The most integral role as a customer service manager is to create an environment of continuous learning and improvement. Employees follow management’s lead, and when it comes to training it is important to position education as more than corrective action. Emphasize that agents will not only have the opportunity to increase their knowledge and improve the customer service skills they already have, but will also be able to discuss issues openly and learn from peer experience.
Customer service training gives agents the skills and knowledge needed to perform their jobs well. However, sometimes employees need additional assistance with skill adoption. It has been proven that long term behavioral change in your staff will only happen as a result of quality training and effective coaching.
T C = S (Training Coaching = Success)
The danger of not coaching is that employees may be capable of performing well – but won’t. Why is this? If customer service training is not followed by coaching, it sends the message that management doesn’t care. If management doesn’t care – why should the employee? A manager’s role in training is to create a positive atmosphere before and after training.
Customer Service Training is for Everyone
One of the easiest ways to show that customer service training is essential to company success is to attend the classes with your staff. Not convinced? Here are three good reasons to change your mind:
- How will you know which customer service skills to reinforce if you don’t know what your agents are learning, or if you don’t know how to use those skills yourself?
- Not only does your participation allow you to understand exactly what agents are doing in the training session, it also sends a powerful message that you’re committed to learning and improvement at all levels of your department.
- When your staff sees you in the training room, learning alongside them, they’ll realize that the class isn’t just a feel-good event or a waste of time. “If management shows up,” the thinking goes, “they must be serious about this.”
Attending customer service training with your team is a great way to break down barriers between management and agents, and it goes a long way toward making front-line employees feel like part of the company. Building rapport this way will also make employees more receptive to coaching and the likelihood of sustained improvement will increase.
Customer Service training is an investment. When done well and followed up with effective coaching, the investment pays off many times over. Unsure of which delivery method will be most beneficial to your employees? Read this blog post: Custom Training for Customer Service: Yay or Nay?