About Robert Bacal - The Basics

Robert has been providing customer service information and expertise to clients for over 20 years, first with the Manitoba Government, and then with Bacal & Associates. Robert developed the first customer service program for Manitoba government to help government employees deal with difficult, aggressive and even potentially violent customers. Since then, he's advanced the art of defusing customers, and has delivered his Defusing Hostile Customers Seminar to several thousand customers, ranging from those working in the security and immigration enforcement fields, through to teachers, principals and social workers.

As a result of requests for customer service help, he wrote the Defusing Hostile Customer Workbook, essentially a seminar in a book to help those that could not attend his seminars. He followed up with Conflict Prevention In The Workplace - Using Cooperative Communication, a book intended to help people reduce the unnecessary and usually destructive conflict in their lives.

In 2004 he authored Perfect Phrases For Customer Service, published by McGraw-Hill, a unique approach to helping people learn to interact more effectively with customers. In addition he is the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Dealing With Difficult Employees (Alpha Press), and a number of other books on management, through McGraw-Hill. Want to see a list of titles, click here.

Bacal & Associate seminars on customer service break out of the cookie cutter mold training available elsewhere. Each seminar is based on a needs assessment done with the client to determine content. Real examples from the client's workplace are included. For more information, please call at (613) 764-0241, since, due to the custom nature of the seminars, details will depend on your needs.

Additional Information

Robert holds a B. A. from Concordia University in Montreal, in Psychology, and an M.A. in Applied Psychology from the University of Toronto (Ontario Institute For Studies In Education. He uses his advanced training in Psychology and communication to draw upon for both the content or his books and seminars in customer service.

Robert is located near Ottawa, Canada, in a small town called Casselman. He is available for seminars within North America, and also for conference and speaking engagements.

The More Personal Bio

Hi. I thought I'd add a more personal flavor to this page, by updating it periodically to let people know what I'm doing these days. I've pretty much made the transition from trainer and keynote speaker to author, though of course, the different roles aren't mutually exclusive. While I still enjoy the contact with people in seminars and at conferences, I've come to HATE the travel part of the process. So, the point is if you need training or a keynote speaker, there's no harm in asking, but I prefer to stay closer to home, which means primarily in the Ontario/Quebec area and the northern U.S. states, such as New York, Vermont, Maine, and so on -- the places that are within driving distance.

Lots of future plans, most having to do with the creating and release of new publications. Last year (2010) I completed a number of new editions and new books -- in fact, I believe there were six in total. This year, we've already released If It Wasn't For The Customers I'd Really Like This Job. Next is the rewriting of Performance Management -- A Briefcase Book for McGraw-Hill, and then we get into some new material, and that's the stuff I can't talk about yet. Last year was one of writing obligations, while I hope 2011 will be a year of writing innovation for me.

Finally (for now), I'm turning my learning in the direction of becoming a better writer. I not even close to the level I want to be at (see, that's not a properly written sentence), so I'm involved in some study and ongoing work to learn my new craft and really, my ultimate vocation. At 57, you just have to shake up stuff sometimes.

March, 2011