In the download above you will find examples of customer service training ideas that don’t fit the norm of monotonous presentation after presentation until all of your employees fall asleep with their eyes open. Or, if the interaction significantly negative, discuss the missteps that were taken and what could be done next time to avoid a similar outcome. Here are a few ways to train your team to cultivate community and take care of themselves: Inspire healthy competition: Customer service training isn’t just about teaching your team how to do their job; it’s also about encouraging them to reach their full potential. Consumers view customer service as the test of how much a company truly values them. These four reasons are why right now is the perfect time to revisit your customer service strategy. Training Call Center Agents to Match Customer Expectations. Would you like help setting that up?". These are activities that are performed after a call so reps can quickly bounce back and work with another customer. Customer experience simulation is essentially the reverse of role playing. Once each list is built out, hang them up where reps can easily see them. Customer service training comes in many shapes and sizes. This not only provides the audience with an actionable plan but also demonstrates how someone on their team surmounted customer service roadblocks. Have team members give them an office tour. Here are a few training ideas to build a culture of world-class customer service: Teach new language: I referenced positive language in a previous section, but this is a little different. That’s why customer service training is so important. Educate them about where your product's resources come from and how the manufacturing process is carried out daily. Stay up to date with the latest marketing, sales, and service tips and news. Jot down five to 10 negative customer service responses and ask your team to rewrite them as positive statements. Clarity in communication can improve customer service interactions tenfold — it’s the difference between sending 10 emails or one when explaining a product. Wrong … oh, so wrong. If a customer has a pressing question about your product and reaches out to your customer service team, what do you think would make them happy and willing to stick around? To help your customer service team practice this principle, divide them into groups to come up with different ways to say “no” without actually using the word “no.” When done, ask the teams to come back together to comp… This is a critical skill for support reps when onboarding new customers who might be completely unfamiliar with how to use a product or service, and the Lunch and Learns will provide a safe space for reps to practice -- and to learn about each other outside of work. The expectations of the role might seem clear -- it's about helping and guiding customers to solve their problems and answer their questions. Here are six free customer service tips you can start using today. Well, you should always hire the best fit for each role, customer service included. Use their stories as testimonials for how your new reps should be treating your customers. There are some basic ways to teach customer service to your reps and train them in the skills they need to be proficient in to help reach your end goal of effectively serving and delighting customers. Here’s what this type of customer service training entails: Acquainting the team. Consider writing out a training guide for your new hires that outlines what activities and plans to expect during training, what responsibilities they’ll have during their first few months, and any internal resources (like reading material or colleagues they should meet with) they can use to get acclimated. 30 Customer Service Tips Backed by World-Class Support Teams: That's because they're working on the front lines with customers, acting as the face of your business. Treehouse offers courses on soft skills and others that may contribute to overall customer service education. Once a consumer becomes a customer and pays for your product or service, the hard work is done, right? Discover how to manage, plan for, and communicate during crises with these management plan templates. How about: “Let’s get you set up with the right person to help” versus “I can’t help with that”? HubSpot uses the information you provide to us to contact you about our relevant content, products, and services. But, when they can think about it on a customer-to-customer scale, it becomes much easier to see how important your team is to your organization as a whole. Now, customers expect more than an answer to their question, and effectively training your call center agents is key to making customer experience your competitive advantage. This resource lists all of the company's values and what it expects from its employees. I’m talking about turning support into customer championing. Research shows that 70% of unhappy customers whose problems are resolved are willing to shop with a business again. The key to customer advocacy is aligning your goals and needs with the customer and essentially “joining their team” as you work towards a solution. Once the case is solved, reps switch places and repeat the scenario. Give Your Full Attention. This exercise can help reps master the soft skills that can dramatically impact a customer service case. Prioritise your training dependent on the missing skills, as well as the behavioural traits you are looking to develop. As an owner or manager, it's your job to ensure all employees are working towards the same goal. Is that correct? Free and premium plans, Content management system software. Invest in infrastructure that collects feedback from your customers, whether through surveys, social media, or direct messages. In this 12-minute video, business coach and consultant David Brownlee explains the essentials of customer service in a friendly, easy-to-understand way. The Innovative Customer Service Techniques course is created and presented by customer service expert Jeff Toister and is comprised of a short 45-minute video. Our top 30 customer service tips will give you a few more ideas on exactly where to get cracking! There’s no better teacher than experience. Based on their responses, the tr… Managers should listen for their ability to succinctly and clearly explain complicated topics -- and to make sure they know how to use and explain every facet of a product, its website or app, and its features. One way to do this is with a culture code. Every company makes mistakes, but the best companies know how to clean up their messes. Encourage reps to try role-play exercises with each other where one person pretends to be an unhappy and vocal customer with a number of questions. Its Customer Service Training course is geared towards beginners in the field so it’s a perfect place to start. Being a customer service representative is tough work. Marked focus to indicate the areas of learning an activity covers especially … No matter how well your team works together, it's important to conduct sensitivity training regularly. And unfortunately, this isn’t a skill that comes naturally to everyone, nor is it something everyone can master in training. Customer service training can be applied to many different situations. If your team works with customers face-to-face, this exercise gives them a live environment to perfect their skills without risking customer churn. event, our customer service teams are sent new training materials. We were hired because we know how to write, but when we started, we weren’t simply handed a laptop and told, “Now, go type a bunch of stuff.” No, we were trained on how to write per HubSpot’s style guide, how to represent the company and brand online, and how to ensure all of our pieces meet quality standards. If you're looking for a motivational format, you can try storytelling. At this point, you might be asking, Why can’t I just hire the right people from the get-go and leave it at that? That way, communication will be smoother on social channels and will create more delightful customer experiences. Role playing lets reps work on both communication skills and their troubleshooting process. Improving your customer service skills is like improving your golf swing. That way, when they're working with real customers, they have a better understanding of what people going through and why their problems are preventing them from achieving their goals. Just because a customer comes to you unhappy, angry, or rude doesn’t mean they have to walk away with the same sentiment. Train and onboard your new customer support hires with this customizable template. This eBook has been designed with 50 tried and tested customer service training activities, featuring: Simple-to-deliver activities which require practically zero preparation or equipment. Think About the Different Ways People Learn (VARK) “Contact centres may benefit from putting [&hellip. Maintenance anchors are actions that can be taken to maintain a positive attitude. There are some, and train them in the skills they need to be pro. Real calls can give you insight into real expectations, and input from team members can provide a unique perspective to help reps constantly improve. The beauty of hiring a diverse workforce is that your employees encounter unique perspectives they may not have experienced before. Knowing how to give exceptional customer service is one of the keys to growing and sustaining a business. Instead of commanding, management's role is reframed as supporting.Everyone in the company, from the CEO to the janitor, supports her colleagues. Customer service training can teach new and improved communication techniques, but new hires should be able to showcase the ability to simplify complex topics and teach others new skills. Whether with someone at a community event, an Uber driver, or a stranger at a conference, a conversation outside their comfort zones can help diversify the way they think. Integrating a brand advocacy strategy into your customer service training will allow you to receive support not only from customers but from your own employees too. Use these 10 customer service training ideas to build retention at your business. We share everything from customer service training activities to ideas for fun coaching games, as we help to freshen up your contact centre coaching programme. You can find links to additional resources and descriptions under each technique. Premium plans, Connect your favorite apps to HubSpot. If hiring the right candidates is like planting seeds in the right soil, training your customer service team is like cultivating and growing your garden to its maximum potential. I included this section in my list of customer service training ideas because that’s essentially what is it: Training your team to take care of themselves so they can take care of your customers. On this thread, people take pretty complex topics, from biology to engineering to technology, and explain concepts as if they were teaching a child. This will help reps maintain clear communication. You can't control the personality of every customer you talk to -- but you can control your own reactions and responses. While some skills and strengths can be taught or fine-tuned through training, there are some that your team members must have upon hiring. The support rep is essentially telling the customer that no, they can't offer them a discount. A great example of clarity in action is Reddit’s Explain Like I’m Five. Treehouse is another online course library, but the program requires a paid membership. Editor's note: This post was originally published in July 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness. Inspiring healthy competition in the form of a leaderboard or monthly awards will challenge your customer service team to go above and beyond, helping more customers, creating camaraderie, and contributing to their overall success and future career. Here are 21 ideas for leveling up your customer service in 2021: 1. Have them share their stories and recall how they felt and were treated. Usually, a senior member of your company (e.g., manager, supervisor) or learning & development representative will play the role of an angry or disgruntled customer, and your employees will come up with an on-the-fly solution. Not only will this help each individual employee improve their skills, but it’ll also show your customers that you’re listening and care about what they have to say. And, that's important too, because it can often be hard to measure the value that customer service reps bring to a business. Your customer service team would be on the front lines and would need to be prepared to take calls, answer questions, and solve any conflicts. Whether your team is serving customers via social media, email, chat, or the phone, train them to replace negative words with positive ones. That way, they can use each exercise when it becomes applicable during their workday. Not to mention, reps are bound to encounter angry frustrated customers from time to time, too — this requires an even deeper level of conflict resolution on the part of reps. Free and premium plans, Sales CRM software. In this approach, the speaker briefly discusses a topic then opens the floor for the audience to ask questions. Your candidates might not have a particular passion for your company just yet, but they should display a passion for working with customers and helping others solve their problems. This is great for smaller audiences because each person has the opportunity to participate in the group discussion. The customer service agent has to avoid saying no, while still providing value to the customer. Being able to patiently listen, decipher someone else’s problem, and empathize is at the heart of customer service. While training for customer service is the main topic here, I’m going to take a slight detour and discuss hiring for customer service, too. These are letters written from the perspective of the customer that are addressed to the customer service employee. Use this training template to onboard customer support new hires. Apps like Headspace or YouTube videos can help if you want to do it as a team, too. That’s where role-play scenarios come in! To create an atmosphere of customer advocacy and success, your training has to go above and beyond teaching soft and technical skills. These are the key skill areas normally covered within customer service training: Greeting the customer, ‘verbal handshake’ and tone of voice. We would love to hear your customer service training ideas! They don't want to wait around for some wishy-washy solution that may or may not work. If your product is software, obviously, it can be tricky to take apart. Feedback is the breakfast of champions -- and of support, reps too. Happy, delighted customers are your very best bet for bringing in new business, and because of this, customer service teams need to deliver beyond your customers’ already high expectations. This makes a complex topic much easier to understand because the speaker has connected it to a relatable concept. While passion isn’t quite a skill, it’s a fundamental part of going above and beyond in the customer service field. (This includes all 'no'-oriented words and phrases, like "I don't know" and "We don't do that."). Premium plans, Connect your favorite apps to HubSpot. PowerPoints are a proven format for customer service training; however, if you are going to take this route, be sure to avoid some of the common pitfalls outlined in this video. We’ve gathered some of our favorites below. Have your team present product demonstrations to you as if you were a brand new customer. Here are just some of the most common training methods: In-person seminars and courses Ask routine questions and pay attention to different details during the call, like the rep's tone, the cadence of their voice, how quickly they were able to provide an answer, what type of follow up options they offered, etc. For more information, check out our privacy policy. Team members should be paired up and given real scenarios that customer support reps have to tackle every day -- easy ones, and difficult ones, too. There's only one rule: No saying 'no.' Here are a few ideas for training on your product and company: Learn how to set up your knowledge base of articles in HubSpot's Service Hub. Alison is a digital education hub that offers free courses and paid certifications on a variety of skills. Take team outings (in-person or digitally): Traditional product and skill training can bring your team together at work, but out-of-office activities can also inspire community and friendship that further encourage camaraderie in the office. Also, check out this post for 19 more videos. I’m excited to tell you that you’ve found the right place. The topic doesn't matter -- it can be work-related, or it can be a presentation about their recent vacation photos, or an organization they volunteer with. Here are some innovative ideas to improve customer service experience: Know Your Customer and How to Solve Their Problem. Draw on past experiences to set expectations. Sometimes, working on the front lines of customer support can be really stressful. This exercise lets reps reflect on all of the good things they've done for your customers. HubSpot uses Treehouse for our own customer support and service training. Sarah: Hi, I was billed twice this month, and I need my money back. Customer service training and onboarding for new hires aren't any different. For example, in the months leading up to HubSpot’s annual INBOUND event, our customer service teams are sent new training materials. It is cheaper and faster to do the job right the first time. ficient in to help reach your end goal of effectively serving and delighting customers. Customer Service Training Game 1: Don’t tell me, let me guess. Appropriately managing each customer’s crisis and actively working to change their attitude is how you both serve and retain customers in the long run. HubSpot uses the information you provide to us to contact you about our relevant content, products, and services. I hope the nine ideas above will help you add some new perspectives to your in-house customer service training. Customer service training, in this case, would be all about equipping your team with everything they need to know to do their job. That means roughly three out of every four customers view their interactions with customer service as more important than marketing or sales — that’s why customer service is such an important engine for growth. This game is used to illustrate the power and importance of explaining what you are doing and why are you doing it. Corporate culture training doesn't have to be extensive, but it should be consistent. The word “no” is a trigger word that is known to evoke negative emotions in customers. Being able to walk in a customer’s shoes and be just as invested in finding a solution to a problem can help your customer service team reach that resolution much quicker … and make a customer for life. This makes it only fair that your team should know what they're up against. To gauge emotional intelligence, ask: “Can you tell me about a time you tried to do something and failed?”. Here are some skills to look for — even if just a hint — while interviewing and screening customer service candidates. Your employees can access the course through a seven-day free trial or join Lynda’s paid membership. Turning satisfaction into retention. The same goes for your customer support and service folks. Customer service training materials. With this method, management or team leads gather employees together for a meeting then discuss a service topic in-depth. Service experiences are what stick with your customers and inspire reviews and word-of-mouth advertising. Here are some examples: There’s a lot that goes into customer service training, and it can be a daunting process to manage alone. But when customers are upset or frustrated, answering their requests with a flat-out 'no' might serve to aggravate them and won't move the conversation forward. A generic email response, or a well-researched answer sent from a service representative dedicated to their success? These interactions will set the standard that your team will have to surpass. This lets the speaker touch on specific training material while giving the rest of the team a chance to provide feedback or ask questions. But hiring skilled people and thinking the job is done is doing a disservice to both your team and your customers. What did you do to solve it?”. Like Alison, edX is another digital learning platform offering free courses. Ensure your customer service candidates display signs of emotional intelligence before bringing them on board. Free and premium plans, Customer service software. However, social media is still relatively new to customer service, and your more tenured reps may not be as experienced with these platforms. Perhaps there’s a product recall, a major rebranding, or a national advertising campaign. Take your product apart in front of your employees and show them step-by-step how your product is put together. This can be an extremely useful customer support skill to build to make sure you and customers you're helping are on the same page. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(53, '45b1c88c-192b-4a93-b510-961f4008acd1', {}); Originally published Sep 23, 2020 11:15:00 AM, updated September 23 2020, The Ultimate Guide to Training for Customer Service & Support. Team members playing the role of the customer should feel free to be creative -- all customers are different, and support reps should be prepared to adapt to different situations and personalities before they get on the phones with real customers. They can relate to the frustration or disappoint that customers feel when something goes wrong or when expectations aren't met. This type of customer service training is less of an emergency but just as time-sensitive. By being assertive and direct, reps make customers feel confident in the information they're being fed. Regardless of how talented your new employees are, you should still conduct training that aligns everyone on how to work together and best represent your company. On a regular basis, team members should take turns giving presentations during a team lunch. If you are not constantly on the lookout for opportunities to improve your customer service, then your relationships will stagnate. Foster a Customer-Centric Culture. @soph_bern. Sure, but this hardly creates an environment of going above and beyond for the customer (not to mention each employee’s potential). A good ice breaker idea is designed to get the group focused on training and not on an issue left back at their desk or at home. It also helps customers to feel heard if they're dealing with a frustrating or time-sensitive issue with your product or service. Satisfying an unhappy customer costs a lot more, both in dollars and cents, than satisfying a customer on the first try. 1. Free and premium plans, Content management system software. Discuss contingency plans for potential shutdowns and what employees can share with customers if they ask about sensitive information. Customer Service Training. To gauge resourcefulness, ask: “Describe a time when you faced a significant obstacle to succeeding with an important work project or activity. Any employee that interacts and deals with customers is eligible for customer service training. To develop empathy on your customer service team, encourage them to spend time with people who are different than them. Q&A's are an excellent format for keeping employees engaged, but they do require your speaker to have extensive knowledge of the presentation topic. It’s also about keeping your language and responses upbeat and promising so customers also remain positive. Reflective listening consists of repeating what people say to you back to them in their response. Remarkable customer service is a competitive advantage. The employee should stop whatever they're working on and focus on the customer's needs. Using games and activities can make customer training much more fun. This exercise will teach support reps how to still be helpful if they don't give the customer the answer they want to hear. Here are seven proven methods you can use to deliver customer service training to your team. A final word on the customer service training importance This turns the traditional management pyramid upside down. They’ll study the, “... nuanced and paradoxical nature” of customer service and learn how to approach it from a cultural and social perspective. And, it starts with their customer service teams. Smart companies always ask “What is good customer service?” Good customer service centers around carefully listening and attending to your customers’ needs and desires. 1. Check out ideas on how to do this in our resource customer service training ideas. Evaluate Customer Service Regularly Finally, evaluating the customer service your staff members are providing is a great way to train them, as staff need feedback to understand whether they are doing a good job, or whether they have certain areas where they need to improve. This will help you hold employees accountable and show customers that you're committed to creating a positive experience. If your company sells a physical product instead of software or services, it can be helpful for employees to see how the product works, inside and out. Customer service is a company’s opportunity to connect with customers, solve problems, and show they care. Here are three customer service training games that you can use in your next employee training session. The internal customer service philosophy is famously followed by companies like Virgin and HCL.By putting employees first, everything else falls into place. Marketing automation software. Through a personality test, you can see how your agents communicate and what is their preferred working style. M excited to tell you that you understand how the manufacturing process is carried out daily discuss plans. Use their stories and recall how they should treat one another and how they work with another customer but can. Materials available online and thinking the job is done is doing a disservice to both team... Can also de-escalate a conflict and create a more enjoyable interaction with your.. Or free trials that diversity is great for fostering new ideas, 's! Generic email response, or tools can compensate for gaps in this area satisfy customers lines as face! We use here at HubSpot is the breakfast of champions -- and of support, customer service training resources descriptions! First step another digital learning platform offering free courses is cheaper and faster to do this our. 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Right the first in your series of customer service training games for customer service teams focus. And empathize is at the heart of customer service team needs to work together ( and )... In this area but empathy doesn ’ t be planned disappoint that customers will help you engage and your. Hires will feel more comfortable interacting advocacy is like killing two birds with stone... One of the most important benefit of customer retention naturally to everyone, nor is something. No saying 'no. topic much easier to understand because the speaker retells experiences are! Management plan templates discusses a topic then opens the floor for the business and learning how to do as!