There is probably one thing in this world that remains consistent across all industries – that is the absolute importance of good old-fashioned customer service.
Giving great customer service is free! It’s easy! And it should be a way of life. But sadly, for many businesses out there, its not.
With competition fierce, and new businesses popping up daily, now more than ever is the time to teach your Employees the importance and benefits of giving great customer service.
HR Central has been conducting snappy, interactive and energetic workshops on Customer Service 101 with great success. Below is a brief outline of our program however we can tailor this to suit any industry’s requirements.
Difficult Customers and How To Deal With Them
There are many types of difficult customers including aggressive, impatient and high maintenance customers. We look at the different personality styles and give your team the tools to handle the various profiles in a confident and professional manner.
What Your Customers Want, Need and Expect
Despite the huge variety of customers that we all deal with there are some aspects that are common to every customer. We study the expectations of our customers and how they vary from time to time. We also look at the fundamentals of customer service that are consistent regardless of the industry type.
Professional Telephone Answering Skills
From reception to the boardroom few people use the phone well. We will teach your team how to greet, engage and control all customer calls and make a lasting impression. Whether you are receiving or making telephone calls there are techniques that we must use to appear professional and friendly at all times.
Email Skills for Everyone
Most staff use email as part of their daily work routine yet surprisingly less than 20% of management and staff understand the most important aspects of email communication. It is vital that your staff understand email etiquette, language usage, email presentation, tone and the legal problems that can arise from ill considered usage of this powerful communication tool.
Internal v External Customers
From our experience we are often surprised just how few employees appreciate that their workmates and other departments are your internal customers and fail to treat them accordingly. We will teach your Employees to be aware of the internal as well as external customers and the special treatment that the often-overlooked internal customers require.
Exemplary Customer Service and How It Can Be Achieved
Great customer service doesn’t happen by accident. Here we look at techniques to enable you to improve your customer service skills regardless of your role.
The Customer Service Experience Vs The Customer Service Process
No one wants to be treated as a number yet in today’s somewhat faceless customer service environment we need to ensure that our customers don’t feel that they are merely being processed as opposed to receiving the experience they deserve.
Time Management Skills
We all wish that there were more hours in the day unfortunately that isn’t going to happen. However, there are a number of time management techniques that we can all use both on the phone and in person to optimise the time we have and increase our efficiency.
Why You Lose Customers
Companies spend thousands to win customers only to lose them due to ill-considered comments and poor service. Here we look at how to retain your customers and have them want to increase their dealings with your business.
Complaints/Feedback and Why We Need Them
Complaints and feedback are important for the smooth operation of every business as they provide feedback as to what our clients really think about our service levels. Here we look at the importance of complaints and feedback and how to handle them in a variety of circumstances.
Taking Ownership of Problems
It is imperative that all staff and management regardless of their role are able to tackle problems when they occur without the reflex need to pass the matter to someone else. We teach the importance of taking ownership of problems and being able to resolve them to the best of each staff member’s ability.
Body Language Skills
Learn the secrets to reading people and establish what they are really thinking! You will learn how to read your customers, workmates and even your partner and learn to be aware of signals that are given by all of us.
Some of the great outcomes your team can expect by the end of this program will be to:
- Actively listen to a customer with a complaint
- React to a complaint as an opportunity for service recovery and to improve systems
- Have standard ways to resolve common customer problems
- Have the knowledge, skills and desire to resolve a customer’s inquiry or problem on the first call.
- Take ownership of a customer problem; follow it through to resolution, and follow-up to confirm the problem is resolved to their satisfaction.
- Attract customer compliments that are recorded, recognised and rewarded
- Seek ways to continuously improve
- Capture suggestions for improvement from customers
- Create a positive reputation for their department
- Understand customer’s needs effectively
- Generate return business
- Use body language to their advantage
- Give great customer service over the phone
- Provide excellent electronic customer service
- Recover difficult customers
- Understand when to escalate
- Build trust with customers by informing when a promise cannot be fulfilled
- Enhance each customer interaction with friendliness and go the extra mile
- Respond to customer requests with a sense of urgency
- Appreciate how their individual effort counts towards the success of the organisation
- Always welcome a customer with friendliness and a willingness to serve
- Enjoy their work more!
Why don’t you start the new financial year with an investment in your team via HR Central’s suite of Training including Customer Service 101! Call us on 1300 717 721 for more info.