Training For Customer Service People!

Effective customer service training can be done in
three quick steps. Once your employees have completed
the training course you’ve formulated for them, your
business is sure to immediately enjoy increased
revenues as well a bigger and more loyal customer
base.

Step 1: Prepare materials and tools for customer
service training. Be as detailed and specific as you
can when composing materials for customer service
training. It is imperative that your employees
understand how you perceive good customer service to
be. Give them concrete examples of acceptable and
unacceptable behavior. Provide them with a list of dos
and don’ts to remember.

Secondly, help them understand why offering good
customer service is important to the business and how
it will ultimately affect them as well. Employees will
be more motivated to improve their customer service
skills if they believe that doing so is beneficial to
them as well.

Prepare scripts regarding SOP for common customer
service issues. This will ascertain that your customer
service team will be able to deliver a speedy and
uniform response to your clients. Determine your
desired response schedule and make sure that the
training materials are designed to help them comply
with the desired response time. Last but not the
least, make sure that you provide them a clear outline
of authority and escalation.

Step 2 Take all the time you need to train your staff.
If you have to outsource your customer service
function temporarily then go ahead and do so. Paying
experts to work for you is certainly better than risk
alienating your customers with insufficiently trained
individuals.

Focus on one lesson at a time and don’t progress to
another level until you’re sure that they’ve mastered
their lessons. Hold periodical tests to ensure that
they continue to retain knowledge of previous lessons.

Let them make a gradual approach to their new set of
responsibilities. Have them start with something small
and relatively easy like handling routine customer
service calls. Always clarify their job duties and the
level of authority they’re working with before
allowing them to interact with customers.

Last but not the least, remind them to consult your
FAQ section before delving in to more complicated
processes of resolution.

Step Three Monitor the progress and performance of
your customer service team. Subject your employees to
scheduled and spontaneous simulation calls to give you
a chance to evaluate their response in critical
situations. Make sure that you provide them feedback
afterwards, identifying their strengths and weaknesses
and offering suggestions for improvements.

Develop an incentive program to further motivate your
employees. Make sure, however, that your program does
not in any way encourage your employees to act
opposite to your customers’ interests, as was the case
with AOL a few years ago.

In evaluating your employees’ customer service
abilities, take equal note of the quantitative and
qualitative aspects of their performance. For the
quantitative side, consider specifying a quota for the
minimum number of calls resolved every month. For the
qualitative side, consider the feedback provided by
caller.

Last but not the least, always be prepared to make
changes with how you run your customer service team.
As they’re the ones directly interacting your
customers, your team - and its policies - must be
flexible in order to respond quickly to a caller’s
needs.

Perform these three steps as suggested and your
customer service training is sure to be a success!

Dan and Deanna "Marketing Unscrambled"