Everything you needed to know about customer service training and its benefits.

1

Guide to Customer Service

Training

2

Importance of Customer Service Training

Direct Impact on Brand Value

Be known for great customer service.

Customers will swear by you even during difficult times

Chapter 1

3

Get Repeated Customers

The confidence in support leads to less perceived risk and more

buying.

Importance of Customer Service Training

Chapter 1

4

Price Justification

With exceptional customer service you can manipulate your

customer into discounting a high price because of his affinity

for your support.

Importance of Customer Service Training

Chapter 1

5

Free Marketing

Every satisfied customer will talk to her friends and peers

about her valuable experience – Great word-of-mouth

marketing that’s FREE!

Happy customers who get their issue resolved tell about 4-6 people

about their experience.– White House Office of Consumer Affair

Importance of Customer Service Training

Chapter 1

6

Employee Satisfaction

When your employees know they are delivering a service that

your customers love, they are more driven.

Importance of Customer Service Training

Chapter 1

7

The Fall 2012 Workforce Moodtracker Report ties organization

values to employee performance. Report concludes that

frequent timely recognition linked to the company’s core

values results in:

•Increased productivity

•Improved focus on customer service

•Enhanced employee engagement

First thing: Understand your Core Values

Chapter 2

8

Companies that are known for their customer service like Zappos

and Apple have clearly established their core business principles and

have put in place a strategy around employee training and

onboarding process.

Apple, for instance, has a Genius Training Student Workbook that

every new employee has to complete before stepping onto the Apple

foyer.

Zappos has structured its interview process, training and evaluation

programs tied around their 10 core business values

Importance of Understanding your Core Values

Chapter 2

9

Right people in the right seat

Recruitment is a failure when you are looking for a ‘resource’.

You need to look for ‘talent’ that exactly fulfills your

requirement in every way.

Three ways to align Core Values and Customer Service

Chapter 3

10

Customer Centric Core Values

Build customer-centric core values and make sure every new employee

in your company implements the same in their work.

Three ways to align Core Values and Customer Service

Chapter 3

11

Three ways to align Core Values and Customer Service

Chapter 3

Expose new hires to nuances of the

job

Before you throw an employee into the ring, you need to

accustom him/her to the nuances of providing support that

reflects your values, and how to provide the ‘Wow experience’

to your customer.

12

Expose

•Expose new hires to the functioning of the organization

•Be open to queries and ensure their understanding

•Simulate situations to evaluate their response to

emergencies

Onboarding Process for Customer Service Training

Chapter 4

13

Explain

•Take them through past customer requests received

•Ask them to analyze and respond

•Also take them through the right way to respond to such

requests

Onboarding Process for Customer Service Training

Chapter 4

14

Demonstrate

•Give access to live support calls attended by current

employees.

•Make sure new hires spend a day or two watching demos and

get feedback.

Onboarding Process for Customer Service Training

Chapter 4

15

Evaluate

•Evaluate candidates on their understanding of the process.

•Have a detailed interview to measure their understanding.

•Suggest areas of improvement and provide constant

feedback.

Onboarding Process for Customer Service Training

Chapter 4

16

Mentor

Assign a mentor for regular touch points on questions and

clarifications at least for the first 3 months on their job.

Onboarding Process for Customer Service Training

Chapter 4

17

The demonstration of basics of customer

service to new hires should include key

factors that directly influence great

service.

A Detailed Development and Training Program

Chapter 5

18

1. Getting priorities right

2. Empower support staff

3. Inculcate leadership

4. Follow organizational

processes

5. Monitor activities

A Detailed Development and Training Program

Chapter 5

19

1. Getting the priorities right

When a support staff has to attend to more than one customer

query, it is imperative that they understand which ones to target

first.

Priority 1: Business Critical - Affects business operations and has to be

resolved immediately

Priority 2: Degraded Service - Intermittent issues that reduce quality of

offering

Priority 3: Minor Issues - Queries, sanity fixes and non-detrimental issues

A Detailed Development and Training Program

Chapter 5

20

2. Empower support staff

For your support staff to drive engagement & solve problems

without a delay, they have to primarily understand who the

customers are and need authority to make decisions on the fly. This

may include

1.Offering discounts or service upgrade

2.Committing dates on critical deliverables

3. Summon team members on the priority of deliverables

A Detailed Development and Training Program

Chapter 5

21

3. Inculcate Leadership

Your actions are your deeds. Staff should be able to make

decisions on the fly, considering various parameters and also

be able to back those decisions at tough times.

A Detailed Development and Training Program

Chapter 5

22

4. Follow Organization Process

The process has to be standard, uniform and thorough so that

no customer is ever treated differently. Get approvals when

required, follow documentation, demo script, communicate

adhering to standard protocol.

A Detailed Development and Training Program

Chapter 5

23

5. Monitor activities on daily basis

Monitor the performance of the new hires on a daily basis,

find areas that need improvement and make sure the same is

communicated to the support staff. Also provide them a way

to measure their performance constantly.

A Detailed Development and Training Program

Chapter 5

24

Appraisal Process to Evaluate Training and Work

Chapter 6

The above graph from the Moodtracker survey highlights the need for regular

appraisals for support staff.

25

Great customer support needs exceptional support staff

If you are inclined to have a GREAT support team, do not forget these

three important factors:

1.Establish customer centric organizational values

2.Set your support training plan based on those values

3.Constantly evaluate and provide constructive feedback

Summary