FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Tom Ellis
August 11, 2005 Ellis Communications, Inc.
Phone: (417) 881-5635
Email: tom@elliscomm.com
PHOENIX, Ariz. – Telecoms that take customer service seriously
establish service standards. But those standards are useless if employees don’t
make an effort to follow them.“If a telecom has set
specific service standards and has identified the skills that will make those
standards a reality, then some serious practice and role playing is required to
make the standards part of the company’s service culture,” says David Saxby,
president of Phoenix-based Measure-X, a company that specializes in helping
telephone companies improve their customer service and sales.
Saxby offers the following tips for how telecom employees
can practice new service skills. He suggests that these become group
activities.
Tip No. 1. Have staff members write down the
benefits of each product and service you offer. “Summarize their ideas so they
can be displayed on one sheet of paper,” Saxby says. “It should be easy to read
and available to refer to when in conversation with customers.”
Tip No. 2. Write down the most commonly asked
questions posed by customers. “Write down various responses and approaches to
these questions,” Saxby recommends. “Identify solutions to challenges.”
Tip No. 3. Identify the most common types of
interactions and situations with customers. “Write down different ways everyone
approaches these situations,” Saxby notes. “Discuss what gets the best results
as well as what does not.”
Tip No. 4. Form teams to practice skills to use
during the common customer interactions in Tip 3. “Have one team be the
customer and the other team be the company,” Saxby suggests. “Each team should
brainstorm first on the questions they want to ask the other team. One person
from each team should actually role-play the situation. Teammates can help out
at any time with suggestions, questions or comments that would help their team
be the most effective.”
Tip No. 5. When you have completed the activities
in Tip 4, reverse roles and do it again.
Tip No. 6. Make a list of open-ended questions to
ask customers so you can clearly identify their needs. “Make a list for each
product and service,” Saxby says. “Open-ended questions engage customers in
conversation. They do not have a yes or no answer.”
Tip No. 7. Make a list of situations that your
products and services can help your customers with. “For instance, teen-agers
in the household is one situation,” Saxby says. “Call waiting, family-plan
wireless packages and Internet security systems could be helpful for customers
with that situation.”
Tip No. 8. Develop written quizzes to confirm
product knowledge. “Lack of product knowledge impedes everyone’s ability to
provide stellar customer service,” Saxby points out. “Educate your customers
and increase your profitability.”
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Measure-X is a measurement, training and recognition company that specializes
in customer service and sales skills. For more information on Measure-X,
call 888-644-5499 or visit its Web site at www.measure-x.com.
