Customer service is an important part of any company. It bridges the gap between your business and customers. Hiring the right person to service customers is an essential activity. Because your employees are the one dealing with customers most of the time, they need to have the skill and experience needed to serve according to customer requirements. Many companies look for personality of the person they are trying to hire. They want the prospect representative to be customer friendly, upbeat and helpful even in the face of dissatisfied customers. This is why most of the companies go for attitude check more than technical skill test. They tend to hire people who can handle customers better in person than crunch numbers for them.
Personality isn’t the only thing needed to test whether an employee will be able to provide excellent service to your business customers. They should be capable of providing the kind of service that are noted on the business policy documents. Therefore, you need to see whether they can provide the level of service that is expected, by providing adequate compensation or other forms of motivation. Asking some of the questions and listening to their answers will give you a good idea of whether or not they are the right candidate for the job.
Training hired candidates goes a long way in preparing them for the predictable and unforeseen tasks ahead. Training means making them able to face adversities in times of complaints, conflicts and pressure. In general, some of the areas in which these employees need training are far more important than others. For instance, the hired customer service representative should be able to manage stress effectively. In fact, it is not easy to be an interface between a disgruntled customers and the company’s account department. Not handling the customer issue will lead to the business losing customers. On the other hand, being careless can result in the company losing money. To strike a balance, there needs to be proper education about how to handle a situation or crisis. It is important that the training is focused on managing and relieving stress and helping employees their keep cool under pressure. Additionally, the training should teach more than putting the representatives in the customer’s shoes. There is a need to look at the problem objectively and work out a solution that solves the problem. Conflict resolution is another area that customer service employees should be aware of through any effective customer service system training.
Many times, representatives spend a lot of time resolving customer issues but making sure that the company policies are followed. Teaching on identifying the issue, finding compromises and resolving it quickly can help. Quite often, customers want to feel that their voice is heard rather than their issue resolved. Being their sounding board is not a widely held skill, but it is essential to move forward. In essence, training the representatives to listen tentatively is another important feature of customer service training course.
