Class Summary
The first impression of your organization often comes over the telephone. It is critical that these make-or-break interactions be positive and professional. In this practical (and fun) half-day session, you’ll learn the important basics of great telephone customer service.
Any employee will benefit from this training, but it will be especially useful to those who have "front-line" telephone responsibility.
- A credible, professional image for yourself, your work unit, and your organization.
- A reputation for outstanding customer relations.
- Reduced stress--especially when dealing with difficult telephone situations.
By the end of this program, you will be able to:
- Describe the critical difference between face-to-face and over-the-phone communication.
- List personal and organizational benefits of effective telephone communication.
- Explain what is meant by image why it is important to you and your organization.
- List at least 5 factors that affect image.
- Explain what is meant by the "A.S.K. Theory."
- Define attitude and how it relates to good telephone customer service.
- Discuss the 10 key skills needed in delivering telephone customer service excellence.
- Use active listening in managing telephone interactions.
- List the key information to collect when documenting a telephone call.
- Describe customer-friendly methods for putting someone on hold.
- Describe the proper way to transfer a call to ensure a positive outcome.
- Demonstrate how to deal effectively with the top 5 difficult caller situations.
- List important telephone time management techniques.
- Explain what is meant by the 7 C's of Excellent Customer Service.
- Laying the foundation
- Telephone versus face-to-to face communication
- Benefits of good telephone customer service
- Image–it makes all the difference
- The “A.S.K. Theory”
- Attitude is everything
- Key telephone skills
- Put a smile in your voice–they can hear it!
- Building rapport with the caller
- The power of positive words and phrases
- Effective listening (it’s magic!)
- Taking notes and documenting calls
- Know your equipment
- Putting the caller on hold–a customer service “moment of truth”
- Transferring a call and avoiding “dead ends”
- Managing difficult telephone situations
- Hard-to-understand callers
- Complaints
- Angry callers
- Aggressive/passive-aggressive callers
- Talkative callers
- Flawless follow-up
- Telephone time management–how to increase productivity, reduce stress and still provide great customer service
- Summary
- The 7 C’s of excellent customer service
- The golden rule
- Action planning