One of the first challenges of customer service training is to define what you want to achieve and how you will measure it. Without clear goals and objectives, your training may be vague, irrelevant, or inconsistent. To avoid this pitfall, you should start by conducting a needs assessment to identify the gaps and opportunities in your current service delivery. Then, you should align your training goals and objectives with your business strategy, customer feedback, and industry standards. Finally, you should set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) criteria to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of your training.
One thing I have found with dealing with clients is to go the extra step that is not usually expected. For instance, if a client needs to submit paperwork, I always go through the forms and prefill all items with the information I have, to help the client. I have found that this is so greatly appreciated by our clients.
Many L&D programs "push" info, but fail to conduct the needs assessment and allow the leaders to "pull" content that suits their business needs. This Agile approach is more effective, especially if your L&D team supports a diverse set of business units. Also, you MUST incorporate data into your OD programs. Measuring the needle movement is our product in a non-revenue sector.
In my experience, when change is required, it is important to understand who has also done this change in their business practice, who has succeeded and failed and why this was the end result. There are many frameworks and tools that help us conduct analyses of the gaps in training preparation, deliverance and post-briefing. It is far more important to have a means testes tool for collecting data which is able to then address the short, medium and long-term goals that can be set up through SMART. The focus should be placed on developing a Strategy based on several components to address the shortfalls of delivering great quality customer service.
Another challenge of customer service training is to create and deliver engaging and informative content that suits the learning styles and preferences of your employees. Poor content and delivery can result in boredom, confusion, or resistance among your trainees. To avoid this pitfall, you should use a variety of methods and formats to present your content, such as case studies, role plays, simulations, videos, quizzes, or games. You should also use clear and simple language, avoid jargon and acronyms, and provide examples and scenarios that are relevant and realistic. Moreover, you should adapt your content and delivery to the level and background of your trainees, and provide feedback and reinforcement throughout the training.
I realized that the training content can be too rich with too much information. Overloading employees with too much information can lead to information overload and decreased retention. It is important to focus on the most important information and to provide opportunities for employees to practice what they have learned. This relies on the content that is relevant to the job: If the training is not relevant to the employee's job, they are less likely to see the value in it. It is important to tailor the training to the specific needs of the employee and the job role.
A common pitfall of delivering training for staff is the severe lack of allowing your staff to practice what they have learnt, auditing the retention that they were able to take and how this impacts the work culture. How do we know and prove that staff did actually benefit from the recently planned training sessions? Has the business seen an improvement? There is a deep focus on designing, preparing, and using different training methods for delivery. However, there is little emphasis placed on what comes after the training, how this is measured, and for how long. How we do ensure that the training had a profound impact on the employees and what changes came from the sessions? Successful training sessions have this primary focus.
Being respectful of the participants' time is the biggest pitfall here. Have an agenda and be deliberate with your audience. Spending every meeting/class with an hour long elevator pitch session is not engaging with the audience, so brainstorm other ways to get the audience involved.
A third challenge of customer service training is to ensure that the learning outcomes are transferred and sustained in the workplace. Lack of follow-up and support can result in a loss of motivation, retention, or application of the skills and knowledge acquired during the training. To avoid this pitfall, you should design and implement a follow-up and support plan that includes coaching, mentoring, refresher courses, or peer learning. You should also encourage and reward your employees for applying their learning to their daily tasks, and monitor and track their progress and performance. Additionally, you should solicit and act on their feedback and suggestions to improve your training and service quality.
It comes to mind that there could be a lack of reinforcement after the training. Customer service training should be ongoing and reinforced on a regular basis. It's important to provide your employees with opportunities to practice their skills and receive feedback in the real workplace. This will help them to retain the information they learn and improve their customer service skills over time.
Too often companies will put together their customer service team along with their sales team. Often many will think, “Well sales people know customer service too right?” The problem with this is that customer service are focused more on time and retaining relationships rather than building relationships from scratch. They are two completely separate moments in time during the business process. During customer service training successful businesses find that giving guidelines with open discussion every couple of months can actively implement ideas and improve the way the business handles their clients. As a sales person believes in the product, one of the similarities is that the customer service people must also believe in the product.
Follow-up data on a specific timeline can help here. Additionally, collect data from team members (have you seen a positive workplace impact since John Doe attended the X program?"
A fourth challenge of customer service training is to overcome the resistance to change that some employees may have. Resistance to change can stem from fear, insecurity, habit, or mistrust, and can hinder the adoption and adaptation of new skills and behaviors. To avoid this pitfall, you should involve your employees in the planning and design of the training, and communicate the benefits and expectations of the training clearly and frequently. You should also create a positive and supportive learning environment, where your employees feel valued, respected, and empowered. Furthermore, you should address and resolve any issues or concerns that your employees may have, and celebrate and share their successes and achievements.
Often, I notices that not involving the right people is another issue. Customer service training should involve all employees who interact with customers, not just those who work in customer service departments or the frontline teams. This includes sales representatives, marketing staff, and even executives. Everyone in your company should be aware of the importance of customer service and how they can contribute to creating a positive customer experience.
In my experience, most leaders fail to understand that 'buy-in' from teams is not guaranteed and is not to be expected. This needs to be worked for and earned. Change is scary, and worse, it requires much effort from all the stakeholders to ensure its success. One of the best tools as a leader that I have learned is by providing staff with a vision, understanding the why and how this will help us not only as a team but also as individuals to improve our own skills for our future paths. We crave stories, and it is stories that can deliver the best tool to overcome change. In addition, identifying the right people within the teams also to spread the message is vital. Understanding the best way to explain why they should care for this.
The human capital piece is what typically lags in the change management programs companies are running. Emphasis on the tech side is important but if your human capital cant interface, it's much less effective.
A fifth challenge of customer service training is to maintain consistency and reduce variability in your service delivery across different channels, locations, and teams. Inconsistency and variability can result in customer dissatisfaction, confusion, or frustration, and can damage your brand reputation and loyalty. To avoid this pitfall, you should establish and communicate clear and consistent service standards, policies, and procedures that apply to all your employees and customers. You should also provide regular and consistent training to all your employees, regardless of their role, experience, or location. Moreover, you should monitor and audit your service delivery, and provide feedback and corrective actions when needed.
To achieve consistency, it is essential to have a role or a department set-up that is capable of achieving this by using innovative solutions for keeping track of what training has been done, when, whom and when refreshers are needed. The more streamlined the administration of this, the more capable this role/department can be. Procedures should be set up with clear expectations and a set of instructions for the assurance of quality information for staff to minimize broad interpretations and loss of knowledge when key staff leave. Fun tests should also be used as a means to ensure that staff is confident to lead with challenging customers and complicated complaints.
I have noticed that customer service is more of a focused when directly dealing with customers. This should not be the case when a company is working with the public. Good customer service should be a company wide effort. No matter the title or position one holds. From inception, new employees need to know and understand the value of great customer service. Waiting for an issue to arise then addressing the problem is where the problem lies a lot of times. The key is to make it part of ongoing training across all divisions. Not an annual training or reacting once something bad happens. Consistency and best practices is key from day one!
This is a perfect opportunity to discuss the necessary balance between consistency and personalization. Many customer service roles (and sales positions for that matter) involve heavy reliance on canned scripts and replies. These have their place, don’t get me wrong, but customers pick up on corporate-speak, especially in the modern business and social environment.
There are various types of customer service and different ways in which you deal with clients. There are in-person clients, email communication with clients, phone contact, and Teams and Zoom communications as well. My feeling is that this requires different approaches to be sure you are providing the best customer service and the client is aware of your intent to assist them to the best of your ability. I
Além dos pontos mencionados, acho crucial considerar a personalização do treinamento. Cada equipe de atendimento pode enfrentar desafios específicos dependendo do setor e do perfil dos clientes. Portanto, adaptar o conteúdo do treinamento às necessidades particulares do seu time e do seu público-alvo pode fazer uma grande diferença. Além disso, é importante criar uma cultura de feedback contínuo, onde os próprios funcionários podem sugerir melhorias no treinamento com base nas suas experiências diárias.
Many times customer service and other "soft skills " training is a little too soft. Real customer service requires deep, detailed knowledge of your organization's products or services. Even more important, and sometimes more forgotten is organizational knowledge. Customer service team members must know who at what level of your organization can or can't do what. Otherwise even if they do create an out of the box solution when needed, how do they know how to implement it ?