This post was originally published on lessonly.com.
The holidays are finally over. Many of us have had our fill of pies, cakes, and egg nog. We’ve had our chance to make our new year resolutions and take down decorations. Now it is time to get back to work and begin a new decade.
As we settle back into our work routines, it’s the perfect time to make those updates and adjustments we’ve been avoiding or putting off. Training professionals and managers are reviewing policies and seeking new opportunities to update skills. Employers all across the nation are preparing to conduct or evaluate annual employee reviews.
If your customers are important to the success of your organization, then now is also the time to revisit your customer service procedures and processes. The importance of a customer service policy cannot be overstated. You need happy clients to get repeat business and references. The best customer service policies ensure that employees are knowledgeable and focused on satisfaction. Here are a few reasons to revisit your customer service training plan for the new year.
New products or services could require customer service updates
Some of the most frustrating consumer experiences stem from customer service representatives who are unfamiliar with their own company. There is nothing quite like calling a helpline for assistance and realizing you know more than the associate. Such experiences reflect badly on the organization and cause the public to lose confidence in their expertise.
That’s why customer service training topics must be updated to include any changes to products or services. Any customer service training exercises should also be tailored to the actual questions or problems service employees typically encounter. That way employees are prepared to best serve customers.
Prepare staff for current challenges, not past issues
Life is full of change and customer service is never static. That’s why your customer service policy manual should be updated at least yearly to reflect current service issues. That process can involve creating a training manual template, and circulating that document to the staff at the beginning of each year. Front line staff can also have the opportunity to provide feedback and suggest new customer service training manual examples based on their experience.
This process gives representatives the current information they need to properly provide ongoing service. After all, who knows what should be included in customer service training better than the people who provide customer service every single day?
Deliver ongoing development and growth
It is not enough to just have a customer service policy statement or one-time training. Like all skills, organizations must treat client service as an ongoing training need. Any customer service training plan sample should include provisions that encourage employees to identify areas for personal improvement and growth.
No one employee is perfect. Give employees the tools for analysis and self-improvement to ensure that great customer service is always on their minds.
Improve the measures of customer service success
These days it seems like everyone wants numbers to measure. While it is difficult to measure the quality of customer happiness directly, there are some appropriate standards. For example, we can assume that consumers don’t like calling 1-800 numbers for fun. That means frequent calls by the same customer likely indicates frustration.
Customers also don’t enjoy spending hours a day interacting with service employees. We can assume that longer service calls mean increasingly displeased clients.
Use the new year as your opportunity to update your customer service training manual doc with the statistics from the previous year. That gives staff concrete measures of success in the current year.
Updates can renew staff commitment to service
Humans are generally adapted to enjoying a lack of change. We can easily get accustomed to our circumstances and take things for granted. Going years with the same customer service training program outline can contribute to representatives taking customer service for granted. If the level of service slips as a result, your customers may start looking for new providers.
Give your staff the opportunity to make a customer service training proposal, and update the types of customer service training you provide. Learning new service tactics and product information is one way to keep employees connected to the organization’s success.
Get started with this free customer service training manual
Is it time to revisit your customer service training manual? Our free customer service training manual is a great tool to help your team deliver consistent customer service training, delight customers, and grow.
