April 2008 Newsletter
Some spring for your stride. This is what we have in store for you this month…
Training for Superb Service
An Interview with Lindi Hodgson of C.E. Electric, a major electrical provider for the North East.
What motivated you to arrange a you:unlimited training on customer service?
It was clear that the service delivery team I was managing did not have the appropriate level of customer service skills to manage, to a consistent and professional standard, our high volume of transactional queries.
I did not perceive that a standard off-the-shelf training would suffice. I wanted the training course to be interactive, motivating and most of all engaging in order to gain the ‘buy in’ to the change what was needed.
you:unlimited were a recommendation from an internal colleague. The initial interactions were very positive and it was refreshing to deal with a company who were actually open to deliver exactly what the customer wanted rather than trying to tweak an existing format to deliver a set output.
What aspects of the training did you find particularly useful?
One of the key messages relayed in the training was that the team needed to regain control in their interaction with internal clients. Training was provided in appropriate handling of difficult situations and people.This has been invaluable.
How have your staff/colleagues implemented what they learnt?
As a result of the training we established a team ‘manifesto’ that set out a number of key activities that we could implement and control. This has been a real success. The team also came away with a comprehensive understanding of what it means to offer effective customer service. The team is now stronger and the level of consistent and professional service we are offering has improved significantly, demonstrable by our performance against internal benchmarks and metrics.
Any advice for others who are facing difficulties with their customer service?
I would definitely recommend approaching the professionals rather than trying to establish a solution yourself. I would advise taking a day or two off site to really engage in the training process. The initial cost is offset by the speed of change and the ability to get to the nub of the issue rather than dealing with the peripherals.
What was the most important piece of information that you took away from the training?
The understanding that, as a function, we were not in control of customer expectations and therefore always seemed to fall short of what was required. The function now have published Service Level Agreements and internal support. They buy into the processes, mechanisms and wider business awareness and education as to what we can and can’t do, and why.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
I fully support the content of the training course and appreciate the changes that the lessons learned have enabled us to achieve. I think that the success of the day was also very much down to Andy Davies and his style as the facilitator.
For more information on our customer service training please click here or contact linzi@you-untld.co.uk.
Learn how to Herd Cats.
Intrigued?
Herding cats is about managing challenging people at work.
This is the topic of our training taster workshop designed to give you a 90 min taster of what we do every day. You'll meet some of the you:unlimited team, mingle with other training and HR practitioners and discuss any specific training needs you have.
Apart from giving you a flavour of our training style, this workshop will also equip you with tried and tested techniques to help you improve communication with important and challenging individuals.
The next “Herding Cats” taster workshop will be running in central London from 9am – 11am on Wednesday 21st May 2008.
Spaces are limited, so if you are a Manager or HR & Training professional with responsibility for booking training contact linzi@you-unltd.co.uk or call on 020 7407 0044 and we’ll book spaces for you and / or a colleague.
Meow
Securing Clients
Top tips for securing your clients
1. Love your product. Nobody is going to buy something from you that you don’t really care about.
2. Ask questions. Believe it or not, the route to a client’s trust is not in what you know, but what you want to know. If you can show them you are interested in solving their problems you have a healthy starting position.
3. Angle it. When corresponding by email, make sure you present your points from a position that they will understand. This way you will ensure that they receive the correct message.
4. Follow it up. Once you have started a process with a client, one of the worst mistakes you can make is not to follow up. If you are adding real value people do not mind you getting back in touch.
5. Go further. The world is full of mediocrity. Taking the level of service the client is expecting just a little bit further will help you to stand out from your competition.
6. Remember them. It sounds obvious, but clients will remember someone that remembers them…
7. Avalibility is critical. Think of how you feel in call centre queues and you will get the picture.
8. Smile. Whether face to face or over the phone, a friendly demeanor can truly make the difference between a positive conversation and a lost opportunity.
9. Be professional. Relationship building with clients can sometimes lead people to be informal too quickly; there is nothing more off-putting than someone being overly-friendly with you before you are comfortable with them.
10. Improve. Never stop learning. Get feedback from your clients whenever you can and use it to improve your service.
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Training is new to our organization. You:unlimited really helped us by making their workshops hands on and acc...