Customer Services and Telephone Etiquette Skills

Introduction

An organization’s effectiveness is measured by its ability to supply its customer’s needs and wants efficiently. But how the organization can achieve customer satisfaction is a key issue to sustain a competitive business advantage. This workshop aims to bring professional, high-level customer satisfaction concepts into the common ground with front-line services by offering a unique improvement tool to help those delivering services and put their customers at the core of what they do.

This workshop can quadruple the number of contacts your organization makes every day, and do it for a fraction of the cost. Whether you are interested in surveying customers, qualifying leads, inbound or outbound calls, setting appointments, or even closing deals affords the flexibility and cost-effectiveness you need to stay one step ahead of the pack.

Objectives

This training workshop provides participants with the essential tools and techniques for the successful implementation of their duties in customer service. In particular, at the end of this workshop, the participants will be able to:

• Understand what is meant by customer service and customer satisfaction.

• Recognize the value of satisfied customers.

• Be familiar with the process of how to identify, meet, and exceed customers' needs, wants, demands, and expectations.

• Understand and carry out the importance of continuously reviewing and improving customer service through managing customer relationships.

• Prepare an action plan to implement on return to work.

• Take part in three audio-taped role-plays and receive specific feedback

• Learn to use effective interviewing skills to discover important information

• Receive training in highly effective telephone etiquette

• Discover how to make better use of product knowledge

• Identify the difference between needs, wants, and opportunities

• Be able to listen more effectively and retain more important information

• Become more confident and effective at closing for appointments

• Work smart and not hard

• Understanding how to deal with Objections

• Avoid Arguments and Threats

• Broken Promise(s):

• Make Notes:

• Listen

• Ask Questions

• Be Prepared

Training Methodology

This is an interactive course. There will be open question and answer sessions, regular group exercises and activities, videos, case studies, and presentations on best practice. Participants will have the opportunity to share with the facilitator and other participants on what works well and not so well for them, as well as work on issues from their own organizations. The online course is conducted online using MS-Teams/ClickMeeting.

Who Should Attend?

• All front office employees who directly interact with customers
• Anyone from the front and back-office employees who are involved in dealing and managing complete customer service activities
• Anyone deal with customer-related issues in their day to day activities in any organizational context.

Course Outline

Part 1: Total Customer Service Excellence – An Overview

• Why Customer Service Matters – Why Worry about Customer Service & Satisfaction?
• Exercise: ‘Lifetime value of a customer’ and group discussion of results
• Exercise: 'When you were the customer …'; and group discussion: 'What is customer service about?'
• Quality Customer Service
• Activity: Meeting the Challenge of Total Customer Service
• What is Customer Service?
• What's Different About Good Service?
• What Makes Good or Bad Service?
• How Organizations Can Adapt To Serving Their Customers Effectively?
• The Customer Service Approach
• Customer-Focused Organizational Structure
• Every Complaint is an Opportunity
• Group discussion: 'How can we turn complaints into opportunities for good customer service?'
• Summary: Total Customer Service

 Part 2:  Communication and Handling Customer Complaints

• Customer Service Depends on You
• Exercise: ‘Communications depend on you’; discussion on clear written communications, and exercise calculating the ‘Readability Index’
• Effective Customer Communications Approach
• Satisfied Customers Versus Dissatisfied Customers
• Turning Complaints into Opportunities
• Having a Positive Customer Attitude
• Why People are Positive
• Customers Recall Experience
• Positive Customer Affirmations – Customer Mindset
• Communication to Improve Customer Service
• Key to Listening Effectiveness
• Exercise on 'listening skills'

Part 3:  Understanding and Responding to Customer Behavior

• Exercise on 'internal customer mapping’ and group discussion on improving service offered to colleagues
• Communication on the Telephone
• Telephone Skills
• Understanding Social Behaviour and Styles to Improve Customer Service
• Customer Communication Process to Handle Complaints
• Discussion: ‘How satisfied are our customers and how can we measure improvements?’
• Empowering Great Customer Service
• Measuring Customer Service
• Achieving Customer Delight – The Extra Mile
• Personal Action Planning
• Summary: Managing Challenge of Total Customer Service & Satisfaction

Part 4: Telephone Etiquette Skills

• Balancing self, team, and society
• Defining self-awareness
• Attitude and aptitude
• Using the telephone
• Understanding different personalities
• Telephone etiquette
• Answering / accepting the call
• The greeting
• Effective communication skills
• Professional speech/choice of words
• Languages
• Articulation
• Voice control
• Transferring calls
• Taking messages
• Distribution of messages
• Ending calls
• Dealing with abusive callers
• Open and closed working environments
• Self-assessment
• Stop-start-continue exercise