Program overview

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a term that refers to practices, strategies, and technologies that companies use to manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer life cycle, with the goal of improving customer service relationships and assisting in customer retention and driving sales growth. Maintaining outstanding customer relationship that makes the customer feel important and valued is an essential component to the organization’s long-term success. Providing outstanding customer service often makes the difference between gaining and keeping a customer or losing one. This training program offers participants the tools and techniques to build and maintain beneficial relationships with customers, to make them become loyal supporters of their organization. It also analyses the key components of CRM and explains how it is integrated within an organization.

For whom:

This program is designed for anyone in the organization who needs to build effective relationships with external and internal customers. This includes help desk, technical support, and frontline or support staff. This course will also be of interest to managers and team leaders wishing to coach and develop staff performance toward a customer-focused culture.

Learning objectives:

At the end of the course, participants will be able to:

■ Appreciate and understand the terms and benefits of CRM

■ Explain the different components of a CRM plan

■ Identify how CRM creates value for organizations and customers

■ Adopt techniques that routinely deliver positive customer service

■ Maximize the value of customer interactions with your organization

■ Effectively handle difficult customers and turn complaints into opportunities

■ Develop a customer-centric culture to achieve greater growth and customer satisfaction

■ Demonstrate a positive, confident, and professional approach with internal and external customers

Course outline:

DAY 1: Customer Relationship Management: Why it matters?

■ Developing a relationship of mutual trust

o Calculating the lifetime value of your customer

o Exceeding customer expectations

o Creating the Customer Experience

§ Presenting a positive first impression

■ Identifying the differentiators of excellence

o Taking responsibility for demonstrating customer care

■ Fostering long term relationships,

o Adopting a positive mental attitude

o Small actions that ensure attention to detail

DAY 2: Communicating Effectively with the Customer

■ Developing excellent communication skills

o Establishing rapport with your customer

o What you say and how you say it

o Verbal and vocal techniques that work

o Matching words with non-verbal communication

Adopting a problem-solving approach

o Using active listening skills, employing questioning techniques

o Using team approach with the customer

· Achieving results for the remote customer

o Applying best practices in call centre etiquette

o Top tips for e-customer care

DAY 3: Dealing Constructively with Tough Situations

■ Calming upset customers with active listening

o Demonstrating emotional intelligence and displaying empathy

o Establishing rapport and diffusing anger

■ Techniques for dealing with difficult people

o Remaining objective in challenging situations

o Asserting your position through polite repetition

o Handling the obstinate customer

■ Transforming complaints into opportunities

o Generating useful feedback and learning

o Turning a negative situation into a loyal customer

DAY 4: Contributing to a Customer Service Culture

■ Demonstrating leadership in customer service teams

o Influencing a customer-centric culture

■ Measuring customer satisfaction

o Setting and monitoring performance standards

o Tracking progress with internal indicators

o Enabling customers to express satisfaction

o Constructing a customer service charter

■ Monitoring the team’s development

o Seeing customer service as an attitude, not an accident

o Coaching your team for success

DAY 5: Making Excellence a Habit

■ The Characteristics and best practice of excellence

■ “Sharpening the saw” to hone your customer service skills

■ Projecting a professional image with internal and external customers

■ Creating a service-centered action plan (SCAT)

■ Understanding organizational goals

Training Methodology

Lectures, discussions, exercises, and case studies will be used to reinforce these teaching/learning methods.