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:
The Art of Outstanding Customer Service Workshop
Do your customers love you?
How much of your client base is referred?
What is outstanding Customer Service anyway?
Do you and/or your customer service staff; enjoy coming in to work each day?
We all know that "the Customer is always right" right?
Wrong!
The customer is not always right, but the customer is the customer, you are the service provider - so, it’s simple....PROVIDE SERVICE!
By service, I mean outstanding customer service.
Customer Service is about meeting our client's needs - outstanding customer service is about surpassing the customer's expectations.
Let me say, in this climate (economically speaking!) it is not enough to simply take your customers money in exchange for goods or services. I can promise you that your competition has woken up to this and they know you had better be prepared to over-deliver to your customer, in terms of value and service.
Prices need to be competitive no matter what you are offering, but at the end of the day - 98% of customers will be prepared to pay extra to get outstanding service.
So, we know that word of mouth is priceless!
It saves us a bundle on advertising and marketing, and it travels at the speed of light.
Customers can't wait to share experiences.
Let’s face it - if the miserable woman at the service station gave you and grunt on your way to work, not lifting her eyes to make contact - you've hardly been energized by that experience!
Do you ever feel like saying "Excuse me, I am your customer, I keep you in business and I am loyal to your company - do you think you could at least show a little respect and look at me or acknowledge me...rather than just taking my money?"
Let me tell you - I do feel like that, and I think in the past I may have even said that!
Don't get me wrong, people can have 'off days', and I am not one of these grumps that goes around harassing everyone that serves me - but after years of going to the local service station - more out of desperation as I realize my fuel gauge is beeping and bleeping as I start the car in the morning, and instead of telling me I have 50kms left...it has resorted to displaying dashes instead, I would at least expect eye contact from the attendant.
Is that wrong?
I am starting my day - I work hard to make a difference to the lives I touch - no matter who I am dealing with.
I always use the name of the person serving me, easy if they are wearing it, but if they aren't wearing a badge I make a point of asking their name... (and repeating it 3 times in my head so I don't forget it!), then I thank them for their time, with the biggest smile I can muster, and using their name.
How hard is it to be polite?
I want you to do an exercise.
The very next customer or client that you deal with, have a smile on your face, find out their name (and USE it...they are not an object - they are a person, so use their name), and take an extra moment to extend that connection with them, it’s part of building rapport, and setting you aside from every other company that offers your services.
It may be as simple as "Good morning Mrs. Jones, how are you today?" (pause, LISTEN and show interest), make at least one comment about what she has just shared with you, whether it be that she is freezing her butt off because its blowing a gale, freezing cold and bucketing down outside, or if she says she is great - fantastic! Point out that you love her top, or the color of that top on her, her hairstyle - whatever it is....TAKE THAT EXTRA TIME!
People want to be acknowledged - it is as simple as that.
Whether your customers run in to pay for something quickly - fuel, a courier delivering something (yes - treat them as a customer...because he knows how ALL the businesses in your area treat him. Who will he recommend or go to himself when he needs a company that offers your services?), or if your clients are with you for a longer period of time, shopping, having an appointment of some description, build rapport, provide customer service with a smile, be respectful - yes, that means get off the phone to that personal call - they don't care to hear that what’s-her-name finally gave what’s-his-name the boot on the weekend, or the fact that you didn't get to your sisters 30th because the hairdresser left your color on for too long and you had to spend the next 3 hours correcting it and then, as it was frazzled within an inch of its life, you had to have a 2 hour treatment done!
Outstanding Customer Service is also extended to the 'vibe' that is within your business.
If you come in to work thinking "I can't believe it’s Monday, I still have the WHOLE week ahead of me" What frame of mind are you in? What are you projecting to your customers? How is the energy within your workplace?
Work is as easy or as hard as we choose to make it...truly - it is.
We all have choices right?
You can choose not to be happy in your work, or you can choose to do something about it!
How can you make your workplace a more pleasant place to go to each day?
We spend the largest portion of our day there, instead of making it about paying our bills, what if it was about fulfilling you as a person?
Our workplaces can be a place of fun, excitement and energy.
So the 10 Steps to OUTSTANDING Customer Service:
1. Understand that the Customer is not always right - BUT they are the Customer.
2. Surpass your Customers expectations, ALWAYS over deliver
3. Word of mouth is your best and most critical form of advertising
4. Treat every person that makes contact with your company as a prospective Customer, and if not a Customer - definitely an advocate for the energy and 'vibe' of your company.
5. Take that extra moment to 'connect' with your client - yes, actually acknowledge that they are there.
6. Show respect, always, always, always!
7. Offer your Customer the opportunity to provide feedback on your customer service- not only do you learn more about your company - you learn more about your Customers and their needs and expectations.
8. Offer a Loyalty Program/Reward System
9. Remember, that every single Customer purchase, is an emotional decision - and when things don't go the way the Customer expects it to go - they can get very very emotional.
10. Have fun, have excitement and love where you are at - because the choice is up to you!
Don't forget - commit to your customer service team, commit to your customers...and commit to your success!
Have fun, have excitement...and have energy.
There is enough pressure and gloom in a lot of people's lives in this economic climate - be the light in their day....be the light in your day!
Life is for living...not for dreading, so don't dread that you have to go to work each day, it's a part of your life!
Source:
Dawn Butcher:
link
Article Content: Customer Service Workshop
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training needs.
