CUSTOMER SUPPORT SKILLS - 2 Days - Cost : £750

WHO WILL BENEFIT

Systems Administrators and Supervisors, Help Desk and PC Support staff, Customer Service and
Customer Account Support staff.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Upon successful completion of this course delegates are able to:
o Practice the telephone techniques required to acquire information
o Identify and classify user problems and queries
o Assess problem importance and urgency
o Deal with complaints
o Deal with difficult callers
o Keep their users satisfied
o Contribute to Help Team success

COURSE CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
Who are our Customers?
o What do they expect from us and why?
o What is our role?
o How can we help?

TELEPHONE TECHNIQUES - CREATING A POSITIVE IMPRESSION
Communication principles
o Considerations for the telephone
o Lack of body language o Call preparation
o Opening words
o The importance of tone and attitude
o Desire to help

FACT FINDING
Questioning techniques
o When and how to use: Open, Closed, Reflective and Probing questions
o Separating facts from opinions
o Identifying the issues
o Distinguishing between causes and symptoms

LISTENING SKILLS AND PROBLEM CONFIRMATION
Fundamental listening skills
o When to pause and wait
o When and How to interrupt o Maintaining concentration
o Avoiding criticisms
o Allowing for the callers expertise
o Making notes
o When to summarise and confirm understanding

HANDLING COMPLAINTS AND DIFFICULT CALLERS
Identifying reasons for complaint
o Seeing the users point of view
o Understanding the angry caller
o Relieving tension and stress
o Helping the user
o How to deal with crises
o Dealing with difficult customers
o How to build confidence o Verifying queries
o Agreeing resolution

PROBLEM PRIORITISATION - MANAGING USER EXPECTATIONS
Defining problem importance
o Impact upon the caller and other users
o Impact upon the business
o Defining urgency
o Assessing difficulty of problem solution o Ensuring all queries are resolved
o Keeping users informed and satisfied

SELF DEVELOPMENT AND WORKING AS A TEAM
Keeping records
o Sharing information
o Sharing workload and responsibility o Sharing problems and solutions
o Learning to stay calm
o Being flexible
o Sharing success

COURSE FEATURES
Highly interactive this course has been created for the quality conscious organisation. It is geared to
give results. Stimulating practical exercises complement the topics covered.

They include:

* Assessing the boundaries of responsibilities according to a given scenario.
* Listening to pre-recorded telephone calls identifying factual information obtained,
root causes of problems and satisfaction of caller's requirements.
* Various role playing exercises in which incoming calls are handled. Delegates assess their performances
identifying strengths and weaknesses and what they might have handled differently.

They return to their place or work able to make an immediate impact on the Customer Support function.

Schedule