Customers are universally known as the lifeblood of a company. In short, any company will never survive without the support of its customers. The customers are responsible for determining if a product launch in the market is effective or defective. Answering to the clients should always a priority and never should be ignored.

Customer service is widely used to please the customers concern. The outsourcing industry is known for dealing with customers using the voice based (or call center) because the industry rely mostly on their clients. They want to give the best in a way of satisfying their customer. Interestingly, a lot of business process outsourcing (BPO) companies are spending huge amount in terms of training their customer service employees. Acquiring proper training is necessary for the better outcome of the company’s reputation. The secret of becoming successful in customer service is recognizing the talents and skills of the customer service employees.

This article will give information on Customer Service Training 101, which is needed in improving the services to the customers worldwide. Since outsourcing is a steadfast industry, its presence in the global economy is very important in helping people to build their dream and earn a wonderful career. The overview of the outsourcing is widely popular in the world. The countries like the Philippines, India, China, among others are dubbed as the leaders in this industry. Any call center in the Philippines systematically provides outstanding training to their hired customer service employees.

The following tips may help contact center companies in training their agents to become responsible and dynamic customer service employees. Training is a must because you can’t allow your agents to jump in the next level without securing training. The training course will depend on the implementation required by the company. Most call center companies in the Philippines are giving intensive training to their agents. The agents are graded on different aspects such as US 101, speaking test, listening skills, and grammar. The agents must pass their 30-day training period before moving on to nesting which may include live calls and product training.

US 101

Because the bulk of the customers are from the United States, the agents are taught to familiarize the American culture. The agents should know the 50 States, the landmark, and most especially the time zone. Outsourcing is known as an offshoring business and many contact center companies are situated outside the mainland U.S. On the other hand, other clients from the United Kingdom and Australia have also different type zone and accent. American speech is different from these two other countries mentioned. In the Philippines, the UK and Australian accounts are dominating very well in the market. Speech communications specialists are responsible for teaching the agents to speak like in an American way and learning the British and Australian accent.

SPEAKING TEST

This type of training is required to allow the agents to speak simultaneously eliminating the “uuhmm” and “ahhmmm” syndrome. Communication problem may the source of making the customers irate and upset. During the training period, the agents are taught to speak confidently in front of their fellow trainees. Basically, this is like extemporaneous wherein the topic is given on the spot and the agents who pick their topic should recite it on the minimum time given by the trainer. Speaking activity is part of making the agents learning to construct good grammar. The trainees are graded based on their presentation like the lengthy of their delivery, clarity, and relevance to the topic. This will prepare them to become effective customer service once they move on to the next step.

LISTENING SKILLS

The listening skills of the agents play an important role in analyzing the problem of every customer they deal with. In their cocoon days of trial, the agents are given a scenario wherein they need to listen to the audio and take note some of the important parts of the conversation and then answer the given questions on the test. Active listening is part of helping the customers in such a way. Many agents failed on this test because they failed to address the root of the problem which is cause trouble between the agents and the customers. If you are applying at any call center, listening test is partly included in passing the hiring process. Coach trainer will determine how fast are the agents can explain the problem of the customers. The secret of passing this test is to focus and concentrate while you are listening to an audio. Also, while you are receiving calls let the customers finish first their concerns before you talk. Listen attentively as you can and avoid unnecessary action which may lose your concentration.

ENGLISH 101

Learning Basic English is important like observing proper grammar and sentence construction. In the Philippines, English is a priority language wherein this is included in the school curriculum imposed by the Department of Education (DepEd). It is too bad to listen to someone who cannot construct simple sentence. Many call center companies offer great learning institution to overcome the problem of the agents. The course of training may include proper usage of the parts of speech: the verb, the noun, the pronoun, the adjective, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction, and the interjection. The part of speech is established in order to give substance to the word usage. In your existence on Earth, you’d been learning English all the time. It is awkward to listen that you the customer may have a hard time understanding you because of your poor comprehension and English skill.

If the agents accomplish the training period, they are ready to proceed to another stage which will open to wider opportunity. There are many types of training required by outsourcing companies. Your success will depend on how willing your company is to invest in training your customer service employees.