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6 ways to deliver customer service training

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January 25, 2019

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customer service training

Are you one of the many organizations ready to make customer service training a top priority? This article is for you. Here are 5 ways to deliver customer service training effectively, regardless of the nature and size of your organization.

1. On-site classes

The on-site training method is normally held in a typical classroom setting. Learning in a group setting enhances individual and team knowledge and provides a superb team building opportunity.

When led by an accomplished trainer, the on-site approach is great at strengthening the relationship between participants, while keeping the individual employee’s needs in balance.

Also, when the on-site delivery method is used, managers can observe the customer service reps’ behaviour, tone, body language, etc. This is handy in customer service training and evaluating how meaningful the information is to them.

Ideal in: Nurturing a team mindset. On-site delivery brings customer support staff together in one room, encouraging them to develop common vocabulary, goal, and share best practices.

2. eLearning

eLearning is a flexible and convenient online delivery method allows each of your customer care staff to participate at their preferred pace without needing to be physically present at a location at a particular time. Usually, the e-learning delivery method entails significant use of video presentations.

Also, many times, an eLearning approach involves knowledge checks, such as assessments and short quizzes, along the way which help customer care staff apply what they have studied, making retention of the information more likely.

Ideal for: Self-motivated client service employees who have access to tech-gadgets and highly-individualized goals.

3. M learning

The Mobile learning approach delivers training to mobile customer care staff on their handheld gadgets like smartphones and tablets.

Given our brief attention span when using handheld devices, the ideal m-learning content is portioned into a series of brief 5-10 minute lessons. Customer service staff must have compatible mobile gadgets to participate, which may be more cost-effective than ensuring everyone has a laptop to use. Employees love the convenience and flexibility of mobile learning and tend to be motivated to be part of it.

4. Gamification

A gamification approach uses game mechanics to train your customer support staff and help them learn new skills, innovate, solve problems and change behaviours. Enabled by m-learning and eLearning, gamification may have elements such as accruing points, beating the clock, and/or unlocking new information.

5. Role-playing

There’s an old saying, “Telling isn’t training.” You can’t just tell employees what to do and then say, “Implement this when you are back on the office.” That’s not training. Occasionally, employ the role-playing technique in training to allow your employees practice what they have learned.  Every customer service rep should be allowed to get inventive when they participate in these sessions.

6. Interactive team project in a CRM system

Show the team how the usage of customer relations management software can modify the work into the more effective and time saving activity. If you already have a CRM software, then the easiest way is to use it. If you don´t use any, try HubSpot or Salesflare in web browser, Insightly CRM, or eWay-CRM for Outlook in Microsoft 365..

The best option for a training is to design a test project. You can ask each team member to send a service request to the other members of the team. They can try to manage the contact and the request thru the prescribed processes in the CRM software. Especially the following debriefing is beneficial.

Customer service training conclusion

Remember, when choosing the best delivery method; don’t just concentrate on one factor, to make your choice. It’s not the on-site experience or technology which promotes learning, but rather how the on-site session, technology etc. are used to advance the learning process.

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