Achieving Excellence in Customer Service

A two day course designed for those in daily contact with customers who need to provide a professional service to gain and maintain competitive advantage. You will learn how to develop communication and customer handling skills to create and build rapport, maintain customer relationships and deal with problems. Like any skill, customer handling needs practising, so you will be encouraged to use real-life examples from your place of work to make the exercises relevant to your job.

Course Overview

Excellence in Customer Service - Provided by You
Internal and external customer service
Your role and responsibilities to the customer
Meeting customer expectations and needs - delivering a quality service
Achieving excellence in customer service - building customer loyalty
Building Customer Relations
Managing first impressions - make or break
Maximising moments of truth - communicating face-to-face or on the telephone
Building relationships with different types of people - overcoming barriers
Inspiring confidence - presenting professionalism
What to say and how to say it
Understanding and managing customer demands
Representing your organisation in a positive manner
Taking Personal Ownership of Customer Satisfaction
Taking greater responsibility for customers
Taking personal ownership of customer satisfaction
Adding personal value and surpassing expectations
Enjoying the challenge and remaining customer-focused
Communicating Positively with Customers
Successful telephone techniques - the do's and don'ts
Sounding clear, concise and positive
Learning to really listen
Dealing appropriately with different situations and awkward customers
Projecting professionalism and confidence - defining assertiveness
Giving bad news and saying 'no' constructively
Defusing a Difficult Situation
Turning complaints into opportunities
Defusing a difficult situation
Turning negative situations into positive outcomes - the value of feedback
Demonstrating empathy - gaining the customer's respect
Taking responsibility for successful solutions - owning the outcome
Personal Development
Formulating an action plan - developing customer service in your organisation

Objectives
By the end of this course you will be able to:
Understand your impact on relationships between customer loyalty and customer care.
Achieve excellence in the service provided to customers and maintain professionalism under pressure.
Confidently communicate with customers and project the right image when dealing face-to-face and on the telephone.
Handle difficult people and challenging situations successfully using new tools, tips and techniques.
Confidently manage complaints and use feedback to build stronger relationships.
Set customer service levels and measure performance.

Designed For
All staff providing a customer service role to internal and external customers and all to whom successful and productive interaction is paramount.