Achieve customer service excellence with the right training

Customer service excellence is not negotiable in today's globalised economy. South African companies are competing with their international counterparts at every turn. That's why customer service agents must be nimble, smart, fast, attentive, personable, and talented at defusing volatile situations and creating new opportunities.

To promote the development of these soft skills, Bytes People Solutions has packaged a two-day on- or off-site customer service excellence programme, comprised of 15 topics, that is aimed at up-skilling call centre agents.

"Companies pride themselves on their technical skills, but those have to be complemented by the softer skills that form part of customer service excellence," says Albert Viljoen, Business Unit Manager at Bytes People Solutions. "Like hard skills, soft skills can be learned and perfected over time. The problem is that too many organisations take an ad hoc approach to customer service training. What is key is to align this type of training formally with strategic business objectives, including customer loyalty and retention."

"Soft skills include character traits like common sense, empathy, a positive attitude, and the ability to communicate well with people. For a call centre agent, strategic questioning, active listening, assertiveness, a positive outlook, the ability to build rapport, and the ability to remain unflustered in the face of challenging customers are also valuable," says Dr Madelise Grobler, Managing Director, Bytes People Solutions.

Call centre agents need to have excellent communication and time management skills, but the personality profile of the individual is also critical to the success of the call centre, Viljoen says. Bytes People Solutions' customer service programme adds value to these basic skills by providing training that enables each person to understand the importance of being presentable, well groomed, service-oriented, and disciplined in every customer interaction.

"We have found that the larger the group we train, and the more diverse that group is, the more easily the company can begin to change organisational culture," says Viljoen. "The call centre agents actually begin to manage their own perceptions of the customer service experience they are providing."

In addition to the training programme, Bytes People Solutions also engages with supervisors and line managers once the programme has been completed, to help them reward and reinforce the soft skills the agents have been taught to develop.

"Customer service excellence begins in the call centre and ultimately integrates all aspects of your organisation to manage and exceed customer expectations," he says.