Customer Service Training

Turn Interactions to Opportunities

Customer Service Drives Your Business

Cus·tom·er serv·ice. Noun. Defined as the assistance provided by a company to people who buy or use its products or services. This means that any individual that interacts with a client should have this skill. It also means that good customer service is something your entire organization should strive to achieve.
 
We’ve all heard the old adage that it’s 5 times more work to land a new client vs retaining a current one. Not to mention, satisfied clients, those with higher Net Promoter Scores (NPS), are much more likely to refer new clients. 
 
According to a study completed by Gartner in 2016, 89% of companies expect to compete on the basis of their customer experience. That number was a mere 36% in 2012.
 
This is why SNI created and continuously updates our customer service program, which focuses on shifting organizations’ mindsets, providing them with tools and habits that improve performance, and ultimately arms clients with the ability to turn each interaction into an opportunity.
 
We provide your organization with proven customer service training to help you build strong, long-lasting, and profitable relationships with your customers and clients. Through this engaging and customized training your team will gain:
  • Deeper insights into what each customer really wants
  • The ability to provide customers with a sense that they are truly being heard
  • A model to direct conversations toward mutually beneficial outcomes
  • Better control of their own emotions and ability to manage difficult or agitated customers

Common Customer Service Issues

Each industry and even company has its own set of customer service challenges; however, there are a few that we commonly see across many of our clients:

Bad Communication – It takes a long time to get in touch with a rep, the rep is not able to assist, the customer is treated like a hot potato and passed on multiple times, etc. While many of these issues are systemic, accurate and timely information can overcome many of these challenges. This includes agents being willing to say they “don’t know” the answer to something and quickly finding out.

Inability to Manage Emotions – The agent is not capable of de-escalating an upset customer, often because the agent is neither able to address the issue not make the customer feel heard. Sometimes merely acknowleding the customer’s frustration and a little actice listening is enough to overcome this challenge.

Lacking Solutions – Customers look to agents to be subject matter experts. They reach out expecting solutions to their problems, either immediately, or through quickly developed plans of action. This most often does not occur because agents are not empowered, are not aware and confident in the solutions they are able to offer, or they lose sight of the importance during a challenging interaction with a client.

What Our Training Covers

SNI’s Customer Service Training focuses on improving participant’s ability to navigate conversations, probe to find the other side’s wants, propose solutions that satisfy the client, and deal with particularly difficult customers.

Participants are introduced to a directive probing model that enables them to facilitate the customer to “self-discover” their needs, rather than telling the other side what they should want.

By learning about the customer’s situation, presenting the services or benefits that best serve their needs, and following fundamental proposal guidelines, participants will learn to identify and offer successful solutions that also satisfy the other side.

Should a challenging encounter occur, this program equips participants with habits and tools that enable them to neutralize their emotions, identify personality types, and control the situation through a variety of interactive role-play scenarios, exercises, and group discussions.

Ultimately, participants a walk away with a process to turn Interactions into Opportunities.

Custom Approach + Measurable Results

Your organization is unique so we feel very strongly that your training should be tailored to your specific challenges and objectives. That’s why, when you work with us we build a program that matches your team’s needs. We assess your employees’ abilities and develop a realistic plan to make as much impact as possible.

No matter how enticing it is, for customer service training to be truly effective, it takes more than one session. We call this a car wash – and we all know how long this lasts for your car, the same applies for your training. Customer service reps need time to digest the learning, try it, and receive feedback on performance

Who Will Benefit

While the phrase “customer service” immediately brings forward-facing positions like sales and call center workers to mind, our training isn’t limited to these workers. Anyone who regularly interacts with customers is a prime candidate, from customer service representatives to supervisors, team leaders, engineers, nurses, lawyers, and managers.

Anyone in these positions has a good chance of working directly with a customer, whether it be internal or external, and it’s important that they are prepared and effective. A single interaction could mean the difference between an unhappy client that never returns and one who is thrilled with your organization and loyal for life.

Who We Serve

SNI works with clients across a wide range of industries. We have provided training to companies within banking, media, sports, retail, telecommunications, pharmaceutical, medical device, professional services, and many more.  This range of experience allows us to bring both specific industry knowledge and best practices from outside of your industry.

To find out more about SNI’s training programs and learn what we can do for your company, fill out the form below:

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