Why training employees for customer service matters

Your company may prioritize sales and marketing over customer service, focusing on landing new customers rather than keeping existing ones happy. However, happy customers can be more effective at driving sales than a clever advertising campaign—word of mouth is a powerful form of advertisement.

Providing top-notch customer service can bring benefits, such as:

• Increased customer loyalty and lifelong relationships
• Reduced need for costly customer acquisition
• Improved recognition of your brand’s image and values
• Enhanced ability to stand out from competitors
• Increased revenue

Hiring effective customer service talent

When hiring customer service representative (CSR), you may be able to pinpoint suitable candidates by prioritizing specific skills and traits, such as emotional intelligence, communication skills and resourcefulness.

Emotional intelligence

Individuals who exhibit emotional intelligence understand their emotions. As a result, they can often effectively manage them and empathize with others. An emotionally intelligent CSR can judge customers’ feelings and use that understanding to help resolve issues.

Good communication skills

Good communication skills take on several basic forms:

• Verbal communication
• Written communication
• Visible demeanor and facial expressions
• Active listening

Combining these communication skills is important for delivering quality customer service and efficiently resolving problems.

Resourcefulness

Being resourceful means having the mental acuity to use available resources to resolve problems. A resourceful CSR may not know the answer to a customer’s question, but they can find out.

How to train employees on customer service

Customer service training isn’t one-size-fits-all. The methods used should depend on the nature of your business and the trainee’s experience level. In some cases, you may only train new hires.

However, if you operate in an industry that experiences periodic changes in regulations or technology, your employees may require quarterly, yearly or special case training.

New hires

New employee training typically involves multiple components, including:

• Understanding the company’s history, mission and values
• Learning about relevant products and services
• Developing proficiency with key software and platforms
• Reviewing company policies and workplace culture

If you’re hiring multiple candidates at once, group training may be more efficient and can also create a comfortable learning atmosphere that fosters team involvement.

Quarterly or yearly customer service training

Conducting refresher training in customer service skills on a yearly or quarterly basis can test whether your methods are working. For example, if a new customer service practice resulted in lower customer service reviews, you might identify the problem by seeing it in practice.

Having a regular training program for customer service agents can also help you:

• Keep your team motivated
• Identify skill gaps
• Reinforce best practices
• Refresh your team’s knowledge
• Provide a safe forum for questions and discussions
• Implement new policies
• Introduce new products or services
• Explain new industry standards or regulations

Special case training

Customer service training may be required after a specific incident occurs or before a novel event. These training sessions can clarify confusion and provide additional guidance for dealing with unexpected situations. They can also prepare your team for answering product questions.

Training on the most important customer service skills

Succeeding in customer service isn’t only about natural aptitude and personality. Although traits such as friendliness and an ability to problem solve can provide a solid foundation to build on, customer service is a skill you can train. Consider incorporating these important customer service skills into your training program.

Interpersonal skills

A comprehensive customer service training program should include key interpersonal skills, including:

• Verbal communication: Effective verbal communication requires a strong vocabulary, an understanding of intonation and an ability to speak clearly. You might train employees to use direct, concise language during customer interactions.
• Nonverbal communication: This may include facial expressions, gestures and eye contact. Effective training should focus on respecting personal space and conveying receptiveness to a customer’s needs through nonverbal means, such as eye contact.
• Active listening: CSRs can better understand and respond to customer issues if they learn to listen actively. You could teach listening techniques, such as asking open-ended or clarifying questions and acknowledging a customer’s emotions.

Phone skills and etiquette

Phone-based customer service agents may face different challenges than those who work with customers face to face. A training program for telephone representatives should provide an overview of phone etiquette, which may include:

• Introducing oneself
• Asking before putting a customer on hold
• Speaking clearly and politely
• Accurately conveying the brand message
• Politely disengaging from long calls

Product or application skills

New hires need to learn about company products or applications. However, if you’ve recently introduced a new product or application, you may also provide training to established employees.

These targeted sessions may benefit from the following techniques:

• Mentoring: Pairing trainees with more experienced mentors gives new hires a direct contact who can answer questions, provide guidance and serve as an overall resource.
• Demonstration sessions: Live demonstration sessions can effectively familiarize employees with existing products or updates. These group-focused training opportunities can create an atmosphere of learning and reduce the need for costly individual training. Make these sessions as interactive as possible and finish with a live Q&A so everyone can benefit from the questions asked.
• Shadowing: Shadowing, which involves having a trainee observe a more experienced employee at work, can help new hires learn about products and services while seeing a current representative in action. It can help trainees better understand the role’s duties.

Crisis management skills

A serious problem can be managed if your customer service representatives demonstrate effective crisis management skills. Customer service studies have shown more than 80% of customers develop more loyalty for businesses that effectively resolve their complaints.

Crisis management skills can help CSRs adapt and deal with unexpected situations. Proactively training your staff to handle various issues can streamline their responses and improve your odds of retaining customers.

Conflict resolution

Customers reach out to CSRs when they experience a problem. Consequently, conflict resolution skills are essential to providing good customer service.

Training should teach employees the key factors involved in effective conflict resolution, such as:

• Listening carefully to complaints
• Accurately identifying the source of the problem
• Showing empathy for the issue they’re facing
• Remaining calm
• Expressing a desire to help
• Asking clarifying questions
• Reaching out to supervisors or experts for help

Delivering quality customer service

Your customer service team and the quality of their assistance directly impact your brand’s reputation. Delivering quality customer service is often considered secondary to sales and marketing, but it can be the key to retaining customers and building brand loyalty.

Implementing a comprehensive training program that covers your company, products or services and the skills needed for a CSR to successfully perform their role can keep your customers coming back.

FAQs about customer service training

What’s the best method for training customer service employees?

Effective training methods for CSRs can differ depending on your industry and the expertise required for the job. One highly effective method is role-playing, which lets trainees practice likely scenarios and provides a platform to practice their responses. It also facilitates live feedback so they can learn and improve in real-time.

Can I conduct customer service training myself?

If you oversee all aspects of your business, you may be the ideal person to train your customer service representatives. You can also choose an experienced staff member or hire a professional trainer.

Should I offer incentives during customer service training?

Incentives can motivate employees to improve their skills, and they can make learning fun. Employee rewards range from monetary compensation, such as salary bonuses or gift cards for local restaurants and retailers, to small prizes, such as blue ribbons or badges.

You can also offer point-based incentives, which let trainees earn points for completing training activities. Once they accumulate points, they can trade them in for time off or tickets to industry events.

What is gamification, and is it an effective way to train CSRs?

Gamification is a training technique that uses elements commonly seen in games, such as levels, timers and leaderboards. By making learning fun and interactive, gamification can help trainees improve their skills, retain information and effectively apply what they’ve learned. Because it’s interactive, gamified training can also provide opportunities for immediate feedback.