Stellar customer service skills are invaluable for any customer-facing team to possess. Your team’s strength depends on their ability to connect with, serve and accommodate your customer’s needs. Providing informative, entertaining and motivating customer service training will prepare your employees to handle any customer service situation successfully.   10 Things Accountable infographic

Here are 5 customer service skills that will improve your team’s performance and set you apart from your competitors:

Relatability
Always approach a customer’s questions and concerns with a relatable demeanor. As a customer service representative, it is your job to understand and empathize with their concerns. But as a fellow consumer, remind them that you know what it’s like to be “the customer,” and you CARE about their questions, concerns and comments. Let them know that you will do everything in your power to assist them.

Active Listening
When dealing with any customer – whether in person, over the phone, or even by email or live chat – communication is occurring and the customer expects to be listened to and HEARD. Active listening skills are vital to these exchanges. First, make sure you are paying attention to the customer and are avoiding distractions (like other customers, your co-workers, or checking your phone). Then, to listen actively, feed back what you think you’ve heard the customer say to ensure your understanding is correct: rephrase their question or statement and listen to whether they confirm what you’ve said, or need to further explain themselves. This step will go a long way towards avoiding misunderstandings and making sure you’re serving the customer’s need on the first try. 

Anticipate the Customer’s Needs
It is always a customer service “win” when you can proactively anticipate your customer’s needs and wants and provide for them before they even have to ask. If possible, be a few steps ahead of your customer by doing small, thoughtful things like: having a pen out and ready, refilling their glass before they have to ask, or knowing what question a customer usually asks in a situation, and providing that information ahead of time. Discuss ways you can anticipate your company’s customers’ needs at your next customer service training event.  This proactive attitude will impress your customer and make them feel cared for.

Game Face
At times when serving customers, you will be faced with unpleasant situations that may not be easy to deal with. When handling an unruly customer who is using personal attacks, it is important to remember you are here to serve them, and to keep a professional “game face” on. As a representative of the company, it is your responsibility to uphold the integrity of your organization, regardless of the situation. Becoming emotional or giving “attitude” back to the customer are not acceptable responses to upset customers.

Timeliness
When a customer has a concern or issue, it is crucial you handle the concern in a timely manner. No customer enjoys waiting when they are upset or frustrated with your company. Be vigilant about the customer’s time and how much of it they have spent handling this issue. Do your best to act quickly: get them the answer they need, find the item they’re searching for, bring them their bill, or research the problem. If you must make them wait, communicate regularly to let them know you’re still working on the problem and will get back to them as soon as possible. Timely, efficient customer service could turn a negative experience into a positive one.

CRM Learning has several customer service training videos that depict many of these situations and customer service skill points. If your company has a customer service team, it is essential to administer high-quality training. Browse all of the customer service training videos on our website to improve your team’s performance and confidence when dealing with customers.

Customer service skills are invaluable in today’s workplace.  Organizations that hope to maximize customer retention and build brand loyalty are wise to train employees on everything from the basics of representing the company in a positive, professional manner to service recovery and handling irate customers.

Customer Service training videos can improve and strengthen your employees’ customer service skills while helping to ensure that customer satisfaction is addressed both with external and internal customers.  Here are 4 specific ways.

See it through their eyes.

In customer service training, it is critical for trainees to see a situation from the viewpoint of the customer. Remember Me provides this type of customer service training experience by showing the thoughtless ways one customer is treated by companies and suppliers he thought wanted his business. The video reveals that even though this customer doesn’t complain…he wins in the end because he tells others of his bad experiences. It reminds employees of the consequences of bad customer service and the benefits of leaving people with a positive impression of the company.

Be ready for anything.

Customer service is a broad training topic with many sub-categories and skillsbased solutions.  The Customer Service Toolkit provides 72 situation-specific video examples that organizations in any type of industry can use to create targeted training sessions. Covering 6 customer service training topic areas (Attitude, Communication, Problem Solving, Service Recovery, Supervising a Customer Service Department and Internal Customer Service) these short videos and video clips will assist you in addressing all of your customer service training needs.

Understand how to attract and keep customers.

The Employee’s Guide to Customer Loyalty is a complete competency-building course on the topic of customer loyalty. Containing several of CRM Learning’s most powerful customer satisfaction videos, along with helpful companion materials, this course takes groups (and/or individual learners) on a journey of the skills and attitudes required to ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty: (1)  Understand that satisfying customers time after time is the key to building customer loyalty. (2) Recognize the value of customers who do business with you and show your appreciation. (3) Handle upset customers in a productive, professional manner–do what you can to keep them from taking their business elsewhere.

Teach employees to work together.

Lastly, remember that internal customer service training is equally as beneficial as external training. Teaching employees to see their co-workers as “internal customers” builds a more cohesive unit with individuals working towards the same common goals. We’re on the Same Team, Remember? uses a compelling story to illustrate the importance of team communication, accountability and collaboration. It shows that when employees are responsible and accountable to one another, and when they commit together to satisfying external customers, the organization is more successful overall.

Customer service training videos can generally be purchased on DVD or Flash Drive, with corresponding workshop materials, for use in the classroom.  Or, they can be delivered online to the classroom or to individual workstations (for self-paced learning).  Video-based training offers great flexibility while also ensuring that all trainees see the same examples.  It is a terrific way to meet customer service training requirements and increase customer loyalty.

Providing excellent customer service is first and foremost for any business. The customer service training you provide, and the abilities your staff demonstrates day in and day out, are a reflection of your company. Training your employees in the art of customer service is critical and will help tremendously in the long run.  Customer service videos are– and have always been– a highly effective way to conduct this type of training.

Here are 3 Reasons CRM Learning Provides the Best Customer Service Training Videos:

Experience

CRM Learning has a 40+ year track record of success in this topic area! Our video,  Remember Me?  (originally released in 1983– now in its 3rd edition) was one of the first training videos ever  to capture what it feels like to be a loyal customer receiving bad service from a company you thought cared about you.  The most poignant part of the video is that it shows how customers often do not complain…but they do win in the end because they take their business elsewhere.   Our ground-breaking video, It’s a Dog’s World, provides the same message in a healthcare-specific environment.  Over the years, the success stories we’ve heard from customers who’ve trained with Remember Me and It’s a Dog’s World have compelled us to remain passionate about providing customer service training videos that are emotionally engaging, memorable and effective.    In addition to our own productions, we carry top-selling customer service videos from numerous other producers.

In-depth Topic Coverage

We get that customer service is a very broad topic. There are many competencies and skills that fall under the “customer service” umbrella.  Besides offering videos that make employees aware of the importance of satisfying customers, we offer videos that teach specific skills, like: solving customer problems, listening to the customer, making sure you maintain a positive attitude when serving customers, dealing with difficult customers, dealing with disappointed or angry customers,  communicating with diverse customers, and so on.

Product Knowledge

We know our stuff and we know that every organization has different needs when it comes to video training.  Because of that, we make sure we have offerings for all types of industries, different levels of service provider, and different video styles.  Working within your designated budget and delivery methods, we will find you the video best suited to the goals you are trying to accomplish.

Experience, Topic Coverage and Product Knowledge are three reasons CRM Learning provides the best customer service training videos on the market. Get started and find out how these videos can improve your company internally and externally.

When you run a business, getting (and keeping customers) is your number one priority. The relationships that you have with customers must be positive and mutually beneficial. Ensuring that your team has the skills necessary to build and maintain these types of customer relationships will increase the likelihood that customers keep coming back. Customer service videos are an effective way to build these skills. There are plenty of customer service videos available today–here are three that are sure to strengthen your team and maximize your relationships with customers.

3 Customer Service Videos that Will Improve Your Customer Relationships

The Customer Service Toolkit: This versatile video content library features dozens of short video clips on a variety of topics relevant to customer relations, including: attitude, problem solving, communication, service recovery, internal customer service, and managing a customer service department. You’ll find material to help you build a high performing customer support team while also developing the skill sets of individual front-line service providers.

WAYMISH: WAYMISH is an acronym for something many customers feel on a regular basis: “Why Are You Making It So Hard… for me to give you my money?” This engaging video educates viewers on the most common mistakes that lead to customer frustration and lost sales. Employees learn what mistakes to avoid, how to develop skills that keep customers satisfied, and how to recover if a problem occurs. They are reminded to collaborate with co-workers when needed to find solutions to a customer’s problem. In a separate Supervisor Show segment, supervisors learn to set the right tone and to avoid setting policies that drive customers away.

Remember Me: It’s not always easy to see things from someone else’s point of view. Now in its 3rd edition, the classic video Remember Me tries to bridge this gap by showing what poor service looks like through the eyes of a beleaguered customer. In just 10 minutes, the video reveals that customers can forgive mistakes but not bad attitudes, that they’ll let others know about negative experiences, and that they’ll take their business elsewhere if not treated well. Employees are reminded that they let the customer, their team, and the entire organization down when they fail to deliver good service.  

Customer service videos are an ideal way to train your staff on what it takes to be a good customer service team player and how to keep customers satisfied. These three examples are just a few of many highly effective training resources available through CRM Learning. Take a look through our Customer Service/Sales topic section to find more great choices.

Recommended Training Resource
We’re on the Same Team, Remember?  This video is a great discussion starter when kicking off a customer retention initiative. It shows how numerous people in different departments disappoint a long-time customer…to the point where the customer ultimately cancels a large order and goes to a competitor.

Ever wish your workplace had the type of energy and fun you can find in the famous Seattle Fish Market? It can! Pike Place Fish Market training videos are carefully crafted to help your employees find a sense of fun in their work, and as a result provide your customers with the level of service they deserve. Here’s how:

5 Ways  Seattle Fish Market Training Videos Improve Employee Performance

1. FiSH Training Improves Employee Attitudes: Workers at the Pike Place Fish Market choose to bring their best each day. Training your employees with FiSH philosophy videos encourages them to  adopt a positive attitude and focus on creating an upbeat environment where customers and co-workers feel valued.
   
2. FiSH Training Encourages Employees to Put Customers First: One of the guiding principles of Seattle’s Pike Place Fish Market is the idea of brightening each customer’s day. Employees who experience FiSH training learn the value of going out of their way to make sure their customers leave feeling better than they arrived. This positive atmosphere reflects back on employees, creating a great working environment for everyone involved.
3. FiSH Training Helps Employees Stay Present: A great workplace is full of employees who are there emotionally as well as physically. Our  FiSH training videos show employees how to stay in the moment, which allows them to connect with others and have more fun. The results are an enthusiastic and positive service team that views customers as individuals, not just tasks.
4. FiSH Training Encourages Play: Employees are most productive when they are having a good time. Training with principles from the Pike Place Fish Market enables employees to have a bit of fun at work, inspiring creativity and reinforcing a positive atmosphere. Customers who sense that employees are having a good time working with them are much more likely to have a positive view of the establishment.
5. FiSH Training Creates Enthusiasm: The culture of positivity, fun, and connection created by Seattle’s Pike Place Fish Market creates enthusiasm for both employees and customers. Employees arrive ready to work and to create positive experiences for themselves and the customers they serve. Customers keep coming back because they know they’ll have a great time.

Used for decades around the world, the FiSH training videos have a track record of improving employee morale, customer satisfaction and organizational results. For more information, visit www.fishphilosophy.com.

No matter what you sell or what service you provide, customer service is a key aspect of retaining customers and maximizing revenue. A well-trained sales team is crucial to providing a high quality customer service experience. Customer service training videos are an ideal way to train your customer service team and help your business reach its goals: here’s why.

5 Reasons to Invest in Customer Service Training Videos

1. Training Videos Expose Your Staff to a Wide Variety of Situations: Your customer service team will undoubtedly encounter a wide array of personalities and situations while on the job. Customer service videos equip your staff to anticipate and navigate situations you or your training team might not immediately think of. Once trained, your staff will be more able to address problems and interact with your customers in a positive way, which can have a dramatic impact on retention.
2. Customer Service Videos Boost Staff Morale: Interesting, engaging, and informative training videos leave your staff energized and eager to work. Your customers will see this enthusiasm and respond to it, making them more likely to buy from you than your competitors.
3. Training Videos Provide Your Customer Service Team with a Uniform Experience: Providing customer service training in person naturally leads to a variance in the types of information received. When the entirety of your team sees the same video, however, you know they are receiving the same training. You’ll know that they’ll respond to certain situations in a predictable way that truly reflects your organization’s culture.
4. Customer Service Training Videos Focus on Your Team’s Needs: No two customer service teams are alike. There will be strengths and weaknesses in your team that differ from your competition. Using videos to train your team allows you to focus on areas you may not be performing as well in, reducing mistakes that may prompt customers to look elsewhere next time.
5. Training Videos Help Maximize Revenue: Every business has “good” customer service: to stand out, you need to go above and beyond. Video training exposes your team (and you) to ideas that will make a huge impact in your customer’s happiness and, by extension, your ability to retain business. As a result, your revenue will only grow.

Customer service training videos are an efficient and effective way to create a customer service team that is well-equipped to address the needs of today’s customers. When your customers are happy, your ability to maximize your revenue will follow.
Recommended Training Resource: The Employee’s Guide to Customer Loyalty trains workers to view creating a base of loyal customers as a vital job goal and teaches the most important skills for making every new customer want to come back for more.

Out of all the factors that contribute to the long-term success of a business, one of the most (if not THE most) important is customer retention. Every time your business loses a customer, there is an impact on your bottom line. Satisfying and retaining customers is a multi-faceted challenge, but ensuring that you have a well-trained service staff is a great place to start.

How Customer Service Skills Training Improves Customer Retention       

Building a loyal customer base requires an organization-wide commitment to providing high quality service on a consistent basis. Once that commitment has been made, the key to carrying it out is ongoing customer service training. Here’s a quick look at 3 specific ways customer service training pays for itself:

1. Trained Employees Are Able to Solve Problems. No matter how amazing your product or service, at some point you’ll have a customer who is dissatisfied and, in many cases, angry. That’s why customer service training typically includes instruction on customer service recovery. Through this training, customer service representatives learn how to: listen to the customer, gather information, propose solutions (even if they can’t give customers exactly what they’re asking for) and–most importantly– avoid saying things that make matters worse.  With the right attitude and ability, a customer service person can turnaround an unhappy customer and make them one of your company’s biggest fans.
2. Trained Employees Make Customers Want to Come Back. If you are looking to have the kind of employees who do their best to provide a positive experience for customers day in and day out, teach them about customer value (specifically what the organization spends to attract a new customer and what it costs to lose a good customer).  When employees make the connection between customer retention and organizational success (including their own job security) they will replace behaviors that drive customers to the competition (such as rudeness, apathy and inflexibility) with behaviors that say, “thank you for thinking of us!  How can I help you?” Even if customers happen to be drawn away by a competitor’s promotion or sale, they’ll quickly realize the difference between your well-trained team and the type of staff who is just there to collect a paycheck. In other words, show customers you truly appreciate their business and they’ll be back.
3. Trained Employees Create a Welcoming Environment.Which would you rather patronize: an establishment where the staff seems disengaged or unhappy, or an establishment where the team is enthusiastic, alert, and cooperative? When it comes to customer service, attitude really is everything. Customer service training reminds employees that customers are the purpose of their day…not an interruption in their day. Whether you are interacting with customers face to face, over the phone or online, things like greeting people quickly and politely (even when you’re busy), and showing a willingness to help customers find what they need (even when they’re picky) go a long way toward creating a welcoming environment.

Customer service skills training can greatly enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty;customer service training videos enable you to do this in a cost-effective manner. Through right-way/wrong-way examples and solid teaching, videos model the customer service behaviors and attitudes that will make people want to do business with your organization again and again.

Recommended Training Resource:
The Employee’s Guide to Customer Loyalty is a compilation course that features several of CRM Learning’s most powerful customer satisfaction videos along with accompanying materials that give employees a clear path to creating a satisfied and loyal customer base.

Could a simple pickle be what sets your business apart from your competitors? According to Bob Farrell, founder of Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor and Restaurant, the answer is absolutely yes! In the training video ‘Give Them the Pickle,’ he explains how even the smallest things can lead to improved customer loyalty and satisfaction.

The Origin of the Pickle

After reading a letter from an unhappy customer who had been denied an extra pickle at his restaurant, Bob Farrell realized something important: something as small as a pickle could have a huge impact on how customers viewed his business. No matter what business you’re in, if you can find “pickles,” small things that mean a lot to the people you serve, you can make your customers happy.

Customers expect good service, but “good” often isn’t good enough. Because everyone’s striving to provide good service, you need something that really sets you apart. That’s your pickle. Something as small as spending 8 cents on a free pickle can help you keep a customer that will spend hundreds of dollars a year and tell others about how great you are. That’s a big return for a little pickle.

It’s All About Who You Serve

In the “Give ‘Em the Pickle” video, Farrell explains that your business is not what you sell, it’s who you serve. He also explains the four key principles your employees need to know in order to hear those magic words from the customer: “I’ll be back:”

• Service: You’re in the people business, so serving others needs to be your #1 priority. Employees who are proud of what they do and how they do it create customers who want to come back.
• Attitude: The way you think about your customers affects how you treat them. Choose to view customers with an attitude of respect.
• Consistency: Customers come back because they liked the way they were treated during their last visit. Set high standards and train your employees to stick to them every time to make sure every experience is a positive one.
• Teamwork: Working well together makes the whole team look great. Your customers will notice, and they’ll keep coming back.

“Give ’em the Pickle,” is a fun, lighthearted way to train employees on a subject that can dramatically improve how they interact with your customers. Don’t let something small come between you and repeat business – instead, just give ’em the pickle!
Recommended Training Resource: The Give ’em the Pickle package includes everything you need to train your employees in producing unrivaled customer satisfaction. This program includes a DVD, a CD-ROM with Leader’s Guide, PowerPoint Presentation, reproducible Participant Handouts, and more.

No matter your business’s size, you need a great relationship with your customers,  and that starts with your customer service team. Training your service team to interact positively with customers, and with each other, leads to improved productivity and cooperation. Customer service videos are a key resource when training your team.

Why are Customer Service Training Videos Effective?

Your employees won’t always walk into work knowing the best strategies for customer service. It’s up to you and your management team to make sure they have the skills they need to succeed. Customer service training videos are an effective way to make sure your customer service team is learning the skills they need to impress your customers and go above and beyond. Here’s why:

• Through a combination of sounds and visuals, customer service training videos enable trainees to process information in two different ways. This helps to reinforce information in multiple areas of the brain.
• Customer service training videos are engaging. By using compelling stories, actionable information, and humor, well-made training videos entice their viewers’ interest, helping ensure the information they provide is retained.
• Customer service training videos feature variety of scenarios. Rather than reading or hearing about only one or two anecdotes, training videos allow their viewers to see how a variety of scenarios play out, providing more insight into the subtleties of customer service.
• Customer service  training videos provide consistency in training. Unlike live presentations, you know that by watching the same video, the entirety of your customer service team hears the same information. This builds a common base of knowledge throughout your team.

The Benefits of Customer Service Training

Why bother with customer service training at all? Because it provides benefits for both your customers and your staff.

• Customer Benefits: Customers who interact with trained service members tend to be more satisfied with their interaction. They’ll be more inclined to choose you over other businesses, and will enjoy the feelings of loyalty their positive interactions with your staff evokes.
• Staff Benefits: Showing your staff that you care about their career progress and individual development helps to improve their motivation, confidence, and morale. They’ll communicate better with customers and with each other, improving productivity and creating a positive work environment.

Recommended Training Videos

The Customer Service Toolkit is a collection of 72 video clips that cover a wide variety of customer service skills.s. This collection is great for helping your team build confidence and improve their interactions with customers and with each other.