pronunciation. I believe no matter in Chinese or Western Culture, speak the right name is the basic respect to others. At least I could leave a good first impression to customers.

It is not so that hard than I thought. The first person I contacted is quite nice. I think he could tell the truth that I'm a foreigner from my accent, so he listening to me with patience. Although he did not booked tickets via the phone, he was glad to receive our Cre8net information and further newsletter.

In this process, I updated my own script for three times, try to make myself comfortable and enable the listener comfortable as well. Usually the people who I got touch with could not booked tickets right away, so my primary purpose is introducing Cre8net, let them know our coming event.

You will never know your potential ability until you put pressure on yourself and have the first shot.