Business success in large part is dependent on employee performance, especially when it comes to interacting with the public. A call center training program is a critical tool for ensuring that employees can react effectively to the many scenarios they’ll encounter.
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The first step is a call center assessment to determine the strengths and weaknesses of existing processes. It’s vital that agent training and assessment be part of the business strategy for improving call center performance. An effective assessment is needed to define policies that assure a superior customer experience.
Providing Customized Training Programs
The most productive customer service training programs are designed to meet the needs of each organization. Training programs must be tailored to align with the company’s policies and branding efforts. These programs start with thorough analysis to establish key requirements, problem-specific training sessions, and channels for both call monitoring and feedback.
Analysis of existing practices considers both challenges and successes in providing customer satisfaction. Information is drawn from surveys, complaints, customer comments, and recorded calls. The results can then be compared with customer service expectations and the company’s own guidelines.
Customized training programs depend upon previous training and call center experiences, business goals and requirements, and gauging the quality of the customer journey. Each company will have different objectives and skills expected of their customer service agents.
Both individual and team training needs can differ. Different teams may be focused on various business aspects. Each agent’s progress must be assessed through fair and transparent performance metrics and one-on-one consultation. The benefit of customized training is that it can improve the particular skillset of each employee, as well as customer service performance in general.
The Importance of In-person Training
The highest possible quality of customer service is essential for any company to maintain a competitive edge. Customers tend to seek out companies with which they’ve had good experiences before. Training agents to satisfy customers’ needs on a continuous basis is important to sustaining business.
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Many companies don’t appreciate that the customer experience continues well after sales are completed. Managers that are focused on additional sales tend to overlook customer service training, with the result that agents don’t have the knowledge and interpersonal skills they need to deliver quality customer interactions while quickly resolving issues.
In-person training is essential to give employees the personal skills they need to empathize with customers and develop more meaningful conversations. Even the most extraordinary and affordable product can fail if companies don’t provide the customer support to back it up.
Customer service agents must be trained to appreciate the dilemmas that customers may face. Call guides, manuals, and scripts provide guidance but are insufficient to guarantee satisfaction for each unique situation and customer. Company-centric training must be replaced with the personal relationships of a “customer-centric” approach.
Branded Conversations: Communicating Brand Values
The daily interaction between agents and customers provides hundreds of opportunities to support the company brand. Agents must satisfy their organization’s brand promise in order to build customer trust. This is done through customer dialogues that require training to sound natural rather than aggressive.
Agents must be able to integrate marketing strategy with the customer experience. Marketing directors often neglect to communicate their strategy with customer service. Agents need more information and training in order to better engage customers with current branding strategies. A company’s marketing experts must work closely with agents so that they can implement branded conversations into the customer relationship.
Successful branding requires emotional connections. This is demonstrated in the “Moment of Truth” concept when the customer adopts positive attitudes to the brand. Brand identity and potential are strengthened when this emotional connection is established.
A customer service agent with proper training will naturally tend to include branded conversation in the customer dialogue. Training programs to promote both interpersonal skills and marketing awareness will lead to greater customer loyalty. Connecting with customers at a personal level creates good will and promotes recognition of the company and its brand.
Exercises and Interactions: Putting Theory into Practice
There is no guaranteed formula for success in customer service. Learning to adapt to a variety of circumstances helps agents to develop their own interpersonal skills for a better customer experience.
The four core elements to successful customer interaction are expressed in the L.A.K.E. acronym:
Language – Speaking exercises help to develop accurate use of language. Agents are taught to communicate effectively to minimize confusion, verify intent, and most importantly, that good communication relies on listening to and understanding customer needs.
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Attitude – Attitude training teaches agents to use positive responses such as “I know how you feel” rather than “Calm down”. Agents must use positive responses and helpful attitudes to reduce customer anxiety and build trust.
Knowledge- Agents test their own knowledge by responding to specific client questions and requests. Encouraging agents to learn more about the company and its products helps to build confidence in both the agents and their customers, as well as improve the experience for both.
Effort – Agents must be trained to understand that good customer service means exceeding client expectations. This can be taught through customer scenarios that require follow-up, collecting customer feedback, or innovative solutions. The most effective agents are those who are always trying to excel.
Our Solution
Our customer service training programs are led by certified instructors with years of experience in the industry. Each training program is tailored to meet company-specific concerns and business objectives. These training programs are designed to give all call center staff the knowledge and skills necessary to deliver exceptional customer service.
Our goal is to teach your agents how important it is to empathize with each customer and establish positive relationships. We teach call center employees how exceptional customer support is provided. Our company thrives on the proven success of our instructors in improving the customer experience.