Customer Service Training, Tips, Articles & Videos with Myra Golden
Ways I Engage My Audiences
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Don’t do for attendees what they can do for themselves.
With the distractions of texting, social media, and email, it’s harder now than ever to keep adults engaged in corporate training sessions. But as a professional speaker and trainer, it’s my job to keep my audiences engaged and learning. One way I do that is to not do for my attendees anything they can do for themselves.
Last week I delivered a 3-hour training session on “Recruiting and Retaining Generation Y Talent.” Great topic. LONG session. One of the things I wanted my audience to walk away with was a great benchmark of how the best companies are recruiting and retaining Generation Y employees. I could have read them the list of companies that have a proven track record of retaining Yers and then given them a dozen bullet points on how the companies do what they do. But that quickly gets boring.
Here’s what I did instead. I quickly named the top 5 companies for Generation Yers. These are companies that are known to meet the unique needs of this generation and companies where Yers thrive. Then, I divided my audience into groups of 4-6 people. I asked my attendees to pull out their smartphones and iPads and I had each group research one company. Further, I instructed the groups to prepare a short presentation on what that company was doing to effectively recruit, motivate and retain Generation Y employees. I gave the groups 10 minutes for their research.
My audience loved this exercise. It got them interacting with one another, they were fully engaged, and they loved researching on their personal gadgets. The group presentations covered a depth of knowledge that I couldn’t have covered without boring the audience.
I debriefed this exercise by telling my audience of Human Resource Directors and Corporate Trainers that letting Generation Yers work in teams and use the Internet during training sessions is a great way to engage Yers in corporate training.
Bottom line: When it comes to corporate training, don’t do for attendees what they can do for themselves. Engage your attendees by letting them brainstorm, research and present in small groups. When you do this, your job is easier and your people learn and retain far more.
Learn more about my engaging customer service training sessions by going to www.MyraGolden.com.
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What a Myra Golden Training is Like
Are you a corporate trainer who is looking for customer service training to deliver to your team?
Zappos Only Hires People Who Are Passionate About Customer Service
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Zappos is about the very best customer service and that starts with hiring the very best people. Watch this interview as Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh talks about the Zappos Customer Service Culture.
Customer Service eLearning from Myra Golden
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6 multi-media eLearning courses designed and taught by Myra Golden
Experience the courses on our website or upload to your SCORM or AICC compliant LMS
This Customer Service eLearning suite includes 6 courses with Myra Golden leading customer service representatives through field-tested and proven strategies for delivering the very best customer service and the very best customer experience.
Myra Golden’s Customer Service eLearning courses include:
- 6 online video courses for employees to follow on their own
- 12-month access to training
- 5 hours of video training (Users don’t necessarily have to participate in all courses – You’ll choose the topics your employees need)
- Training led by customer service expert, Myra Golden
- Interactive exercises and thought-provoking questions to ensure the learning is adopted and applied
- Quizzes at the end of each module to test learning. (Your employees must score at least 80% in each module in order to “pass”)
- YouTube video skits with exercises to keep your people engaged, get them laughing and help make the learning “stick”
- Printable key points
- Immediate password access on our website
- Ready for uploading to your SCORM/AICC compliant LMS or your intranet website
Get the full story on Myra Golden’s eLearning suite, watch a demo, or register now
Tags: Customer Service eLearning, Customer Service Training, Online Customer Service Training
Telephone Call Flow/Strategy for Contact Centers
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The telephone is one of the best branding devices out there. Over the telephone you get 3-5 minutes of your customer’s undivided attention. If you get the interaction right, you can create a memorable experience, generate positive word-of-mouth advertising, and build customer loyalty, which leads to increased profits. Getting the interaction “right” usually requires a call strategy or call flow of some kind.
This is the 9-point call strategy our consultants use when implementing a customer-focused culture in contact centers. This call strategy focuses on creating a warm experience with customers in a focused, efficient manner. I hope it helps you as you work to create a customer-focused culture.
1. Standard opening
- “Good morning” or “Good afternoon. Customer Care. This is Penny.”
- “Good morning. Customer Care. This is Penny. How may I help you?”
2. Acknowledge concern, when appropriate
- “I can understand how frustrating it is when your rental car breaks down.”
- “I realize how complicated it is to …..”
- “I cannot imagine how upsetting it is to …..”
- “I know how confusing it must be when …..”
3. Acknowledge a compliment, when appropriate
- “Thank you. We love hearing from our satisfied customers.”
- “Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us.”
4. Maintain control (and put customers at ease) with assertive statements
- “We appreciate customers who let us know when things aren’t right.”
- “I can help you with that.”
- “The first thing we need to do is…”
- “I can certainly get that information for you.”
- “I would be happy to report that for you.”
- “I can get that information for you.”
- “I’m glad you called today.”
5. Bridge to questioning
- “In order to determine what happened, I will need to ask you some questions.”
- “Do you mind if I ask you some questions so we can figure out what has happened?”
- “So I can assist you, may I ask you a few questions?”
6. How to ask questions
Use please and thank you
Be friendly and conversational…don’t have an “interrogation” style
- “May I have your zip code please?”
- “Thanks. I have one final question.”
7. Recap and provide next steps
- “I will mail you a $50 gift card. You should receive this gift card in 7-10 business days.”
- “I will research this and call you back at 918-398-9368.”
8. Ask “Is there anything else?”
- “Ms. Williams, may I help you with anything else?”
- “May I help you with anything else, Mr. Smith?”
- “Do you have any additional questions, Mrs. Jones?”
- “Is there anything else I can help you with today, Mr. Davis?”
- “Ms. Brown, how else may I help you today?”
9. Standard closing (include some form of thanks and company name)
- “Thank you for calling Myra Golden Media. Good-bye.”
For customer service help with your telephone skills or customer service culture, please visit our Customer Service eLearning page or explore classroom customer service training on our customer service training page.
Like this:
The Issue is Not the “Issue.” It’s how the issue is “handled.”
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Here’s a “throw-back” customer service training video from our early years. But the point remains relevant today. Most times, the problem the customer experienced isn’t the issue at all.
The company’s response to the presented problem usually ends up being the real “problem.” Service recovery has a significant impact on customer satisfaction because customers are more emotionally involved in and observant of recovery service than in routine or first-time service and are often more dissatisfied by an organization’s failure to recover than by the service failure itself. Enjoy this 90-second customer service training video.
This training video is from our customer service eLearning suite…
Complete Customer Service Training Suite
Our flagship program is comprised of 6 online customer service training modules with video, interactivity, downloadable handouts, and quizzes. You have the option of enjoying our interactive online training right here on our site or on your Learning Management System (LMS).
This course includes: Delivering WOW Through Service, Telephone Techniques, Call Control Skills, How to Handle Difficult Customers, and Email Customer Service.
I work with companies that are serious about delighting and keeping customers. My blog includes thoughts, articles, videos, and even rants about customer service. Thanks for stopping by. :)
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