Achieving Excellence in Customer Service

Frequently Asked Questions

What is this course about? Providing outstanding customer service and positive customer experiences often make the difference between gaining and keeping a customer or losing one. This course offers the tools and techniques to ensure you build and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with your customers. As a result, they become loyal advocates for you and your organization. Who will benefit from this course? This course is valuable for help desk, hot line, front-line or support staff who interact with the internal or external customer to deliver customer service. This course also benefits those wishing to acquire the skills, tools and techniques for building effective customer relationships. What background do I need for this course? No special background is required for this course. If you work in a customer service or customer-facing role, you will benefit from this course. Front-line staff or those regularly dealing with internal or external customers from all types of organizations--technical and non-technical, private and public, small and large--gain new skills and insight to become more effective in their roles. Why should achieving excellence in customer service matter to me? Customer-facing staff at all levels are responsible for influencing customer perceptions. How you respond to the customer can create a positive or negative experience. This interaction can make the difference between gaining and keeping a customer or losing one. If you are able to respond enthusiastically and constructively no matter the situation, you are more likely to maintain positive customer relationships while meeting everyone's needs. This course provides proven techniques for strengthening your ability to enhance the customer experience and project a professional image. I work well with my customers. Why should I come to this class? Even if you are not currently experiencing difficulties with your customers or the service you provide in your workplace, you can learn how to create exceptional customer outcomes and regularly exceed expectations. This course is particularly effective for creating a customer-focused work environment that fosters long-term relationships and generates customer loyalty. Some of my customers can be very demanding and difficult to assist. Is this the right course for me? Absolutely! Participants of this course learn critical skills for dealing with difficult customers and tough situations. Participants should be open and receptive to changing their attitudes and behaviors before coming to this course. Does this course teach me how to deal with customer complaints and angry customers? This course provides you with the skills to manage the strong emotions that are often exhibited by upset customers. However, this course does not teach you how to deal with aggressive individuals. To learn how to be assertive when dealing with challenging situations and individuals, you may want to consider Course 244, Assertiveness Skills: Communicating with Authority and Impact. For more targeted training on resolving conflict, you may be interested in Course 904, Responding to Conflict: Creating Resolution and Cooperation. For handling challenging people, you may be interested in Course 294, Influence Skills: Getting Results Without Direct Authority. How is this course structured? This course is structured around a dynamic style of learning created by Learning Tree called RealityPlusTM. RealityPlus courses provide an immersive experience that engages you in authentic tasks within a real-world context through media-rich activities, role playing and video-based customer service scenarios, as well as self-assessments and personal reflection. The RealityPlus learning method is presented in a safe environment where you gain new skills and practice the most effective techniques to bring back to your job. At the end of your course, you are prepared to apply these new skills within your organization. How much time is spent on each topic? Content Hours Customer service excellence: Why it matters 3.0 Creating the customer experience 3.5 Communicating effectively with the customer 3.5 Dealing constructively with tough situations 3.5 Contributing to a customer service culture 1.5 Making excellence a habit 2.0 Times, including the workshops, are estimates; exact times may vary according to the needs of each class. How much of this course is hands-on? About 70 percent of course time is devoted to experiential activities, which include the following: Defining key values of excellent customer service Profiling your customer service skills Identifying the what and how of effective interactions Associating with the emotional aspects of the initial customer connection Modeling effective responses to typical customer service scenarios Analyzing effective and negligent examples of customer service Handling customer complaints and difficult situations Simulating a telephone interaction to demonstrate empathy and build rapport Creating productive outcomes Delivering a Personal Statement of Commitment Is this course applicable to a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification? Yes. Although this course is not designed as preparation for the exam, it is beneficial to anyone working toward PMI's PMP certification. For those who are currently certified, completion of this course counts as 17 professional development units (Sixty units must be completed every three years to maintain certification). For more details, please see the Learning Tree PMI Registered Education Provider Q&A. If you are an experienced project manager intending to take the PMP exam, you should take Course 276, Preparing for the Project Management Professional (PMP®) Exam. In this course you learn essential PMBOK® Guide - Third Edition terminology, tools and techniques. You gain practical test-taking experience through PMI-style practice exams and create your own personal study plan for continued use after the course. How does this course relate to other Learning Tree courses? 292, Communication Skills: Results Through Collaboration , provides practical experience initiating and responding to various forms of communication 294, Influence Skills: Getting Results Without Direct Authority , provides the specific skills, behaviors and attitudes necessary to achieve desired results without relying on the use of authority 341, Negotiation Skills: Achieving Successful Outcomes  244, Assertiveness Skills: Communicating with Authority and Impact , provides the knowledge and skills to set boundaries, send the right verbal and non-verbal cues and respectfully ask for what you want 904, Responding to Conflict: Creating Resolution and Cooperation offers the practical experience to recognize causes behind interpersonal conflict, target emotional triggers that create conflict, and apply proven techniques and strategies to build an environment of cooperation

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