Customer service is
the cornerstone of a successful business, and training is the cornerstone
of customer service. If you train your employees in the skills that
will allow them to do their jobs with skill and efficiency, they
will provide exceptional customer service. And, if you provide your
customers with exceptional customer service, they-and their money-will
return to you week after week, year after year.
Also critical to your
success is the focus of the training you provide. Many training
programs concentrate on technical skills, completely ignoring the
soft skills-which include listening to and understanding what the
customer is saying-that are vital elements of customer service.
They fail to realize that how employees treat customers is every
bit as important as their mastery of the technological systems your
company has in place. Put another way, it is not enough for an employee
to know how to use a computer to solve a customer’s problem,
the employee also must be trained to ask the appropriate questions
to determine the cause of that problem and to empathize with the
customer in the process.
Before developing or
purchasing a training program, you must identify both the technical
skills and the soft skills your employees need in order to take
care of your customers. For example, call centers typically spend
80 percent of new hire training time on products, 10 percent on
call center systems, and the rest on hard and soft skills, according
to Elizabeth Ahearn, president of The Radclyffe Group, a training
consultant group based in Fairfield, New Jersey. A preferred ratio,
she says, is 50 percent on hard and soft skills, 35 percent on products,
and 15 percent on systems. Companies that follow that formula, she
says, not only would generate greater customer satisfaction, they
would reduce employee turnover. But more about that later.
Ahearn goes on to say
that every customer satisfaction survey she has conducted places
issue resolution at the top of the list, while product knowledge
and technology training rank toward the bottom. Not surprisingly
when companies boost their soft skills training, their customer
satisfaction ratings-and their sales-increase.
Employees who haven’t
been trained in the art of customer service will find themselves
frustrated at their lack of skill in, for example, handling customer
complaints. That frustration will quickly turn to anger, at both
the customer and the company, and will result in employees who do
more to turn customers away from your doors than to invite them
in.
A major obstacle for
many companies is the cost of training. Many companies simply don’t
train their employees because they think those employees will then
take those skills and head to the competition. While that might
occasionally occur, the employees who stay with you will perform
better than if they hadn’t been trained.
It’s important
to realize that most employees don’t go in search of new jobs
in order to make more money. They do so because they haven’t
been trained to handle the jobs they’re currently doing. Training
has another benefit: When you take the time and make the investment
to train your employees, they feel valued. And, when they feel valued,
they are loyal.
Of course, cost is still
a consideration, but excellent training programs are available at
affordable prices. For example, the Service Quality Institute (SQI)
offers several customer service training programs, including FEELINGS,
which can be conducted online, or in a classroom setting with an
SQI facilitator or the company’s own facilitator. Technology-based
training can cost 50 percent less than facilitator-led training
(FLT), because it negates the need for training room space and long
periods of time spent away from the office. On the other hand, the
benefits of a FLT program include group interaction, which increases
employee involvement. I recommend a blend of both types of training
to maximize the results.
Whatever route you choose,
training must be continual in order to reinforce the skills and
behaviors employees need to perform well for your customers. Train
each employee within the first two weeks of hiring and provide additional
training at least every six months. And, just as you vary the advertising
you use to lure customers through your doors, you must vary the
training you use to train and keep your employees. Make that training
fun, focus on the fundamentals of customer service, and use a variety
of media to keep employees interested.
Employee training, as
with every company expenditure, involves a return on investment.
While that return is easily identifiable for expenditures such as
new computer systems, it is more difficult to calculate for soft
skills. How do you measure the impact of an employee is who empathetic
with customers and solves their complaints quickly and to their
satisfaction? One way to do so is to determine the lifetime value
of each of your customers. If that value is $1,000 and the cost
to train an employee is $200, you will lose at least $800 by not
training your employees to provide the type of service that will
maintain that customer’s loyalty. It’s not uncommon for
a business to lose 15 to 20 percent of its customers each year.
If you cut those defections in half, you could more than double
your growth rate.
The bottom line is this:
If you want to increase customer loyalty-and reduce employee turnover-provide
training that not only teaches employees the technical aspects of
their jobs but gives them the soft skills they need to provide superior
customer service.
John Tschohl
is an international service strategist and speaker. Described by
Time and Entrepreneur magazines as a customer service guru, he has
written several books on customer service, including e-Service,
Achieving Excellence Through Customer Service,
The Customer
is Boss, and Ca$hing In: Make More Money, Get a Promotion, Love
Your Job. John also has developed more than 26 customer service
training programs that have been distributed and presented throughout
the world. His bimonthly strategic newsletter is available online
at no charge. You can reach John at www.customer-service.com.
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