In a changing environment, how do you adjust the training themes for your Contact Center? Which subjects to choose to equip your account managers with all the assets required by a strong Customer Relationship? In our Contact Center consultant activity, we structure our Customer Services training systems generally going through 4 phases: The initial Customer Service training addresses the essentials: the business context, products and services, offers, competition, the market, customer relationship strategy. Everything the advisor needs to know to work on your set. Speakers then the know-how (processes, communication skills and sales) and life skills (relational intelligence, posture). In achieving your service ambition, it is this know-how that will make the difference. Then comes the so-called “ nursery” period (learning how to take calls). And finally, continuing education is set up . It is personalized according to the profile and performance of each client advisor.
While the structure of Customer Service training is known and stable, the Customer Relationship environment is changing. Times are changing rapidly. Customer expectations are changing. The channels of dialogue are changing. It is therefore essential to integrate these issues and this transformation into customer relationship training.
The job of the client advisor is constantly evolving: taking into account transformations and putting interpersonal skills at the heart of the training system
The client has become more and more autonomous
Companies have developed self-care, dynamic FAQs or IVS, chatbots… Customers look for information on support forums. More and more, they manage the simplest requests on their own. These changes have the consequence of reducing the flow of calls with low added value in the contact center and enhancing the role of customer advisor . Thus, the account manager deals with more interesting and complex tasks.
The impact on training: less know-how, more interpersonal skills
The consequences of this development on the content of contact center training are significant. Learning tools is often (and it is necessary) taken care of by solution integrators. What matters today is all the training related to interpersonal skills . Companies have understood the meaning of service and customer expectations. Little by little, the objectives purely linked to production are replaced by indicators linked to quality , customer satisfaction , a guarantee of loyalty and also acquisition, and therefore of business gains. Training modules for call centers today cover topics such as:
Develop empathy: we now work with client advisers on the client’s emotions (worry, confidence, disappointment, enthusiasm, etc.), to teach them to adopt the right attitude, human and understanding.
- Practice active listening.
- Discover the client’s needs.
- Move from a sales administration posture to a commercial posture.
- Develop your interpersonal skills.
- Develop sales techniques adapted to behavioral profiles.
- Manage conflicts.
- Control your stress.
- Revisit sales techniques
A few years ago, training organizations were called upon for specific sales modules. Today, the posture has also changed. The sale is replaced by the business advice, the rebound, the proposal. The goal is the same, but it’s the posture that makes the difference. It is not necessarily a question of selling at all costs, but of selling a service to the customer , adapted to him, his needs, his use and his budget. The brands are gradually setting up relationship charters , or call charters . All of this know-how and interpersonal skills are understood in a practical and concrete way. Defined upstream of training with the operational teams, the charter structures the different stages of the speech , from welcoming to taking leave. This allows:
- To give meaning to the theoretical part and to train concretely with communication techniques,
- To consolidate the brand’s customer strategy. The choice of a call charter is not neutral. It is the translation of the objectives of the company, business and customer positioning.
- Deepening digital knowledge and mastery of writing: 2 major challenges
Train client advisers in digital culture
Among the major transformations of customer journeys: increasing access to digital tools and the acceleration of exchanges between a brand and its customer. With its corollary, responsiveness . The new channels such as chat, social networks, etc. are not always mastered by customer advisers. It is therefore essential:
To train them in the use, operating methods, habits and customs of each of the customer dialogue media. Even if the advisers do not deal with these channels! Customer journeys use these channels of dialogue, it is necessary that all customer services have a “culture” on the subject. Use personas and customer journeys to give meaning, place all media on a map of which your advisers will have an overview.
To give the keys to the editorial charter on these media (vocabulary, style, language): be as precise as for the call charter. It’s not just about mastering the tools. Working on digital channels requires specific training.
Strengthen writing skills
The written word must be the subject of training. Knowing how to write an email, a letter, cannot be improvised any more than knowing how to answer the phone. There too, training specific to each media is adapted to the ever-increasing number of flows: traditional and digital channels. For an overview of existing training in this market, read the Relation client mag article . In conclusion , the effectiveness of your customer relationship training in the contact center is based on:
- Taking into account, in the themes addressed, changes and major issues in customer relations.
- Progressive learning : an initial training module and continuous training by skill block.
- Adaptation of training to the targeted needs of counselors.
- The involvement and integration of the managerial line in these courses.
- The follow-up of learning and the support put in place.
In addition to our article, we recommend the testimony of Christophe Charré, ENGIE Customer Relations Director. He reviews the establishment of the School of Customer Relations and Consulting by Engie.
Your Customer Service teams with a tailor-made and directly operational approach.
We work in customer relations centers to optimize performance and improve customer satisfaction . In our consulting missions, the process, tools, HR, organization and management levers are always studied to achieve your ambition. Very often, skills development is one of the major optimization levers . We design or help design business training systems for employees and / or managers. Customer Service training is always approached from a very operational angle , consisting of 70% of practical exercises. It is preceded by an immersion in the fieldand a diagnosis, exchanges between the trainer, the teams and the training managers. Our animation tools are varied, fun and we use concrete cases from the sets. All Customer Relationship training is monitored and evaluated after 3 to 4 weeks of practice. We work with you to structure the tools that will allow you to set up the skills assessment: analysis grid, communication supports.