The Subtle Details of Training Customer Service Representatives

Customer experience sets a tone that encourages them to either return or choose to frequent another place. Companies are strong at creating the basics of customer service but often fail when designing and implementing the details. Excellent customer service should starts with training representatives to view interactions from the perspective of the customer.

The point of contact is the most common place where customer service fails. These failures revolve around the way staff act and treat customers as they conduct their daily interactions. A few details could change customer impressions to a positive one and foster greater loyalty.

Consider the nature of non-verbal communication and how a single poorly chosen word or careless comment could quickly change the nature of interaction. A single bad day for the customer service representative could lose the company thousands of dollars in life-time sales.

Every customer makes a subjective evaluation of whether or not the company truly appreciates their business. While the main value offerings, facilities, and procedures are important their evaluations often reside on how they feel. How they feel is based on very subtle interactions that reflect negatively on the business.

It is important to train customer service representatives in the art of communication and body language. Helping them understand the vantage point of the customer and how their communication skills impact the perceptions of the customer is important. Developing greater awareness of representatives encourages effective customer interactions.