If you’re customer service training involves the team being huddled around a table, listening to a manager tell them to be empathetic and speak politely, you’re doing it wrong.

Your customer service team is essentially the ‘punching bag’ of your company because they are a customer touch-point.

This is that one team in the workplace whose job is to listen to complaints and solve problems the whole day.

Not enough people call customer service to give positive feedback, right? Due to the nature of the job, customer service representatives with poor training, engagement and a sense or purpose tend to have a high turn-over rate.

The team needs continuous training and motivation to keep up their spirits. Neglecting them could cause low-employee morale and push them towards resignation.

Customer service training needs to happen regularly and it needs to be interactive so employees get the most out of them.

Check out these fun and interactive customer service training methods:

Improvisation:

Sending your customer service team to Improvisation classes has proven to be an effective training method. Improvisation class encourages the team to be quick and think on their feet. During these classes, the team doesn’t know what to expect once they are on stage (just like their jobs).

Customer Role Play:

Divide the team into groups, have one play the angry customer and the other play a customer service representative. Ask each couple to perform the role play in front group so everyone can provide their feedback. Plan to expect the unexpected. Then, you’re in a position to provide unexpected value in unpexted places.

Play the “no” game:

Customers hate hearing the word ‘no’ so have your team come up with different ways of saying no to a customer.

Divide them into pairs, have one play the customer and the other play a representative. Give them a scenario and have them act it out. Remember, the word ‘no’ should not be used in the conversation.

Ridiculous complaints:

The team needs to learn how to tackle difficult customers without getting worked up themselves. Have them play the ‘ridiculous complaints’ game. In this game, call the groups up in front of the room and give them a ‘ridiculous complaint’ to tackle such as.

• “The weather was sunny in the flyer; why is it raining right now?”
• “I accidently bought a replica of a bag you have; can I return it to you?”
• “I assumed breakfast was included; can I have it any way?”

Play this game in groups so everyone can provide their input on how such situations can be managed.

In our consumer review driven world, meeting an expectation can be like doing nothing at all. Customer experience is even more important in this day and age of Social Media where customers have this power to influence like never before. As a customer service manager, you should know the importance of continuously training the team and keeping them engaged.

Meetings are an opportunity to collectively decide on how productivity can be improved in the workplace. Unfortunately most meetings are ineffective. This applies to training sessions as well. Too many organizations make the mistake of placing a leader in front of the room and asking them to run through a PowerPoint presentation. Sure, the employees will stare at the screen and occasionally smile at a joke but they aren’t really benefiting from them.

Meetings and training sessions need to be interactive in order for employees to learn from them.

Jon Petz’s book Boring Meetings Suck is loaded with gems that can enliven any workplace meeting or training session. It consists of real-life examples that will sound all too familiar.

Order the book today and check out our store for other inspirational products to transform your life at work forever!