{
  "title": "Customer reception: asking questions without becoming intrusive",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-questionner-sans-devenir-intrusif-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2026-06-20",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "Asking questions can improve a relationship. Research does not establish that a more personal welcome is always a better one.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Client Reception",
  "place": {
    "name": "Zurich",
    "region": "Zurich",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the literature establishes",
      "point": "Karen Huang, Michael Yeomans, Alison Wood Brooks, Julia Minson and Francesca Gino (2017, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology) show, in getting-acquainted conversations and brief encounters, that people who ask more questions tend to be better liked by their conversational partners."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Disclosure and relationships reinforce each other",
      "point": "Nancy L."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The premature conclusion",
      "point": "One might conclude that staff should ask more personal questions to make the welcome warmer."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What the evidence cannot determine",
      "point": "The question-asking studies examine interactions that do not reproduce the constraints of reception work in banks, insurance firms or corporate offices."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Zurich",
      "point": "Within SHR's “Accueil client” programme, a practical application in Zurich could focus on follow-up questions in financial services, insurance, tech and the European headquarters of international groups."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Gino",
      "year": "2017",
      "source": "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Miller",
      "year": "1994",
      "source": "Psychological Bulletin"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 474,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-editorial-2026-06-20-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-questionner-sans-devenir-intrusif",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-questionner-sans-devenir-intrusif-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-questionner-sans-devenir-intrusif-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-questionner-sans-devenir-intrusif-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation/accueil-client/zurich",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/zurich",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}