Customer Service Training Classes:
The
Customer Service Training Institute has enjoyed
over 25 years of successfully specializing in interactive,
fun, skill based
customer service training
classes.
At
the conclusion of our
customer service training
class
you will know and understand what the ideas are behind
the skills and how to use them in business situations
to build
customer
satisfaction and loyalty.
The focus of our Effective Customer Service
Training classes is to train your staff to:
- Understand what your customers want and how that
affects your job
- Understand your own behavior and how to manage
your
customer's behavior better
- Improve your communications skills
- Learn to handle upset or angry customers
- Implement proper phone skills
- Understand and implement proper body language
- Tell the customer what you can do and not what
you can't
- For
more information and pricing on our customer service training
seminars, please
complete this form
Customer Service Training:
Customer Service Skills Matter in Any Business, Online and Offline
It
should come as no surprise that customers continue to rate excellent
customer service high on the list of things they look for when choosing
a company to do business with. The amazing thing is that most companies,
in spite of customer demand, continue to offer
customer
service that is mediocre, or worse. It would seem that some
companies just prefer to insult customers and lose business on purpose.
The more likely answer is that they just don’t have a good
customer service management training plan in place. We DO understand
the value of great customer service training, and our
Customer
Service Management Training classes will empower you to train
your customer service staff to give great service all the time,
and keep your customers coming back to you.
This morning I have been on the phone with two different locations speaking with customer service and I had two very different experiences, one good and one not so good. Both situations are very similar, dealing with a past due amount and making a payment, and in both cases I called them, not the other way around.
Let's talk about the good first, a call to the electric company for a family member. I called to make payment arrangements and request an extension on the due date. I was met with thanks and cooperation on both accounts. While the electric company was very stubborn that $802 needs to be paid by November 25th they were appreciative that the situation was not ignored and they extended the shut off date. It was scheduled to be shut off today, and they are giving the family more time to gather the funds needed to pay.
I was also told that if reasonable effort is clearly made and some of the payment is made they can extend the shut off again. They also gave me suggested resources to call in the area, which I did. Unfortunately, all of those places have spent their assistance budget for the month and the family does not qualify for the government energy assistance program because they have income and are not over the age 65.
While still a difficult situation, the customer service was quite good. The representatives that I spoke with Friday and today were polite, well spoken, and informative. If I asked a question they answered it, if they asked a question they were polite. They were very clear in what we needed to do, how they could help, and when we were finished they thanked me for my time, and I thanked them for theirs.
That's how a customer service call really should work. Each person should appreciate the others time, regardless of the situation being discussed. There are no exceptions to this in my book.
Now, the second call was a local furniture company that offers in store financing where we purchased bunk beds and a dresser for my boy's room last year. A single payment was past due of $160. The store doesn't send out a statement of any kind monthly, you are simply expected to arrive in the store once per month and pay your bill in person.
Time got away from us as it tends to do this time of year and we hadn't been in to the store recently. When the legal action letter arrived in my mailbox this morning I was a bit surprised. They were going to sue us and garnish my husband's wages. Whoa - talk about knocking me off my feet there. The action seemed a little strong for a single past due payment.
I called the number on the letter to see if I could make a payment via phone. The account manager was out of her office so I left a detailed message as it instructed. A different account manager called me back about an hour later and well... this is where things go sour.
She didn't say that she was returning my call, so I thought she was just calling me about the account situation. I let her know that I called the account manager listed on the letter and left her a message asking if I could pay by phone. She replied rather angrily that was why she was calling me as she oversees the accounts.
She snapped at me, "Do you have your debit card in your hand so I can get this payment?" I said, "I do," and proceeded to tell her the information that was contained in the message I left with the other representative. Again, she barked at me saying that the amount I was offering via phone was not acceptable. I offered to pay half via phone and half in the store this week, because she was asking for the past due amount plus the next payment which isn't due for another week. I was only prepared to pay one payment, not two.
I waited a moment while she barked and snapped at me some more and then politely answered that if she wanted me to make both payments at the same time that was fine and understandable since we were behind on the original payment, however I was only prepared to make one payment today and not both. For both payments I would have to call her back or I could simply make both in the store in person this week.
Here is where the call takes an even worse turn. She barked at me in a very snappy tone using quite a lot of slang, and some really bad grammar. Now, I am not the grammar police here, don't misunderstand me, but this is not a street corner it's a business call where you want me to give you my credit card number over the phone. Trust is strongly needed in that kind of situation, and I certainly was not feeling any trust at all on this phone call.
I decided it was time for this call to end. My dogs started barking at the repair construction crew that had shown up to work on our roof, so I said, "Excuse me, I really need to go right now. I will call back on Friday and speak with (account manager's name) on Friday and make sure this is all taken care of. Thank you for your time, (name of person I was talking to.) At which point she said, "Whatever," and hung up the phone.
I'm sure you can see lots of ways this could have gone better. I'm really proud of myself for keeping my cool and throwing a ton of politeness at the difficult customer service rep. You can believe that when I do call back I will speak with our original account manager, whom I've spoken with before and met in the store when making our payments each month, and that is who I will be giving my debit card information to for the payments.
I actually have another call in to her to make sure it was out on record that I called to make payment and the other representative declined to take it. I have a feeling that's not what was supposed to happen and I want to make sure it was handled properly.
What's the point of my ramblings here today? Customer service can make or break the buyer's experience. If the difficult customer service rep was the only contact I had with this company, I wouldn't buy a slice of bread from them. She was rude, spoke horribly, and yelled (literally raised her voice) at me for no reason at all.
No one expects you to handle every customer service email or phone call on your own, but do make sure the people that are handling your customer service know how to do so properly. Train them, test them, talk with them, and make sure they are conveying the message you want conveyed about your business.
Every correspondence matters, and should be treated respectfully. Make sure people are being thanked for their time, make sure they are ending that call a happy customer even if they called in with a complaint, make sure that a positive message is getting out there about your business and that you are being represented a positive way. Customer service matters.
Source: Loretta Oliver
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Related: Customer Service Skills
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