Customer Service Training 101
There’s no denying that great customer service can be a powerful force for your business. In fact, according to a recent study from Gartner research, up to 64% of today’s consumers believe that a quality customer service experience is actually even more important than price when deciding to make a purchase.
But with the weight of both customer satisfaction and your bottom line potentially resting on their shoulders, are you sure that your support team is strong enough to bear the burden?
Great Power, Meet Great Responsibility.
Fortunately for you, with the right tools and training at your disposal, we’re confident that any support program can get into fighting shape.
Here are the customer service training pointers you need to get started.
Knowledge is Power, Too
You can’t teach what you don’t know – so before you set out to train your team it’s imperative that you first determine what knowledge needs to be passed on to your support agents for them to be successful in the role. This includes product or service information, software guidelines, company best practices, and even business-wide goals.
In addition to presenting these materials to your team upon hiring, you should also consider creating a knowledge base or library – often a feature included in helpdesk software – so both new employees and existing agents have access to necessary information.
Practice Makes Perfect
Facilitating a seamless and effective customer service program relies on experience. Ensuring that your support agents demo any software, run through all training exercises, and have practiced carrying-out resolutions to common tickets will properly prepare them for service.
Using online recreations and practice tickets before interacting with real clients can also help develop support skills.
Stronger, Together
At the end of the day, your support program is a team. Cheesy though they may be, team-building activities can be a crucial part of their customer service training.
From team outings to internal message boards, establishing a rapport between agents will increase the quality of their work and create a seamless experience for your clients.
Positive, Patient, and Personable
When it comes to customer service training, soft skills are just as important as technical abilities. Whether your business uses a script, particular vocabulary, or simply relies on your agent’s best judgment, the importance of a positive, patient and personable demeanor cannot be overstated.
Remember, communication and clarity from your agents will build customer loyalty in the long run.
Tools of the Trade
It may go without saying, but agents both new and old should familiarize themselves with the core competencies of your software and other tools as part of their training. This includes becoming comfortable addressing customer issues across all channels (such as by phone, email, app or social media), understanding the importance of features like ticket linking, merging, and tagging on your business’s software, and knowing how long tasks are expected to take in order to stay on track.
Review and Remind
Perhaps the most effective training mechanism you can offer your support agents is a review process.
Giving your customer service team a designated time and space to both give and receive honest feedback can help your program develop over time. Tracking and measurement tools that evaluate both agent and team KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) can help identify areas for change, improving your training in the future.
Building Your Friendly, Neighborhood Support Team
Ready to put this crash course to work? Building a superior customer support program doesn’t stop at hiring and training. Deskware’s ticketing software can help organize, manage, and champion the success of your team all from an easy-to-use, web-accessible dashboard designed to make ticket tracking painless.
Deskware
Deskware is a combination of manual and automated processes developed to guide your customer service program. Deskware’s customizable, cloud-based software gives your agents 24/7/365 access to customer tickets, performance trackers, and more to ensure your team is effective as possible. To learn more, visit us online today!
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