November 19th, 2011 
jvremec
The 5 W’s of World Class Customer Service Training
The preamble to the United States Constitution begins, ‘we, the people.’ I feel strongly that we, the people, are what make the difference in life, both personally and professionally.
The interaction anyone has at any level with your employees, including you, gives a customer– whether current, potential, internal or external–an opportunity to make a judgment about you, your company, all companies like yours. I’m not just talking about call centers here. All technical support or help desk personnel are included as well. As a matter of fact, anyone who is in the customer service business period.
I often talk about taking customer service and ‘kicking it up a notch.’ In the food industry, the word ‘lagniappe’ is often used. Its definition is “a small present given to a customer with a purchase. For example, when you go to the bakery and buy a dozen donuts or bagels, you oftentimes get a ‘free’ one or a baker’s dozen. That’s what customer service should be about–giving the customer more than they expected! Let’s bring lagniappe into the contact center industry.
If we’re going to speak about world class customer service, let’s have a working definition it so we’re all on the same page. Customer service is those activities provided by a company’s employees that enhance the ability of a customer to realize the full potential value of a product or service before and after the sale is made, thereby leading to satisfaction and repurchase.
Let’s look at the first W which is Why?
The state of customer service today is not good, be it over the phone or self service. Because 92% of people feel their call experience is important in shaping the image of a company, this reinforces the importance of centers in branding the image of their companies.
In a Mobius Management Systems Survey, here’s what happened because of poor customer service:
60% cancelled accounts with banks
36% changed insurance providers
40% changed telephone companies
35% changed credit card providers
375 changed Internet service providers
Are you one of these statistics? I certainly am.
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Does anyone know about weekend seminars?
I work for a very big company and they are looking to train us in better customer service skills. We are open monday – friday so our only ideal days would be like a saturday or sunday. We are located in temecula, ca anything within 100 miles would be good.
Can anyone help me?
‘Mind Mastery Summit’, San Diego October 9&10. Motivational weekend and promises to be a life-changing transformational weekend. Not specifically customer service, but good customer service starts with pleasant, happy & motivated staff. Ann
Company Customer Service Training?
Hey guys!
Okay I need some help!
I have been tasked to put on a internal company training about customer service skills. These skills can include phone skills, active listening skills, email skills etc.
I was wondering if any on has ever put this type of training on for their company. Normally companies send their employees to seminars to allow them to attend webinars but… not my company
Thanks for any tips/suggestions that you can provide!
I worked at a large Fortune 500 company and the customer service training was put on by the HR people. No one was sent to a seminar. Most companies that provide customer service via telephone record the calls for “training purposes.” If you company does this, get your hands on some of the recordings and find examples of calls that were handled properly, and conversely, those that were not. Begin the training session with a basic discussion of what Customer Service means, why the company is providing the training, and what they want their employees to gain from the experience. Then open the floor to a discussion of good and bad customer service experiences that the trainees have experienced both at their job and out in the “real” world. This is usually a great springboard to get the group excited about the topic. Then, introduce each area of customer service individually. For example, begin with phone skills. Play a recorded call that shows an example of the good type of customer service the company wants the trainees to emulate. Then, play a “bad” call. Discuss with them why the call was not successful and have them brainstorm (keeping in mind the ‘good” call) ways to have made the call successful. Do the same with emails. Finally, let those be your lead-in to active listening skills. You can do this!
Where can I buy used customer service training videos? Are any worth full price?
I am interested in buying for my employees the kind of videos that http://www.rctm.com sells, real proper training movies. However, the prices are huge.
Does anyone know of a merchant who sells them used? eBay is only listing a few taped seminars, which aren’t nearly as dynamic to watch.
Alternatively, can anyone recommend a service training video that IS worth full price? I only have a staff of 10 people to train, but I want them to be GOOD!
if you want the training to be good and worthwhile (and keep everyone awake), it’s worth it to invest a little. i wouldn’t trust ebay with something like that. there may be something else out there, but i’m not sure. good luck!