Tel: 0844 394 8877

Boulden Logo

Boulden Management Consultants

Customer Service  >  2-Day Course

Customer Service Excellence

Training course in b2b Customer Service

Delivering outstanding customer service in the b2b environment

Two Day Course

Course Brochure Download
Customer Service Excellence brochure
  • Develop rapport and empathy when talking with customers
  • Understand customer’s needs and issues
  • Present your arguments in a highly persuasive manner

Overview

This programme is designed to give Customer Service professionals who are working in a b2b environment the key skills needed to engage customers via the phone and through emails. The training covers how to build rapport with clients from different cultural backgrounds, understand customers’ requirements and reach agreements on action plans. It also discusses tools for handling difficult situations, such as giving bad news, or handling complaints. There is extensive use of role-plays and case studies to practise handling in-bound calls, facilitating telephone conferences and structuring emails.

Learning objectives

By attending this highly interactive two-day course you will:

  • Understand the psychology of being effective in a customer service role
  • Be able to use your voice energy to make a connection with the customer
  • Acquire methods for establishing rapport via email and on the phone
  • Master techniques for giving ‘bad news’
  • Become adept at handling complaints
  • Learn a four-step process for handling in-bound phone calls

Who should attend?

All staff for whom an important part of their role is supporting business customers through emails, phone calls and teleconferences.

Course structure

The programme runs in three parts starting with a two-day Customer Service Excellence workshop, which is followed by a three month long Action Learning phase where participants try out their skills in ‘real life’ situations. Stage three is a Review Day, where participants share how they have got on applying the tools in the work place, engage in refresher exercises and are trained in additional material related to sending effective customer emails and running high impact teleconferences.


Day 1

The psychology of customer service excellence

What is going on inside a person’s head (their state of mind) is crucial to good performance, and here we consider the beliefs, values and attitudes of people who are outstanding at building great customer relationships.

  • Examine your current beliefs
  • Reviewing expert thinking
  • Making changes that you feel are appropriate for you

Exercise: identifying changes you can make

Day 1 (cont)

Voice Work

Learning how to grab attention and connect emotionally with customers when talking on the phone through the use of your voice energy.

  • Five Keys to a strong voice
  • The power of ‘projection’

Pairs exercise: practising voice development exercises

Day 1 (cont)

Building Rapport

People respond well to people they like and trust, so rapport building is central to the ability to have and show empathy with customers; here we look at generating positive relationships by:

  • Matching and leading vocal patterns
  • Matching language
  • Summarising
  • Collaborating
  • Understanding the power of ME

Pairs exercise: matching vocal patterns and matching language

Day 1 (cont)

Understanding customer needs (logical levels diagrams)

This set of tools is concerned with asking high quality questions that map out precisely the customer’s needs and requirements. Based on the NLP idea known as the ‘Logical Levels Concept’ it allows us to really understand what the client needs to happen in order to feel that their concerns have been fully understood and their expectations satisfied.

  • The Logical Levels Concept
  • Moving up logical levels
  • Moving down logical levels

Pairs exercise: conducting logical levels interviews

Day 1 (cont)

Persuasive Techniques

Understand tools for putting your ideas across to customers, giving bad news and dealing with complaints.

  • Behaviour Labelling
  • Fogging
  • Three Step Assertive Technique
  • The Persuasion Pattern

Pairs exercise: Three Step Assertive Technique for giving bad news

Pairs exercise: Using the Fogging technique for dealing with a complaint

Day 1 (cont)

Understanding Cultural Differences

Appreciating how people from a variety of different cultural backgrounds need to be approached in order for them to feel that they are valued and understood.

  • What is culture
  • Understanding Cultural Dimensions

Pairs exercise: how to adapt to different cultures

Day 2

Dealing with incoming calls

How to deal with in-bound customer calls, which often come ‘out of the blue’ and typically involve tense or stressed customers who are calling because they have a ‘problem’ of some kind.

  • The four stages for handling an in-bound call
  • The importance of note taking and summarising

Case study: role-playing handling in-bound customer calls

Day 2 (cont)

Structuring phone calls and emails

This set of tools involves learning how to structure an out-going call, teleconference or email.

  • Position Perception (learning how to... identify your own goals, step into the customer‘s shoes and view the situation objectively)
  • Agree the strategy for the call or email
  • Identify what ‘support documentation’ is required

Case study: planning a teleconference or out-going call

Day 2 (cont)

Facilitating an out-going call or teleconference

Appreciating how to run a teleconference, or out-going call, in a professional way that makes the customer feel respected and valued.

  • Setting up the call
  • Tag Questions and Rounds to get engagement
  • Closing the call effectively

Group exercise: role-plays on facilitating an out-bound call

Day 2 (cont)

Using email

Reviewing the essential elements in writing effective and persuasive emails.

  • Using the ‘subject line’ for impact
  • Getting the ‘tone of voice’ right
  • Avoiding ambiguity

Case study: writing an email

Group exercise: delegates analysing their actual emails


Feedback

Feedback is based upon peer review using a Boulden assessment checklist. Completing the assessment checklists is not only valuable to the people involved in a given case study, it also helps those completing them to gain an in-depth understanding of the building blocks that make up excellent customer focus.

Course structure

There is an option of following the workshop with a three month long Action Learning project to link the lessons from the training back into the workplace. If this option is selected there is a closure workshop at the end of the project phase where delegates present how they have applied the techniques learned on the course into their daily work routines.


Remote Training

All of our workshops can be delivered as Remote Training via e-learning modules plus Zoom based virtual workshops. Please see our Virtual Training page for more information.


Contact

To talk to us about our range of courses contact
Boulden Management Consultants:
via our Contact form
Tel: 0844 394 8877