Don’t you just love it when you get served by someone who knows what they’re doing and treats you really well…? By contrast, do you hate it when someone serves you and they don’t care much about you…or, are distracted by someone/thing else?
What is Customer Service Training?
Prepare to be spoilt!
Once you know how to recognise customer service, you notice it everywhere. And, when you learn about what really good customer service training is, then you’ll kind of want it all the time.
On the surface, customer service is really quite simple. I can tell you what to do in 3 easy steps. When a customer comes into your store;
- Make eye contact, smile and acknowledge the customer when they arrive.
- Greet them with some small comment, like ‘welcome’ or ‘is it hot outside?’
- On the customer’s departure, thank them for coming to your store.
You’ll get away with good customer service with these three steps, but, if you want to be exceptional, then you’ll probably want to learn through a course.
What’s in a good Customer Service Training course?
It’s not easy putting on your best customer service face all day, every day. For some people, it comes naturally, but for others, it’s a real challenge. But, if you did a course, then you’ll learn how to be professional at this.
If you’re going to be delivering the customer service yourself, then you’ll probably want to learn about these things as a minimum;
- Product / service knowledge
- Handling difficult customer
- Manage personal stress in the workplace
- Provide sales solutions to customers
- Deliver and monitor a service to customers
- Address customer needs.
And, if you’re going to lead a team of customer service professionals, then you’re going to be managing a bunch of others, and this is not easy, so you’d probably want to learn about these things;
- Coordinate implementation of customer service strategies
- Run a multicentre
- Show leadership in the workplace
- Implement customer service standards
- Implement continuous improvement
- Lead effective workplace relationships
- Lead and manage a sales team
Where do you find a great Customer Service Training course?
Normally, you’d find customer service training in a business type course because, naturally, you find customer service in business.
You might find customer service training in a uni course, but it’s most likely a sub-category to another major topic, like marketing.
TAFE might be OK, depending on your Trainer, but great customer service training is more than just reading and applying instructions. It’s a passion, and your Trainer has to have this, so it’s instilled into you … forever!
If you want really good customer service training, then head to an online course, which has practical parts to it. These normally have real-life experience in delivering customer service and they know what’s good and what’s not. It’s also flexible, fun and valuable.
What are some experiences you should find in a great Customer Service Training course?
Really good customer service experience predicts what the customer will want. For example, if you’ve been out on a safari all day, in a bumpy jeep chasing animals in African heat, then when you arrive at your lodgings, wouldn’t a cool drink be great?
If you arrive at a store, and someone says, “Welcome. We know you have a choice and we appreciate you choosing us”. Doesn’t that make you feel a little special?
Really good customer service won’t contest anything you say if you are not happy with the product / service and you want to return it. They’ll just say, “Sure thing. We’ll process your refund immediately.”
Great customer service will recognise that the customer is not always right. Rather, you’re there to help the customer and, if that means sending them to another store, then do it. The customer will respect and appreciate your professionalism.
So, there’s a lot to customer service and a great customer service training course will teach you this. For an excellent reference book, look for Blanchard’s Raving Fans. It’ll show you how to turn customers into raving fans. It’s easy and very worthwhile.
