Call centre Customer Service Skills training delivered across two separate sites
Benefits achieved
1. A consistently high standard of customer service across two separate contact centres
2. Key differences in approach to call handling resolved to ensure a consistent customer experience, for example:
o the start of the call (greeting, use of empathy and rapport building);
o questioning styles and techniques
o positive ending of all calls (checking for customer satisfaction, offering further assistance, summarising, closing rapport statements)
3. Greater control of customer conversations using techniques such as verbal signposting, paraphrasing, certainly phrases, empathy and positive language
4. Rapport building with customers to build confidence and trust
5. Reduction in the use of negative words and phrases such as ‘unfortunately’, ‘I’m afraid’, ‘the only thing I can do is’ has resulted in much less criticism of the service being offered. Appointment dates and recommendations for courses of action are much more readily accepted by customers and rarely challenged
6. Reduction in the escalation of calls to line management due to greater confidence in staff to handle customer enquiries
7. Introduction of a ‘Customer Experience Recipe’, a call handling structure and standard for all call handlers. The Recipe enabled Team Managers to assess customer experience standards and provide coaching for their teams. The Recipe was fundamental in building consistency across both sites.
‘Neville’s course has had a really positive impact on staff and there is now:
o consistency of service across all calls
o less escalation to senior managers as the centre staff feel empowered to deal with calls
o and call durations have decreased slightly as they are dealt with more efficiently.’
Head of Customer Experience
How we did it
We provided a bespoke solution which met the Housing Association requirements, the development needs of their staff and the service needs of their customers. We followed four key steps:
1.Research
First, we got to know the current service offering and standards of service being provided and became familiar with the Housing Association through it’s:
- Vision & Values
- Customer Service Charter, Policy Statement
- Job role profiles and person specifications
- Review of website and documentation accessible by the customer base
- Review of recruitment process and standards sought
- Analysis of current service standards being offered by:
live observation in the contact centre of staff interacting with customers (internal and external customers) - analysis of customer feedback via complaints and compliments
- observation and familiarisation of the use of software and technology used by both contact centres in the customer experience process
- meetings with senior management team and key stakeholders to gain their input and build relationships for future commitment to the development programme
- Analysis of current service standards being offered by:
2.Designed a development solution based on the findings in the Research phase
A Customer Service development programme was designed which supported the skills gap identified during the research phase. This included:
· a 2-day Customer Service development programme for all telephone-based staff
· 1-day Customer Service refresher training course for more experienced staff
· all learning styles were catered for in the training, with the inclusion of real work-based case scenarios with real workable tools and techniques
· introduction of a ‘customer experience recipe’, a call handling structure and standard for team managers to assess and coach their team’s performance against
· obtained stakeholder signoff
3.Delivered the bespoke Customer Service development programme
· Delivered training to over 70 call handlers in interactive workshops, utilising practical role play sessions with real customer scenarios
· Team managers coached call handlers using the ‘Customer Experience Recipe’, a structured assessment and coaching template introduced across both contact centres to ensure consistency of service and the coaching of call handlers
4. Review and evaluate the development programme
An important step was to review and evaluate the development programme to ensure we’d hit the objectives. This was carried out at certain milestones in the project to check progress and at the end by:
· evaluating the training and obtain feedback from delegates and key stakeholders
· reviewing achievements with key stakeholders
How this was achieved
CFA Training was recommended for this work by Walsall Housing Group (whg) who had used CFA Training for customer service skills training for over ten years. They recommended us due to the very positive experience with Neville and his team.
Neville fitted in quickly with the particular Housing Association ethos and developed a training course to develop service excellence and consistency. The course was designed to:
1. enhance the customer experience
2. improve customer satisfaction
3. empower the staff when dealing with challenging customers.
Training was also arranged to take place on a Saturday to fit around the busy times for the contact centre.
The training was delivered in modules with a two-week gap between each, which allowed the delegates to digest the training and start to implement it before they moved onto the next training module.
The organisation
This Midlands based Housing Association Group provides and builds social housing and affordable new homes. It was formed from a merger between two separate Housing Associations in 2020 and this led to the organisation having two contact centres, one based in Worcestershire and the other in Birmingham.
Having merged two organisations together meant two sets of values and standards of service across the sites. CFA Training was tasked with developing a consistently high standard of customer service across both the contact centres.
“I feel that part of the reason why this training is so successful and different from any other we have had is that Neville spends time with the team and managers, so he really understands our focus and commitment to our customers. He also then gains an understanding of our weaknesses so he can devise the training to address specific areas and needs.
We consistently received positive feedback from delegates who attended Neville’s courses, with regards to training style and achieving course learning objectives. Neville’s courses have undoubtedly contributed to an enhanced level of customer service within our customer contact centres.
He is an extremely approachable and positive individual, who is flexible in his attitude to working with others, ensuring that his course content is designed to meet the specific needs of the client organisation.”
Head of Customer Experience