Customer Service Training Workshops:
Our customer service workshop teaches by doing with less than 15% lecture and 85% hands on
activities. Participants learn by Doing and not by being told. Exercises are
practical, realistic, fun and are skill based.
To maximize your customer
service teams effectiveness we suggest our custom, private
customer service workshops offered in house at the location of
your choice, usually in groups of 6 or more.
Contact
us for a free consultation on how we can best service your
training needs.
Workshop Objectives:
In our Exceptional Customer Service one-day
workshop
participants will:
- Understand how to handle inquiries and/or complaints in
ways that create improved, lasting relationships with your
customers or clients.
- Learn to promote positive "chemistry" between
your company and your clients by recognizing and
responding to the needs of each individual.
- Learn how to handle doubt, misunderstandings, and
objections.
- Acquire techniques for seeing issues from clients'
perspectives, creating value-adding options for clients,
and making sure clients recognize the added value they are
getting.
- Learn how to gain agreement from clients and reinforce
mutually satisfying long-term relationships.
Customer Service Training:
Customer Service Courses - What's Important in Customer Relations
On a recent visit to a warehouse superstore, I selected the self check-out lane where there was no wait. Since I have little patience for lines, this seemed like the best option even though I then had to transfer my purchases back to the shopping cart for the trip to the car.
As I did that, the customer service associate assigned to the self check-out lanes approached with my receipt. "Don't forget to take your receipt! You won't be able to exit without it!"
Instantly, I was 6 years old again, and Mrs. Boehlke, my first grade teacher, was saying in a sing-song voice, "Be sure to put your name on your paper! I won't know who to give the grade to without your name!"
While I'm sure the customer service associate was just trying to be helpful, I felt as though I'd just been scolded. It got me to thinking about our communications with our clients. Do we communicate with them in a way that says they are valued, respected and ADULTS?
Or do we sometimes treat them as children, saying with our words or actions that "You better do this, or else that will happen!"
I've been a patient of doctors who I really liked and who gave great care. However, the greatest interaction isn't generally with the doctor (gotta love sitting in a cold exam room covered with nothing but a piece of paper!) but with their office staff.
How does the staff make you feel? Are you as pleased with them as you are with your physician?
When I called the customer service number for my business bank account, and entered the appropriate number (press 1 for..., press 2 for...), I got a recorded message that said in an official and condescending voice, "If you're calling about a business account, you must dial 1-888..."
Have you ever taken your car in for an oil change only to have the attendant berate you for low oil levels? What do they think you're doing - sneaking out each night under the cover of darkness with an eye dropper to suck out a few drops of oil? While I might not know all of the dire consequences associated with running without oil, I intuitively know it can't be good.
I assume, you, like me, make a habit of checking your oil, and wouldn't intentionally run your car without it. Instead of pointing fingers - "You let the oil get low!" - it seems that the service shops should treat you as an adult and a customer they'd like to have return. If so, they would focus the finger-pointing on the the real issue - the low oil level.
Determining the cause is a solutions based approach your customers will appreciate. As a small business owner, it's important you know how your customers are being treated. If you're selling commodities, where the lowest price generally wins, you better believe you have to treat your customers better than the big box down the street.
If you're a small business owner providing services, the way your customer is treated in customer service is ultra important. As the business owner, you must treat your customer with the respect and attention you would expect when you're the customer.
But, just like in the case of the doctor, what are their interactions like with your customer service staff? If you have automated voice messages or emails, how do they make your customer feel? If you're like most of us, automated voice messages or emails, once created, are rarely revisited. Gee, did I say that?
And, are there non-verbal ways we communicate with customers that may not be optimal? I'm used to showing my receipt as I exit the big box warehouse, but I wouldn't want to be treated that way as I exited your upscale boutique.
Revisiting the way you and your customer service staff communicate, both verbally and non-verbally, will help assure the customer gets the message - You're important to our business!
Source:
Cheryl E. Cook:
link
Article Content: Customer Service Courses
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