A happy customer is a loyal customer. It is true that the interaction and relationship you strike with your customers, is not just a one-time affair. It goes beyond and becomes the first step for fostering a long term relation based on trust and loyalty. Influential customer service and effective communication will lead to repeat sales in the times to come. 

If you want to ensure supreme service, then make sure that the ones who interact with the customers on a daily basis are professionals and well-trained. Blanchard Online Learning is a platform that provides high-quality customer service training. It is important that leaders equip their employees and teams with the right knowledge and skills needed to connect with the customers. That’s the reason customer service training is so important and when done in a correct way it can make a huge difference in consistent service and customer satisfaction. 

Foundations of great customer service training

If you want best in class customer service training for your employees, then trust Blanchard Online Learning. The best part about this program is that it can be customized as per your company’s core competencies. Although the training program can vary slightly, but there are three main components to any program. These are – 

• Product/Service training: Employees should know the products and services that their organization offers. They’ll be required to answer questions about products and services of the organization, it is important to provide them complete training. They should know all the specifications and good foundation knowledge about each product/ service.
   
• Work environment training: Each organization has a specific work environment and this training is tailor-made for different companies. It basically talks about company policies, vision, processes and procedures etc. Right from knowing about the company software to escalating a customer service ticket, this particular training covers a lot of topics.
   
• Customer service skills training: If you have a support team and want to make them a strong support team, the foremost thing is providing customer service skills training. When the team knows how to interact and deal with customers in a peaceful and friendly manner, half the job is done. 

It is important that employees are trained on various aspects of customer service, even after they get a thorough knowledge about the products and services of the company. Some crucial elements of service skills are – 

• Communication skills 
• Listening skills 
• Empathy 
• Patience 

Free customer service training materials 

A good leader/ coach is the one who can deliver training courses comprising of essential knowledge and ways to improve their team’s key skills. With Blanchard Online Learning you get a platform that offers various training programs. It is true that planning and implementing a customer service training program may be intimidating, but there are numerous free resources that can be utilized for greater efficiency. 

Given below are some tips and training materials that’ll be helpful. 

1. Training manual: The foremost thing is consistent and thorough customer service training. You should practice this even if you think your customers are fully satisfied. When you have a training manual in place, it makes it easier to exceed the customer’s expectations by providing your employees the right training which empowers them with the right tools for success and growth. 

2. Policy examples: It is important that as a part of the training program you develop clear and concise policy for your entire team. Let them know what are their limits, how far can they go to resolve a customer’s queries and problems, and what’s the best way to satisfy a displeased customer. When these policies are mentioned clearly, it’ll help the customer support team function more effectively.

3. Employee training plan template: Will you ask someone to climb a mountain in the dark without a flashlight? So why have the practice of hiring new employees without training them. Make sure you give everyone a clear idea about what they are supposed to learn and practice in order to enhance their productivity and performance. By using an interactive method of employee training plan template, leaders can quickly develop a detailed and easy-to-follow plan.

4. Training activities: In many cases it has been noted that customer service reps feel neglected even though they are a part of a team because they interact with customers individually. There are various customer service training activities under the Blanchard Online Learning program. These make learning fun, innovative, engaging, and interactive. You get two-fold benefits of providing training activities – it improves employees’ skills and they all come together as a team. And both these factors together are great for employee engagement.

5. Training calendar: With a packed schedule, one of the hardest decisions is when you train your employees. A meticulously planned training calendar will help trainers and managers to outline what all topics the team needs to focus on and when should they deliver the training, development, and practice opportunities. 

Rightly said that customer training is not rocket science. When planned effectively and implemented flawlessly, it can be such a great learning experience for the employees. The training imparted by experts at Blanchard Online Learning will not just strength your customer relations skills but will also develop a star rated customer service team that’s ready to handle difficult situations and face challenges. With this targeted training module you can empower your teams with in-depth knowledge and best practices so that they can increase customer loyalties towards your brand. 

The software is super simple and enables employees to learn, practice, and perform like never before. 

Credits – This blog is an adaptation of international blog - https://bit.ly/32411vo