The fundamental purpose of a business is to satisfy customer/client needs at a profit. A company can only benefit from a strong customer service culture. Satisfied customers are converted to loyal customers. More sales come from existing customers. The customers become the advocates, creating excellent word of mouth advertising. Customer-Focused Training provides us with proven fundamentals for developing and improving customer focus and service quality throughout your organization. Many business people consider customer focus training to be an expense. In fact they consider most training from a cost perspective. The reality is that training the staff in how to enhance the customers’ experience is a strategic investment. It provides a way of thinking, a mind-set that can empower people to go beyond satisfaction. It also provides proven strategies and approaches for becoming a customer-focused leader. The focus on customer service training is to help develop a mindset dedicated to delivering outstanding customer service to both external and internal customers. A by-product of this customer service training program is that it helps build employee loyalty and a better working environment.
Customer Focus is a phrase that pops up in competency profiles for customer facing personnel the world over. What does it really mean and how can your training improve it? Well customer focus will mean different things to different organisations but can be summed up in the well known adages –
· Putting the customer first,
· The customer is king, (or Queen!)
· Going that extra mile for the customer
A competency of this nature must include the willingness to help others, by finding out what they need, and then addressing and meeting those needs. It is as relevant to an internal customer as it is to external ones. At one end of the scale people with poor customer service skills will show little concern for customers and could even be rude to customers. At the other end of the scale, people will focus not only on delivering great customer service good customer service but also on improving it. Great customer care isn’t just about meeting needs it’s about being proactive, anticipating and planning for customers needs.
How to achieve customers’ needs-
Ø Empathy will play a huge part - getting your people to understand what it’s like to be a customer of your organisation. What the customer’s world is like, what it’s like to walk in the customers shoes. By understanding your customers, you can segment them.
Ø The more that you understand this as a business, the more you can adapt your products and services to meet the customers needs. This is customer service as an extension of the art of marketing.
What should the customer service training include?
The customer service training content will of course depend on the outcome of the training needs analysis. However there are usually some common themes which can be considered.
· definitions of good service
· why good customer care matters
· agreeing the behaviours that make for good customer care
· walking in the customers shoes - experiencing your business from the customers perspective
· defining different customer types with your organisation and their expectations of you
· working together for the customer - internal and external customers
· building rapport with customers
· communicating postively and effectively
· making the customers day
· dealing with challenging customers
· handling customer complaints
If an organization is serious about making Customer Focus a competitive advantage in your organization, this program is a must. Specifically designed for Executive, Directors, Managers, Supervisors and Team Leaders who are responsible for creating a customer-focused service environment, this 2-day, highly interactive program includes an effective balance of lecture, individual and group activities and exercises.
Learning objectives:
- Why customer focus provides a competitive advantage
- How to demonstrate commitment to Customer Focus
- How to create an organization that customers brag about
- How to develop quick and proactive recovery strategies
- How to develop customer friendly systems and processes
- How to listen to the voice of the customer and what to do with customer feedback
- How to Lead with a customer-focused mind-set
- How to identify and define Customer-Focused Performance Standards
- How to hold people accountable
- How to reinforce a customer-focused vision, values and standards
- What to measure and how to recognize and reward customer-focused performance excellence
Customer Service Training Tips Good Customer Service:
So what is it, and what behaviours should you be aiming for? Here are our tips for creating good customer service.
Ø Mission
Ø A professional appearance and attitude should be presented to serve the customers.
Ø Making easy for the customers to do business with us.
Ø Trying to be a customer doing business with own company?
Ø Secret or mystery shoppers can help give us vital feedback on how the business appears to our customers.
Ø Making a benchmark against our competitors to improve our products and services.
Ø When things go wrong putting them right means when there is any problem in the product or service, the customers should be allowed to advocate.
Ø Learning the art of handling the customer’s complaints on the part of employees is must.
Ø Effective communication skills and listening skill should be developed to achieve customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Ø Rewarding the right behaviour of the employees is must.
Ø Time management guidance must be provided to the employees for effective utilization of time in planning and prioritization of tasks.
Ø Training of employees should include the concept of business ethics providing specific guidelines on ethical practice with lots of examples that people can relate to. Because customers don’t want to associate with organizations that bend rules and violate accepted standards of conduct
Conclusion
Training is profoundly strategic. It’s a process aimed at improving the single most important resource in the organization: people. Nothing affects customer loyalty more than the behaviors and competencies of employees. Training is the most effective way to communicate the correct behaviors and competencies that will keep customers coming back. At its core, training is very straightforward: Finding what competencies are required for personnel to effectively serve their customers, and taking action to address gaps in competency is necessary.. The challenge comes in trying to build a system that will deliver. With good intentions, organizations often build unwieldy systems that are both confusing and doomed to failure. That’s why training process must be carefully designed, with an eye toward relevance, simplicity and customer expectations.