A way to ensure new customer service agents stay on the horse after training.

1. Customer service armament A DRILL IN CUSTOMER SERVICE

2. Overview Front-line agents take the brunt of customer interactions Verbal barbs Accusatory glances Front-line agents get defensive when they don’t wear their customer service armaments Did we give them any to begin with? Did we teach them how to put them on by themselves?

3. Knight in Shining Armor Listens actively Focuses Uses the right tone of voice Is chivalrous (courteous) Stays positive Talks at the customer’s level Empathizes De-escalates customers

4. Donning the Helmet What does a helmet protect? Ears Keeps out those verbal barbs Eyes Can only see straight ahead Mouth Only gets to say nice things

5. Definition lis·ten (lĭs'ən) intr.v. lis·tened, lis·ten·ing, lis·tens To make an effort to hear something: listen to the radio; listening for the bell. To pay attention; heed: "She encouraged me to listen carefully to what country people called mother wit" (Maya Angelou). listeningnoun the act of hearing attentively; "you can learn a lot by just listening"; "they make good music--you should give them a hearing" effort act

6. The Non-Response Customer: Hi, I’m having trouble getting my reports to print out. Analyst: Can I have your customer number? Customer: Sure, it’s 123456. I’m wondering - is it me or the computer that is causing the problem? Analyst: {long silence} What module are you looking at? Customer: Well, it’s the A/R module of the financial package. I’m running the aging report and I can see it on the screen, but it won’t print. I’m really beginning to wonder if my computer is jinxed! Analyst: {long silence} OK, it’s fixed now. Why don’t you try it and call us back if it doesn’t work? Customer: OK, well, I guess that’s OK. I’ll call back if it isn't working. Bye. Analyst: Good bye.

7. The Attentive Dialogue Customer: “Hi, I’m having trouble getting my reports to print out.” Analyst: “I’m sorry for the inconvenience. I’d be glad to help you with that problem, and I need to start with some basics. Can I have your customer number so I can look up your record?” Customer: “Sure, it’s 123456. I’m wondering - is it me or the computer that is causing the problem?” Analyst: (chuckling) “Well, I sometimes wonder that same thing about my car in the morning. Could you tell me what module you are looking at?” Customer: “Well, it’s the A/R module of the financial package. I’m running the aging report and I can see it on the screen, but it won’t print. I’m really beginning to wonder if my computer is jinxed!” Analyst: “I doubt that the computer is jinxed, because I can see that the printer queue is stalled and it looks like I can start it from here. OK, it’s fixed now. Why don’t you try it while I’m on the phone to make sure it’s working?” Customer: "OK, well, here goes. Oh my gosh – here comes the report! Wow, that’s great. You’ve been a terrific help. Thanks.” Analyst: “My pleasure. Is there anything else I can do to help you today?” Customer: “No, I’m all set. And thanks again.” Analyst: “You’re welcome. Please don’t hesitate to call us again. Goodbye.”

8. Exercise Say the alphabet with these emotions Irritation Happiness Calmness Melancholy Nervousness Impatience Pride Helpfulness Gratitude Worry Surprise Confident

9. Sharpening your Sword What role do your words play in customer interactions?

10. 1999 Study Pearson, Andersson, and Porath at The University of North Carolina Business School People who quit—12% Loss of work time—52% Decreased work effort—22% Gotten worse in past decade—78%

11. Mind your Ps and Qs In the 17th century Ps and Qs stood for prime quality In the 19th century the term became associated with the difficulty of learning which way lower case Ps and Qs faced. The practice of bartenders keeping marks on tabs of ale served in pints or quarts.

12. Polishing your Shield How will your trainees present themselves during their first minutes, hours, days away from the classroom?

13. Why?

14. Blaming Society Everyone blames someone Spouses blame each other Political parties blame each other Unions blame management If everyone jumped off a bridge, does that mean you should too?

15. Responsibility Taking or assigning responsibility is a subtlety different process Can apply to past, present or future events Blame only focuses on the past Assigning responsibility does not have so many emotional attachments Distinction lies in the delivery of the language Examples: "If you had done your work on time, we wouldn't be in this mess". "Your responsibility is to fulfill your work commitments on time. When your work wasn't available I had to speak to the General Manager without the information I needed."

16. Customer speak vs. Geek Speak Bandwidth Bookmark Broadband Browser DNS Download Firewall GUI Homepage HTML IP Address ISP LAN Modem POP3 Search Engine TCP/IP URL

17. Positive responses You can relate to the inconvenience the customer Personalizes the response "It must have been frustrating to receive a damaged Widget. Please accept our sincere and unreserved apology. The problem you experienced is no more acceptable to us than it was to you." Creates rapport Re-establishes trust Genuine interest in the problem Appease upset customer Customer retention among customers who have experienced a problem increases 10-15% when the company offers a sincere and unreserved apology.

18. Walking in your Solleret Armaments can be heavy and take practise to wear What are you favorite roll play activities? How else do you engage trainees to practise what they’ve learned? How do you judge their success?

19. Summary Voice “I am open and helpful” Expectations “I will work with you and can fix the problem” Professionalism “Thank you for letting us know that something was not right.”

20. Saddling your Steed Don’t want trainees to get thrown Give them the right expectations Teach them to learn from mistakes