Free Article
Creating Effective
Customer Service Training
By Karen
Leland and Keith Bailey Ask executives from
any company that has achieved consistent improvements in
customer service and they will tell you that they could
not have done it without putting in place a comprehensive
and well-executed customer service training program. We
recommend that when creating your customer service training
program that you consider the following:
Provide Customer Service Training to Everyone
A big mistake that many companies make is training only a
small percentage of their staff, usually those who work directly
with the customers, such as the customer service department.
Doing so is ineffective and dangerous because it promotes
the message that customer service is the specific responsibility
of a limited group of people.
Service needs to be a way of life for everyone in your
company. As soon as you try to confine it to a single department,
it’s dead. By providing customer service training
to all levels, from your part-time help to the president,
you promote the important message that service is everyone’s
business.
Customer Service Training Isn’t One Thing
A comprehensive customer service training program includes
different types of workshops on a variety of subjects. The
types of training you decide to provide depends on the feedback
you receive from your staff and customers. Of the many types
of programs you could offer, three core types of customer
service training impact the quality of service your company
delivers. They are:
- Awareness building: This training
serves as a basic introduction to customer service and
should involve everyone in your company from the top down.
It is usually a few hours to half a day in length.
- Customer service skills: This type
of training is aimed specifically at staff whose jobs
involve frequent contact with customers either external
or internal, either over the telephone, face-to-face or
by email. It should be more in-depth than the awareness
building program and focus on the specific skills needed
to provide customers with excellent service. It is usually
one to two days in length.
- Service management: All the executives
and managers in your company should attend training that
teaches three things: Improving your managers’ awareness
and ability to be a role model for service excellence;
enhancing your managers’ skills and understanding
of how to empower and coach staff in providing the best
possible service and rewarding staff for customer service
excellence. It is usually two to four days in length.
Preparation Equals Success
Short notice and an obvious lack of preparation undermines
the importance of customer service training and creates the
attitude that the training is an interruption of the staff
person’s real job. You can prepare your staff for training
in the following ways:
Send a memo regarding the customer service
training
Send each person a memo at least two weeks before he or
she is scheduled to attend that explains at least the date,
time, purpose, location and dress code for your customer
service training program.
Help your staff set training goals
A week or so before your staff goes to the training, sit
down with them and discuss what they want to achieve. Doing
so helps them clarify their goals for the training program
and provides the basis for a follow-up conversation.
Don’t use training as a punishment
Training should never be seen as a vehicle to “fix”
a broken employee. This tactic is demeaning to the staff
and can create a difficult situation for the trainer. The
only effective context for sending an employee to training
is a positive one of skills improvement and job enhancement.
Emphasize the importance of follow up
Immediately follow up any customer service training program
by meeting with staff members who have just completed the
course. During the meetings ask your employees for their
feedback on the training. Include the following questions:
- How did they like the training program?
- What did they learn?
- Did they achieve their objectives?
- What would they like to see in future training programs?
- How can you support them in practicing what they
learned?
By following up and reinforcing the lessons taught in
the customer service training program, you reap the greatest
rewards for the time, money, and energy you put into training
your staff. |
