Customer Service Training Programs:
Our customer service training
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 training
courses 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.
Program Objectives:
In our Exceptional Customer Service one-day
training 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 Training - It's Service, Not Servitude
You've had a hard day, with many demanding, impolite customers who think they own you. But, the final straw comes as you're just finishing listening to a customer tell you exactly, in excruciating detail, what she is looking for. As you turn around to retrieve the items for her, she says very loudly to your back, "Whoa!"
Not "excuse me", not "just a minute", just "Whoa!" As to a mule. As in a command, not a request.
This immediately irritates you and your first reaction is to have your head spin around 360 degrees and say in your best DiNiro voice, "You talkin' to ME?"
But, of course you don't.
You say concerned and politely either "Yes?" or "Was there something else?" with a frozen smile. But what you really feel is that you have just about had it.
So begins the attitude that serving customers is more servitude than customer service. Most will simply write off the negative attitudes to burnout.
But is it simply burnout? I'm not so sure.
Burnout typically occurs when a person has been in customer service awhile, but the feeling of servitude can occur on your first day, with your first customer. And yes, you can minimize it, but it will remain. If this attitude is allowed to grow, it will fester and eventually erupt in even the best customer service employees.
Is there a way to prevent this feeling that just because we "serve" customers and we take "orders” that it shouldn't be taken literally?
Maybe we should just approach it from a completely different angle. Let's educate the customer and require them to be certified in whichever service they want before they can partake of that service.
I humbly suggest (with my tongue just barely in my cheek) that this is a wonderful opportunity for the federal government to create a new bureau, under the direction of Postal Department or, on the state level, the Driver's License Division. Both of these organizations have a history of legendary service. Maybe something like The Office of Customer Certification (TOCC). This organization would have branches in every city and town in America and would be charged with the responsibility of testing and certifying each person for the privilege of using services. If they fail, they can't use that service. "Soooo sorry, but I just can't do your nails; I see you haven't been certified".
Think of the opportunities for employment! There would have to be someone in charge of testing for each service. Hair cuts, going to a restaurant, getting a ride in a taxi, having your lawn mowed. Why, if done right, every person in America could be employed.
But seriously, here are some suggestions on how to prevent the attitude of servitude from creeping in:
- Make sure your customer service employees feel secure in their job, including a supportive boss and environment.
- Encourage active, healthy lifestyles.
- The customer is always right. . . BUT - exceptionally wrong customers are wrong!
- Avoid overtime like the plague, even when customer service employees ask for it. The extra money will quickly turn into bad attitudes.
- Make it a policy that vacations are taken, never allowed to skip because they prefer pay in lieu of vacation. They have to recharge their batteries, whether they realize it or not.
- Resist hiring customer service employees that have second jobs because they usually have a lower tolerance for customers, especially when both jobs involve a lot of customer contact.
- Each customer service boss should schedule a shift or two periodically on the front lines to understand what their customer service employees really go through. Up close and personal.
Actually more importantly, how long has it been since the senior executives have worked a customer shift? Companies should do this routinely to keep their customer service employees as their focus and to know the true beat of their customers.
Source:
Dr. John T. Self:
link
Article Content: Customer Service Training
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