This free article on customer services
will provide an insight into this important aspect of
Soft Skill Training.
The 'Global Shared Services Center' of a Fortune 500 organization
approached MMM Training Solutions
to help them with a customer
services training intervention that would not only
improve basic customer handling skill sets but also help
facilitate a change in the mindset of their employees toward
becoming more customer service oriented
as individuals and as an organization.
By working in coordination with the HR, Operations and
Quality teams of the client organization, MMM
Training Solutions demonstrated clearly the benefits
of customer service training. We also facilitated a
20% improvement in the customer service skill sets
of various teams.
For the purposes of this case study, our focus will be
on thecustomer service training intervention we undertook
for the IT services and Helpdesk Support team.
Challenges Faced:
The client outlined to us that the major challenge that
they faced was that most of their IT Services and Helpdesk
employees were not customer service oriented. Although,
they possessed good technical skills they just had not been
able to see the importance of customer service as they were
dealing with 'internal customers' i.e. employees of the
parent company, who had no one else to turn to for their
IT support needs.
They wanted us to help instill a professional approach to
customer service, problem solving and call handling as part
of the IT Helpdesk operations. This included:
- Change in mindset toward a 'culture of customer service'
- Politeness and courtesy when speaking to customers
- Using the right telephone etiquette
- Using the right e-mail etiquette
- Taking ownership
- Dealing with different types of customers
Pre-training Preparation: Prior to the delivery
of our customer service training program, an in-depth
study of the situation was carried out by the MMM
Training Solutions Team. Our pre-training preparation
focused on areas that helped gain an insight into the real
nature of the problem.
The Training Program: The training programs were
initially conducted for five batches of participants from
the voice based support operations.
Duration: Each batch went through a training program
that was for 16 hours split into 4 sessions of 4 hours each.
Training topics:
- Developing a customer service mindset
- Understanding the elements of great customer service
- Understanding and managing customer expectations
- Call handling skills and E-mail etiquette
- Dealing with different kinds of customers
- Polite and friendly phrases to use that sound professional
Methodology:
- Numerous role-play simulations of customer facing situations
with feedback from the facilitator and peers
- Group games, movie clips and case studies along with
Instructor Led Training (ILT)
- Audio recordingsof sample calls that were categorized
as 'good' calls and 'bad' calls
Post-training Intervention: A post-training assessment
was conducted one week after the completion of training for
each batch and the appropriate feedback was given to the participants.
Results:The result was that the participants showed
an average overall improvement of 10-15% in terms of quality
of performance, specifically focusing on customer service.
Refresher Training: We conducted a 4 hour refresher
session for each batch one month after their initial training
program. This session focused on key areas in which the participants
were not showing significant improvement.
As a result, participants showed a further 5-10% improvement
in their customer service skill sets. This meant that at the
end of a month participants had shown an average overall improvement
of about 20%.
Conclusion: The client organization was so delighted
with the results that they wanted us back to conduct a 'Level
2 - Customer Service' training intervention to take their
teams to the next level of bringing about 'Customer Delight'.
We continue to work with the organization to this day. Today,
we are looked at as a strategic learning partner who is helping
them focus on the core of their business - developing people.
This business case clearly demonstrates the effectiveness
of our
customer service training material and programs.
Kindly visit our website to download free
customer
service training material.
This article was authored by Pramila Mathew, M.Ed, MBA, an executive coach who helps individuals, groups, teams and organizations find the right solutions in the workplace. MMM Training Solutions conducts soft skills training and executive coaching anywhere in the world. We guarantee the effectiveness of our training.
You may reprint this article by requesting permission from:
pramila.mathew@mmmts.com
