Customer service is no longer just a nice-to-have – it's the key to survival in today's cutthroat business world. Your customer service impacts your reputation, client retention, and ultimately, your profits. Investing in top-notch customer service training is crucial. This article delves into why it matters and gives you six actionable tips to build a stellar training program. Get ready to transform your team into customer-service superstars!

What is customer service training?

Customer service training is the training and upskilling of customer service employees to improve the support they can provide and thereby increase customer satisfaction. It is an ongoing, continuous process of growth throughout an employee’s time working in customer service.

It is essential for organizations because it gives employees the proper techniques and best practices to deal with customers. Training customer service team members allows them to communicate with customers effectively, handle escalating problems, and successfully solve them.

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Why is customer service training essential?

Customer service skills training can create confidence in dealing with customers. It should ensure that your employees fully understand your products and services. Offering this training to your employees does not just add value for the customer; it can also drive sales and give you a solid competitive advantage. This blog will discuss a few benefits this program yields for the organization, employees, and customers.

1. Higher employee motivation & engagement: The first and most obvious reason why you should implement this training is for the employees to develop new skills. Then, they are more likely to be successful in their jobs. Providing this training allows employees to understand their role’s impact on the organization. A company that invests in training programs shows its employees that they care about continual development and progress. This makes employees more engaged in the organization and, therefore, more motivated. Employees then become more equipped to deal effectively with customers. You can increase engagement by having employees involved in developing the training program by asking for their feedback (training needs assessment).

2. Improved customer service skills: Customer service impresses customers at every level. With this training, employees improve their skills and acquire new ones. Specific training program focuses on improving communication, listening, problem-solving and organizational skills. The increased motivation and engagement, added with the unique abilities, improve the company’s customer service. 93% of customers will likely make repeat purchases with excellent customer service companies (State of customer service, 2022, HubSpot report).

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3. Increased customer satisfaction: Improving the quality of customer service through training leads to increased customer satisfaction, retention, and loyalty. Through practical training, customer service representatives increase their ability to resolve issues and decrease the number of return calls. Often, trained employees can address the concern at the first point of contact, significantly increasing customer satisfaction. The employees interact with customers in an improved manner that makes them feel appreciated. This appreciation is essential to the organization’s success as it is the basis for repeated patronage and customer loyalty.

4. Builds company culture: Employees need to feel valued to improve. Customer service training can help to achieve it. When the employees feel like they matter, they are more likely to stay with your company. It helps to attract more customers to the business. It delivers a brand-consistent customer experience by communicating your business’ values to customers.

5. Helps you find out what customers want: Every organization wants to attract more customers but is unsure how to do so. One of the best ways to draw new customers is to figure out what the customers want. So, to improve your customer service, it is a good idea to ask your customers what they want.

6. A rise in profit: What quality this training allows the organization to achieve is higher customer retention, the acquisition of new customers, reduced employee turnover, and increased sales. This training has a significant impact on employee motivation and morale, which leads to increased productivity. Through this training, employees come together to achieve a common goal: to satisfy the customer.

Now, there are multiple ways to conduct customer service training. A few ways to provide the training are as follows:

  1. Traditional training programs
  2. Workshops
  3. ILT or VILT programs
  4. WebEx or webinars
  5. Audio and video conferencing using platforms such as Google Meet, Microsoft team, Zoom, or Skype
  6. Short animated or whiteboard videos
  7. Gamified learning
  8. eLearning courses on learning management systems (LMSs)
  9. Microlearning

But it is not enough! Employers should know what customer service training involves.

How to create an effective customer service training program?

A good customer service training course should include customer service skill training, competency tests, and consistent monitoring and feedback. Here are some of the essential things to have in training:

  1. Mindset exercises: Delivering outstanding customer service requires that they have the right mindset. These exercises help the employees develop a mindset of service. The kind that builds loyalty and value. Many customer service frameworks talk about empathy. These are the exercises that help create it.
  2. Skills exercises: It can involve a lot of skills and practice. Most of them fall under the umbrella of communication skills. Here are some examples:
    • Active listening
    • Attentiveness
    • Politeness
    • Positive communication skills
    • Basic behavioral psychology
    • Follow-up
    • Proactivity
    • Different training emphasizes different skills, but they usually come down to good communication skills. Because of the wide variety of skills that trainers focus on, there is also much variety in the methods they use to teach these skills.
  3. Product training: This is a big part of this training. The customer service team needs to know much about the products they sell, both from a sales and a support perspective. The level of product training may depend on the experience of your customer service team. For example, customer service training for new employees might include an overview of your product lines. Intermediate training might go deeper into troubleshooting the most popular products.
  4. Scenario-based training: Provide scenario-based training to customer service employees. Compared to traditional learning experiences, scenario-based training is more likely to produce successful outcomes. Employees always develop more extraordinary cognitive abilities than conventional learners. They exhibit better problem-solving skills. Scenarios often include challenging problems like angry customers, irrational demands, and requests for discounts. It is a method of contextual learning and helps solidify the concepts that trainees have learned in previous lessons.
  5. Just-in-time training: Just-in-time training (or embedded learning) refers to learning that occurs on the job as needed; it can be addressed through well designed microlearning courses to be hosted on Learning Management Systems. Using just-in-time training, employers can train employees for specific customer needs. It increases revenue, customer happiness, and engagement.
  6. Take feedback: Collect employees’ opinions and feedback to determine what needs to be improved. Because they are in an excellent position to identify training needs, getting their input can help gain support for the training program from people who needs training.

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Customer service training

Customer service training

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Conclusion

To sum up, excellent customer service is one of the vital pillars of a successful business and brand. It grows company revenues, improves business strategies, and creates and maintains customer loyalty. Therefore, all companies should invest in excellent customer service trainings. Here are some more tips.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the best training for customer service?

Scenario-based learning. Provide scenario-based learning to the employees. Compared to other traditional learning experiences, scenario-based learning is more likely to produce successful outcomes. Employees always develop extraordinary cognitive abilities than conventional learners. They exhibit better problem-solving skills. Scenarios often include challenging problems like angry customers, irrational demands, and requests for discounts. It is a method of contextual learning and helps solidify the concepts that trainees have learned in previous lessons.

Why is customer service training essential?

Customer service training is essential for organizations because it gives employees the proper techniques and best practices to deal with customers. Training customer service team members allows them to communicate with customers effectively, handle escalating problems, and successfully solve them.

What are the types of customer service training?

A few ways to provide the training are as follows:

  1. Traditional training programs
  2. Workshops
  3. ILT or VILT programs
  4. WebEx or webinars
  5. Audio and video conferencing using platforms such as Google Meet, Microsoft team, Zoom, or Skype
  6. eLearning courses on learning management systems (LMSs)

What is good customer service training?

A good customer service training course should include customer service skill training, competency tests, and consistent monitoring and feedback.

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