CONNECT CENTRE CALL CENTRE –

CUSTOMER SERVICE INDUCTION TRAINING

What is a Call Centre?

Qualities in Customer Service

O Be Friendly (Smile!!) O Show empathy where needed. O Listen properly and carefully to

customersO AdaptableO Be willing to go the extra mile

Taboos In ServiceO I don’t knowO ProblemO No / CannotO You don’t see my pointO You should, must, need to, have to,

not allowedO I am not in charge / We do not

handle this

Say Me! O Do use magic words like: Please, Sorry,

Thank you….O Appeal by saying: Appreciate, Help,

Understand…. O Show responsibility, take ownershipO Show care & concern: Don’t worry,

please be assured, rest assured…. O To enforce regulations where needed,

hold your ground but don’t sound bossy!

The Traffic Light ModelO Stop before you speak rashly: Take

signals from your body (Heartbeat, Nervousness, etc). Take a slow deep breath.

O Wait, Think & Reflect: Identify feelings, consequences, and positive behaviors.

O Go - Take the right actions.

Hearing VS ListeningO Everyone wants to be heard and understood, but at one

time or another most people don't listen and fail to understand the meaning of another person's words. It’s a fundamental human need to have your feelings acknowledged, whether or not someone agrees with you. Honest to goodness listening creates an intimate connection and makes you feel cared about.

O When you merely hear someone’s words but are not listening to what's being said, it can lead to misunderstandings, missed opportunities and resentments.

O Listening goes far beyond your natural hearing process. It means paying attention to the words that are being spoken with the intention of understanding the other person. 

Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

The first area is to allow the customer to vent their feelings. It is unreasonable and

inappropriate for us to interrupt a customer and ask them to “calm down” when they may have

been trying to solve this problem for days! 

Conflict Management

Pause• Allows the customer to express themselves and vent their emotion.

Anything we say at this point will only serve to fan the flames.

Acknowledge

• This is our chance to show empathy and to demonstrate that we are taking the customer seriously.

Clarify

• We need to understand the detail to make sure that we fully understand the issues. We need to do this with tact and patience. It is also worth explaining to the customer why you need to ask these extra questions. Remember the customer may have explained this before!

Response

• Having diffused the emotion, taken the issue seriously and understood the detail, now we are ready to respond. Our response needs to be positive and appropriate. We also need to ensure that we are not over promising. If you say you’re going to do something ensure you do it-or you will have a really difficult customer to deal with.

O Focus on what we can doCustomers have little or no interest in your company policy and nor is it a good use of anyone’s time to explain what we can’t do for them. Instead explain what we are able to do and try to present this as a choice for the customer. O Tone Use a tone that conveys that you are taking the customer’s issue seriously, but then try adjusting it gradually so when you are presenting the solution options you are upbeat and positive. Good news delivered in the wrong tone will still sound like bad news! O In their shoesYou probably got into customer service, because you like people. Use your communication skills to understand the problem and user your natural empathy to step into the customer’s shoes. Your actions at this part of the customer journey have a massive impact on their regard for the company.

O ApologiseWe are not accepting any liability when we apologise, but we are expressing our sympathy that someone is upset. It needs to be sincere and well timed. Example: I am sorry you have had that experience

O ThankThis is our opportunity to thank the customer for a couple of things. - Giving us a chance to fix their problem- Bringing it to our attention- Their patienceJust like the apology we need to be sincere and appropriate. There is an opportunity to impress the customer if this part comes in a follow up call.  Example: I am just calling to check that everything is now sorted and can I just thank you for your patience in this.

O Be ProfessionalIn all this as with any customer situation our emotions need to be managed. If we respond with emotion, even if it’s juts defensive then the situation will escalate. We must choose our attitude and empathise with the customer.

Asking Questions

O Use closed ended questions to decide on a course.

Probe: Use open ended questions to probe for more information.

Suggest Options

Gain Agreement

Showing EmpathyListen for how your customers feel and why are they feeling this way. Show empathy by: O Repeating or paraphrasing what your customer

said. (Show that you understand what was said. ), or

O Reflect the feelings of your customer (To communicate / connect the feelings that the customer is experiencing), or

O Recap by summarizing what was communicated.

Call OwnershipO In customer relationship management (CRM),

first call resolution is properly addressing the customer's need the first time they call, thereby eliminating the need for the customer to follow up with a second call.

O Improve customer satisfaction – for every 1% improvement in FCR, you get a 1% improvement in customer satisfaction. FCR is highly correlated to customer satisfaction. In fact, FCR is the highest correlated metric to customer satisfaction of all the call center metrics. It is also important to mention that the absence of FCR is the biggest driver of customer dissatisfaction.

In a study by the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) it was reported that 65 percent of all repeat calls are the result of agent errors.  An example is if the employee:O Doesn’t give a confident answerO Doesn’t set the proper expectationsO Doesn’t follow through on a commitmentO Simply gives the wrong answer

Ultimately, what customers want is simply a resolution to their issue and not just the call.

GEMSWhy Go the Extra Mile for Service? Online retailer Zappos, has 500 employees in a call center in Las Vegas who have all received seven weeks of training on how to make customers happy. The company (now a unit of Amazon) has been called  "insane" and "fanatical" for the way it will do anything to please its customers. The stories are legendary, and are a key part of its brand:O In 2011, Zappos sent flowers to a woman who ordered

six different pairs of shoes because her feet were damaged by harsh medical treatments.

O Last March, a customer service rep went to a rival store to get a specific pair of shoes for a woman staying at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Vegas when Zappos ran out of stock.

O The same year, it overnighted a free --free! -- pair of shoes to a best man who had arrived at a wedding shoeless.

O Oh, and Zappos employees don’t read from scripts

No Wrong Doors

Closing PositivelyIn normal situations, end by using such phrases: O It has been a pleasure serving /

speaking with you. O Have a nice day. O Thank you for your callO Thank you for contacting us.

In Difficult Situations, try these phrases: O Thank you for your feedback. O Thank you for telling us about this

issue. O Thank you for your understanding. O Thank you for being patient with us.

Role PlayScenario 1: An angry customer is complaining about the food quality in the restaurant that you work in. The customer is very unhappy with the service as well and demands a full refund. How are you going to resolve the issue?

O Scenario 2: Someone calls in about her bad experience with your hotel reception. Her reservation was not found and the officers at the reception were not helpful in arranging another room for her. Further more, the room that was eventually arranged for her was not cleaned properly. How would you deal with this?