Customer Service Training 101 Guide

Last night, I felt my eye burning and it was sore. I have had Cellulitis in my eye on a regular basis one time after another for the past 2 months. I have undergone doctor’s appointments, IV antibiotics, antibiotic injections, oral meds, lancing or draining the infection, and hospital visits. In case you are not aware, Cellulitis is an infection in the skin, in my case, the eye – Occular Cellulitis. It is important to stop the spread of infection quickly, as your eye presents a direct passage way to your brain.

Within a few hours from the time the burning and itching started, my eye was swollen, my face was starting to swell, and I was getting dizzy. I called my sister, who is a physician, and asked her if I would be ok to wait until tomorrow to get it looked at, since it was almost 11 p.m. already. She said not to wait, and with the amount of antibiotics I have been on as recently as last week, I should go to the ER, she would pick me up in 20 minutes and take me.

She pulled in my driveway 20 minutes later and we went to the ER. I was having a difficult time walking right, my head was spinning, it was late and I have MS – enough said. When I went to the desk to check in, there was a male nurse who asked me what was wrong. I told him, explained I had MS and the Cellulitis was recurring and seemed to be getting worse quickly, answered me with a, “let me see it.” I showed him my eye and he said, “…you have a sty. Go sit down and they will call you soon.” He seemed annoyed that for something so trivial as I sty, I would go to the ER after 11 p.m..

My sister did not mention who she was or that she was a physician. We sat on the chairs and waited and she was twirling her car keys rather angrily around her finger. I asked, “Are you mad about something?” She said she did not like his attitude at all and wrote a note to herself to remind her to call the ER tomorrow and discuss it. She then said that she had a patient she needed to check on and said she would be back down after she checked on her patient and went upstairs.

They called me back. Soon she returned and said that when she was coming back into the doors of the ER, the male nurse stopped her and said, “where are you going?” She gave him her name, this time mentioning the word ‘doctor’ in front of it, and said he sister was being examined and she was going to find me.

We decided to drain the eye and I took two different antibiotics orally. The ER doctor said to see my eye physician in the morning and we left. As we were leaving, the male nurse’s attitude was different – and jovial now, he even joked, “Leaving so soon?” My sister did not even give him the satisfaction of a response and we left and she brought me home about 3:30 a.m..

This could be a case of my big sister feeling the need to come to my rescue, once again, but it could also be very founded. Think about it, he was ready to blow me off, knowing I am under doctor’s care, and have been seeing an eye physician and surgeon for the past 2 months. He also knew I have MS, known to suppress the immune system, increasing the risk of infection. Still it was, “…just a sty” and I was told in a short, abrasive manner, “…go sit down.” I am not sure where he got his medical license from, oh no, wait, he did not have one, yet he was giving a diagnosis-hmmm…..

I could tell you in my view, customer service has gone downhill in all sorts of places. Apparently, this hospital is one of those places. It was, at the very least, like that last night. I did not expect a trauma team to come running out and take me to an exam room immediately while they all worked on my eye. I did expect to be treated in a respectful and dignified manner and to hear me out when I am voicing my concerns and giving my history. I was actually glad my sister was with me, not only to make me comfortable, but to see what “ordinary people” deal with at times. It doesn’t take a hero most times, to make someone feel more comfortable and at ease. It takes someone who wants to listen, wants to understand, and wants to help to calm our fears.

http://www.chronicafflictionnetwork.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tracy_Soom

Customer is universally known as the lifeblood of the company. In short, any company will never survive without the support of the customers. The customers are responsible for criticizing if the product launch in the market is whether effective or defective. Answering the plea of the clients should always put on priority and never should be ignored.

Customer service is widely used to please the customer’s concern. The outsourcing industry is known for dealing with customers using the voice based (or call center) because the industry rely mostly on their clients. They want to give the best in a way of satisfying their customer. Interestingly, a lot of business process outsourcing (BPO) companies are spending huge amount in terms of training their employees. Acquiring proper training is necessary for the better outcome of the company’s reputation. The secret of becoming successful in customer service is recognizing the talents and skills of the employees.

This article will give information on Customer Service Training 101, which is needed in improving the services to the customers worldwide. Since outsourcing is a steadfast industry, its presence in the global economy is very important in helping people to build their dream and earn a wonderful career. The overview of the outsourcing is widely popular in the world. The countries like the Philippines, India, China, among others are dubbed as the leaders in this industry. Any call center in the Philippines systematically provides outstanding training to their hired employees.

The following tips may help contact center companies in training their agents to become responsible and dynamic employees. Training is a must because you can’t allow your agents to jump in the next level without securing training. The training course will depend on the implementation required by the company. Most call center companies in the Philippines are giving intensive training to their agents. The agents are graded on different aspects such as US 101, speaking test, listening skills, and grammar. The agents must pass their 30-day training period before moving on to nesting which may include live calls and product training.

US 101

Because the bulk of the customers are from the United States, the agents are taught to familiarize the American culture. The agents should know the 50 States, the landmark, and most especially the time zone. Outsourcing is known as an offshoring business and many contact center companies are situated outside the mainland U.S. On the other hand, other clients from the United Kingdom and Australia have also different type zone and accent. American speech is different from these two other countries mentioned. In the Philippines, the UK and Australian accounts are dominating very well in the market. Speech communications specialists are responsible for teaching the agents to speak like in an American way and learning the British and Australian accent.

SPEAKING TEST

This type of training is required to allow the agents to speak simultaneously eliminating the “uuhmm” and “ahhmmm” syndrome. Communication problem may the source of making the customers irate and upset. During the training period, the agents are taught to speak confidently in front of their fellow trainees. Basically, this is like extemporaneous wherein the topic is given on the spot and the agents who pick their topic should recite it on the minimum time given by the trainer. Speaking activity is part of making the agents learning to construct good grammar. The trainees are graded based on their presentation like the lengthy of their delivery, clarity, and relevance to the topic. This will prepare them to become effective customer service once they move on to the next step.

LISTENING SKILLS

The listening skills of the agents play an important role in analyzing the problem of every customer they deal with. In their cocoon days of trial, the agents are given a scenario wherein they need to listen to the audio and take note some of the important parts of the conversation and then answer the given questions on the test. Active listening is part of helping the customers in such a way. Many agents failed on this test because they failed to address the root of the problem which is cause trouble between the agents and the customers. If you are applying at any call center, listening test is partly included in passing the hiring process. Coach trainer will determine how fast are the agents can explain the problem of the customers. The secret of passing this test is to focus and concentrate while you are listening to an audio. Also, while you are receiving calls let the customers finish first their concerns before you talk. Listen attentively as you can and avoid unnecessary action which may lose your concentration.

ENGLISH 101

Learning Basic English is important like observing proper grammar and sentence construction. In the Philippines, English is a priority language wherein this is included in the school curriculum imposed by the Department of Education (DepEd). It is too bad to listen to someone who cannot construct simple sentence. Many call center companies offer great learning institution to overcome the problem of the agents. The course of training may include proper usage of the parts of speech: the verb, the noun, the pronoun, the adjective, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction, and the interjection. The part of speech is established in order to give substance to the word usage. In your existence on Earth, you’d been learning English all the time. It is awkward to listen that you the customer may have a hard time understanding you because of your poor comprehension and English skill.

If the agents accomplished the training period, they are ready to proceed to another stage which will open to wider opportunity. There are so many types of training required by outsourcing companies. Planning and designing strategic customer service training 101 will depend on how willing is your company to invest money in training your employees.

Roberto L. Bacasong, 27, works as Customer Interaction Associate in a biggest contact center in the Philippines.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roberto_Bacasong