Advanced Call Centre

This particular workshop has been designed to address the needs call centre staff whose daily role concerns ongoing intensive telephone (and personal) contact, with both trade and internal customers, in order to maximise their CUSTOMER SERVICE BEHAVIOURS AND RELATIONSHIPS. A major feature of the day is the opportunity for each candidate to gain extensive personal benefit from the calls but in a safe and supportive environment. At the end of the workshop attendees should be in possession of vastly superior techniques and skills aimed at improving levels of competence AND confidence when dealing with customers - in particular, customers who can sometimes be angry, abusive, challenging and awkward.

Our prime motive is to provide an opportunity for your Call Centre Team to achieve improved levels of professional performance, through taking on board new skills and techniques from our carefully tailored and managed workshop sessions and feedback process.

Day One

Introduction and Objectives

• Introductions and 'Icebreaker'.


• An opportunity to share your current level of experience and knowledge
  regarding operating in a Call Centre environment and to look at key individual objectives from the training programme.


• Thinking on your feet.
  Paper Clip Exercise

Looking at the role of a Generic Call Centre Operation

Recognising the importance of using the telephone. Role and key responsibilities - the vital and subtle art of communicating with your customers/clients by telephone.

• Looking at purpose including the importance of both selling yourself and your company - and what are you trying to achieve?
  Workshop


• Understanding the feel good factor for both you and your caller/customer.
  Interactive Session

Call Planning and Preparation

• The introduction and impact on the Decision Maker. The one chance you have to make a good impression and express yourself in just 30 seconds!


• The importance of call planning and call control. Being prepared and knowing your customer. Using preferential knowledge of your customer to maintain call initiative.


• Effective planning of your telephone calls. Use of questions to gather valid and vital, information to help you maximise each call, for whatever purpose.
  Interactive Session

Questioning Techniques

• Open, closed and hypothetical questioning techniques to help you maintain control of the call, to keep the initiative and to ensure the highest success rate possible with every call you make.


• Arousing and maintaining interest in your potential customer - The Hook.
  Involving the customer.


• Reinforcing the message - turning statements into questions - gathering information and knowledge.


• Reversal of roles - the lateral approach - you are the customer - how would you like to be treated? and what questions/techniques would be most effective on you?
  Workshop

Tailoring the Presentation to the Prospect

• Ensuring that you have a match in terms of your expectations and approach and the requirements of your customer.
  Interactive Session

Communication and Listening Skills

• Development of CUSTOMER relationships.
  Workshop


• Effective communication skills - what works and what doesn't - avoiding gaffs.


• Listening Skills - highlighting the need for effective listening skills.
  Interactive Team Exercise

Meeting and Dealing with Objections

• Understanding the difference between benefits and features
  Exercise


• Using Benefits and Features of your product(s) to attract your customer
  Cricket Practice - Interactive Exercise


• Playing it cool and not getting personally involved - avoiding undesirable and unwanted emotion and reacting emotionally to situations.
  Acknowledging objections - sticking to the facts and re-stating benefits where needed.


• Overcoming objections pro-actively by getting the customer to be specific. Putting it all into perspective and giving compensating factors.


• Suggesting solutions to please the customer - lateral thinking exercise.
  Interactive Session

Closing the Call

• Setting realistic objectives - primary and secondary - to get the best attainable result for you.


• Watching/Listening for satisfactory completion signals - not forgetting to ask for your customer/client commitment!
  Workshop


• Reflecting on appropriate questioning techniques to establish needs/benefit - your capability to deliver - and the customer choice of two attractive alternatives. 


• Knowing when to use silence - getting the customer to confirm discussion details to ensure they understand you.


• What happens after the call?
  Interactive Session

1st Day Review

• Review of individual objectives


• Preparation for the second day

Day Two

Introduction and Objectives

• Intro and SWIMMING POOL analogy

In At The DEEP END

• Individuals to deal with a given customer situation 
  (ALL ROLE-PLAY SCENARIOS TO BE TAPED)


• Scenarios '1'
• Group review and analysis of taped scenarios

Self Analysis

• Bad i.e. difficult experiences shared and discussed


• Competence Matrix - what is needed for excellence In performance - attitude, motivation, knowledge, skills etc.


• Individuals to complete a self-honesty audit
  SWOT Analysis. (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats)

The Successful Call

• The basic model


• Role-play Scenarios '2'

Team (Group) Analysis

• Team Audit


• What works - best approach - key features - 'rules'


• Practice makes perfect - future audits - the Team approach

Final Close Session