Customer Service 1

• The benefits of great service – For you and the customer!
• Who are your customers?
• Understanding and clarifying your customer’s needs
• Meeting your customer’s needs
• The importance of initiative and being pro-active
• Projecting the appropriate image to your customers
• Developing trust and rapport
• Building confidence and integrity
• The importance of follow-up

Customer Service 2

• Delivering professional customer service
• Giving individualised service
• Enhancing your service style – lifting the bar!
• Appropriate problem management
• Focusing on the need rather than the problem
• Identifying other opportunities
• Developing and maintaining a positive attitude
• Business Acumen
  • Awareness of the bigger picture
  • The role we play
  • Cause & Effect
• Customer service in a changing environment

Customer Communication Skills

• What is effective communication?
• The key elements of effective communication
  • Active listening
  • Using appropriate language
  • Giving clear information and explanations
• Overcoming the barriers to communication
  • Physical barriers
  • Psychological barriers
  • Semantic barriers
• Communication via email – when to use and how
• Understanding and interpreting body language

Telephone Techniques

• Telephone communication skills
• Managing inbound and outbound calls
• Opening the call
• Your speaking voice – the importance of confidence
• Using the right words, tone, intonation and speed
• Managing the body of the call
• Closing the call
• Controlling the call
• Guidelines for screening calls
• Putting the caller on hold
• Transferring a call
• Taking messages
• Call time management

Customer Psychology

• Treating customers as individuals – Who are you dealing with?
• Reading your customer’s expectations
• Adjusting your style to become more effective
• Appropriate assertiveness
• Dealing with misinterpretation
• Coping with over-sensitivity
• Using behaviours to build rapport
• Behavioural changes under stress
• Adapting your communication to become more ‘customer friendly’

Serving Internal and
External Customers

• Identifying internal vs. external customer needs
• How do your internal customers evaluate service?
• Guidelines for providing exceptional internal customer service
• Increasing communication between different roles and departments
• Educating your internal customers – clarifying their expectations
• Meeting deadlines and keeping internal customers informed
• Creating a positive environment
• Taking a team approach

Dealing With Difficult
Customers and Situations

• What is a difficult customer and why?
• Identifying customer problems
• Never tell customers your problems
• Turning complaints into opportunities
• Dealing with a anger and emotion
• Identify and how to deal with abusive customers and other challenges
• The importance of politeness
• Managing stress and pressure – Emotion vs. Logic
• Conflict Resolution – Getting to a ‘win-win’
• Real life scenarios

Adding Value To The Customer

• Taking responsibility – owning your customers and sales
• Building integrity in our actions – keeping your customers up to date
• Identifying opportunities for adding value in the eyes of the customer
• How to make recommendations without appearing ‘pushy’
• Keeping the customer happy
• Ensuring customer continuity
• Identifying common goals
• Developing customer loyalty
• How to keep the customer coming back for more!

Overcoming Barriers To Service

• Identifying challenges of our unique environment
• Recognising sources of stress and conflict
• Defining specific problems / issues to solve
• Analysing potential causes
• Generating and selecting the best solutions
• Implementing the solution – who is responsible?
• Evaluating the successful impact on customers
• Increasing motivation and empowerment among the customer service team