Customer Service Training Courses:
Our customer service course 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 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 in a customer service training course customized
for you!
Course Objectives:
In our Exceptional Customer Service one-day
course
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 Courses:
Good Customer Service Is Small Things Easily Accomplished
Poor customer service is so much the norm that good customer service surprises us-even shocks us. Poor customer service is a product of a lack of leadership.
Counterfeit leaders think that a fairly large portion of
their customer base can be upset with them at any given time
and they can still stay in business and make money. Their competitors aren't doing any better, so why worry about it?
A leader does things because they are the right things to do. He doesn't do something because he can get away with it or because no one else is doing any better than he. He knows that at any time someone can come along and do just a little better than he, and put him out of business. Whereas a counterfeit to a leader hardly puts any effort toward customer service, a leader knows that customer service is one of the most important things that exists to the survival and thriving of his company-toward staying in business and providing good, well-paying jobs to his customer service employees. So he puts immense time, effort, training, and capital into assuring that it is the norm at his company.
Poor customer service hardly ever manifests itself as abuse from the customer service employee. An customer service employee usually won't swear at a customer or insult or threaten a customer. Poor customer service is more about apathy on the customer service employee's part and on the company's part. Or it's the customer service employee not having the authority to try to improve his job and what he can do, or the environment in which the customer and the customer service employee interact. An customer service employee may really want to help; he may be sympathetic to the customers' problems, but he can't help. It simply is not provided for at his company, even though the company would insist that OF COURSE they are deeply interested in treating their customers well. Often it is a financial matter. If the company really stood behind its mediocre products or services, it wouldn't have any capital left over with which to carry on business.
I went to a big box retailer to look at coats. I arrived at about the time they should have opened, and stood by the locked front door. I saw people inside, ostensibly doing nothing-probably watching the clock, determined not to unlock the door until the second hand swept past the 12 at exactly opening time. My watch showed that it was a minute past opening time. I knocked on the door. A woman who was 12 feet from the door walked away without looking at me. They finally opened the door 3 minutes late, by my watch. This is a retailer that has a poor reputation and is regularly made fun of. I have first-hand knowledge that there is a reason for that.
Many years ago I worked in an establishment that closed at 6 PM. One evening a gentleman showed up two minutes after closing, and rapped on the door so insistently that someone opened it. They let him in and took care of his business. From that day on, as long as I worked there, the door was not closed until 6:03 PM. Though that organization was hardly a model of great customer service, I was impressed that someone saw a way to please customers, could do something about it, and did it. If there is anything a person hates, it's rushing to get just one last thing done before going home, and having a hard time finding a parking place or having to wait at a red light, and getting to that last place 30 seconds after the advertised closing time. And the customer service employees won't let him in. What a relief it would be to just know you're a minute late, but giving it the old college try anyway, just hoping against hope that someone forgot to watch the clock, and finding the door still open and the customer service employees happy to help.
Isn't it amazing that the difference between good customer service and poor customer service in the mind of the customer, or between customer loyalty and customer apathy toward a company could be four or five minutes, half on the front of the day, and half on the end of the day?
Of course, how long a company is open isn't all there is to it, but the differences between poor customer service and good customer service, or between good customer service and great customer service are usually small things, easily accomplished.
At the big box retailer, probably at some point, a new customer service employee who didn't know "how things are done around here" suggested letting customers in before 8 AM. After all, by the time the customer selected merchandise and came to check out, it would be after opening time. And probably the assistant manager explained that if they opened a minute early this week, then the customers would get used to that and expect them to open two minutes early next week, and the week after that it would be three minutes. You just don't do things like that. The customers will take advantage of you.
At the other establishment, the manager with at least a discernable trace of leadership decided to stay open just a bit longer. Someone stood at the door after closing time, with the door half closed, but smiling and telling people to "Come in, we're still here to help you. Come on in; it's not too late." Customers knew they were late. And they knew that they were on borrowed time. Yet the establishment was happy to help them.
At the big box retailer, leadership was not tolerated. Even if someone thought it might be a good idea, she would be slapped down. At the other establishment, the manager had the authority to exercise a little leadership, and did so.
Could it be that that day was the only time in history that the big box retailer opened 3 minutes late? Yes, but that is beside the point. I could see the customer service employees inside the store, and I knew that they knew that I was standing in front of the store, waiting. And they did nothing about it. They were not trained in coming up with ways to please customers-even to amaze customers. Customer service was obviously not an emphasis at that company. Certainly there was no program to get people to use their heads to think up a better way. There was no company culture of insistence that customer service employees do everything with the customer in mind.
In my imaginary scenario above, the assistant manager says customers will take advantage of you. If it weren't so sad, it would be hilarious to think of customers taking advantage of a company by handing it money. I wish someone would take advantage of me like that. And this retailer had serious financial troubles some years ago, that almost bankrupted it.
A leader makes sure that he and everyone in the company is trained in what great customer service is and how to offer it. He makes sure that it is understood by everyone in the company-even those whose job does not require frequent customer contact-that poor customer service will not be tolerated, and will be met with varying degrees of unpleasantness to the customer service employee, including even dismissal, depending on the infraction. He makes sure that he and everyone else in a supervisory position is open to ideas and suggestions from customer service employees. The customer service employees are free to talk about frustrations or successes with customer service, and their ideas and feedback are considered carefully because they are valuable to the success of the company.
Customer service employees treat customers just about how they are treated. If they are treated as some of the equipment in the company, they will often treat customers in a mechanistic, apathetic way. If they are treated as the valuable human beings they are, most will treat customers with respect and will value them and their patronage. They will strive to treat customers in such a way that engenders trust and loyalty between the customer and the company.
Source:
Weldon Smith:
link
Article Content: Customer Service Training Courses
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