Customer Service Breakthroughs

Training Overview

In our Customer Service Breakthrough workshop, learn how to effectively meet customer service objectives, exceed customer expectations, and achieve high levels of customer satisfaction.

Master the skills to treat customers on the basis of their “lifetime value”, strengthening relationships and meeting and exceeding standards and expectations. Enable two-way communication to avoid misunderstandings, minimize problems, and collaboratively work out mutually-beneficial solutions.

Outcomes

On completion of this training, you should be able to:

• Identify priority improvement areas
• Understand your role and importance as a service provider
• Learn how to provide quality service to create “fans” and “advocates”
• Manage attitudes and emotions to ensure consistent, positive, and excellent service
• Enhance your communication skills
• Master effective telephone technique
• Positively deal with complaints and conflict situations

Intended Audience

This workshop is designed for customer service staff who deal with internal or external customers, both face-to-face or by phone, along with Customer service team managers or leaders

Session Information

• A highly interactive, 2-day workshop
• Four 2-hour web-based online classroom sessions
• Optional follow up Coaching Session to reinforce learning
• Customised options for shorter in-house training are also available

Units

Unit 1: The Value of Customers
Every point of contact with a customer is a “moment of truth” for them. You will appreciate why each contact is a memorable event for them, and how they want to be treated by us. We will overview the importance of customers to your organization. As we all are, and all have, internal customers, we will recognize their special needs. We will illustrate the impact customers have on sales and profits, and study the things we can do to build customer loyalty. You will understand the actions that make them satisfied and come back, and what turns them off. Finally in this unit we discuss how we learn, and keep learning.

Unit 2: Quality Service
We will discuss how we can improve the quality of our service, why we need to set certain standards, what servicing activities require standards, and how to measure whether they are met. You will learn what “all customers are not equal” really means, and be able to calculate the worth of each customer. We will explore the ideas of perception and reality, and learn ways to manage our customers’ expectations about our products and services. Finally, we look at the dangers of over-promising and under-delivering, and how we can avoid that trap.

Unit 3: Communication
Whenever we communicate with our customers – face to face, on the telephone, or in writing, we are exchanging information, ideas and feelings. Whatever the medium, we need to do it exceptionally well! You will learn and practice the skills of questioning, listening, getting feedback, verbal behaviors (the words we use and how we say them), and non-verbal behaviors (the way we come across, our body language). You will understand why first impressions are very important, and how you can continually build rapport with your customers. We also spend some time on telephone etiquette and techniques – how we ‘behave’ on the phone, and how we apply our skills and knowledge. For those of you who use email as your main communication, there are some useful tips on giving customer service by email. At the end of this unit there is an opportunity to put all these skills together in simulated case studies.

Unit 4: Self Management
We start this unit by examining the relationship between attitudes and behaviors. Once we understand how they interact, we are better able to manage our own, and positively influence our customers. We will also learn that our attitudes are significantly more important than our aptitudes, and how to control how we feel. As a substantial part of our product and service knowledge is to educate our customers, you need to understand their learning process, and adapt the way you ‘teach’ to each individual customer. Many of you will be required to cross sell or up sell – some all the time, others only on specific occasions. We will review the skills you need to do this. We end this unit discussing several important aspects of self-management. First how we value and use our time, and how we manage our priorities. Second how we recognize the warning signs and manage stress. Third, how we develop our personal power, and continually gain in confidence. And finally how we develop new skills, learn how to improve old ones, and learn from mistakes and experience.

Unit 5: Complaints and Conflict
Through understanding how we and others feel when having to make a complaint, we are better able to understand the feelings and behaviors of customers when they make a complaint, or are in a conflict situation. You will learn a process that will help you deal objectively with every complaint and conflict situation, and use a problem solving process to achieve resolution. You will learn how to respond instead of reacting. You will learn the skills required to assertively deal with customers in any situation, and will be able to positively influence their aggressive or passive behaviors to an appropriate two-way communication. We conclude this unit showing you how to deal with the customer who thinks they are right, but are not!

Additional Materials

• A comprehensive learning guide
• A free follow-up 30-minute coaching session
• Optional Enrollment in our monthly newsletter

Follow-up Coaching

There is a key difference between learning and knowing. Learning is the process of being taught the material while knowing is about internalizing and retaining it. If at any point after a session you feel the need for more support in knowing the lessons taught to you, a free 30-minute coaching session is available to you on request.