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- Customer Service Excellence and Complaint Handling Course (2 days)
Customer Service Excellence and Complaint Handling Course (2 days)
Set clear service standards, measure how well your team meets them, and win back unhappy customers before they leave.
Service excellence is not a slogan. It is a set of daily behaviours that keep customers coming back, and a way of checking whether they do. This two-day customer service excellence course gives front-line staff and the team leaders who manage them both halves of the job: the skills and standards to serve well every day, and a full day on difficult customers, complaints and service recovery.
Day one covers service excellence: internal and external customers in the service chain, mapping the customer journey, the core skills of greeting, listening, questioning and responding, and then setting service standards, measuring customer satisfaction on an ongoing basis and recommending corrective action. Day two tackles the hard part: why customers become difficult, de-escalation on the telephone and face to face, a step-by-step complaint process, saying no without losing the customer, drawing the line at abusive behaviour, and answering written and social media complaints.
Role-plays run throughout and use your own customers and channels where you share them. Every delegate leaves with a personal action plan, and team leaders leave with a service recovery plan for their team.
Why this course
For your organisation
- Written service standards and a simple way to measure them
- Complaints handled the same way by every staff member
- Fewer complaints escalating to managers or public review sites
- More customers retained after something goes wrong
- Team leaders who coach service behaviour every day
For your delegates
- Core service skills practised in realistic role-plays
- A step-by-step process for any complaint
- Words that calm an angry customer and say no politely
- Confidence to answer written and social media complaints
- A personal action plan, and a team service recovery plan for leaders
What delegates will be able to do
- Identify the internal and external customers in your service chain and what each one values
- Map a customer journey and find the moments that shape satisfaction
- Apply greeting, listening, questioning and responding skills consistently
- Set service standards and key performance areas for a team
- Measure customer satisfaction regularly and recommend corrective action
- De-escalate an angry customer on the telephone and face to face
- Handle a complaint from first contact to follow-up using a set process
- Say no, offer alternatives and draw the line at abusive behaviour
- Respond to written and social media complaints in the right tone
- Build a service recovery plan for your team
Who should attend
Front-line and customer-facing staff, call centre agents, complaints handlers, sales and client service professionals, team leaders and supervisors responsible for service performance, and small business owners who deal with customers directly. Staff and their team leaders can attend this customer care course together.
Course outline
Day 1 – Service excellence and service standards
Why service excellence matters
- The cost of poor service to revenue, reputation and morale
- Internal and external customers in the service chain
- What customers actually buy: buying motivation
- Building a service culture, not just a service department
- The service challenges delegates bring with them
Know your customer
- Customer groups and what each one values
- Customer expectations versus your service standards
- Moments of truth in the customer journey
- Mapping a customer journey from your own workplace
Core customer service skills
- Ownership: following through on what you promise
- Tone, clarity and positive language
- Attitude and motivation on a hard day
- Professional greetings in person, by telephone and in writing
- Building rapport quickly
Listening, questioning and responding
- Listening to understand rather than to reply
- Questioning to uncover the real need
- Resetting expectations honestly
- Working towards solutions with the customer
- Customer appreciation and follow-up
Service standards and measuring satisfaction
- Setting service standards and key performance areas
- Measuring customer satisfaction on an ongoing basis
- Surveys, feedback, mystery shopping and complaint data
- Recording and evaluating the results
- Recommending and tracking corrective action
Leading service in your team
- Giving team members feedback against the service standards
- Monitoring service levels with internal and external customers
- Coaching service behaviour every day
- Drafting a service excellence action plan for your team
Day 2 – Difficult customers, complaints and service recovery
Understanding difficult customers
- Why customers become difficult: venting, seeking accountability or needing a resolution
- The right attitude starts with you
- Your own internal and external stress triggers
- Transactional analysis: staying in Adult mode when the customer is not
- Cultural sensitivity with a diverse customer base
De-escalation techniques
- Listen before you solve
- Acknowledge the emotion, then address the issue
- Controlling pace, tone and body language
- Phrases that calm and phrases that inflame
- De-escalation on the telephone versus face to face
Complaint handling and service recovery
- A step-by-step complaint handling process
- Taking ownership without conceding fault too early
- Offering a concrete next step and a timeline
- Turning a well-handled complaint into loyalty
- Role-plays: the angry, the rude and the impossible-to-please customer
Saying no and handling abusive customers
- Saying no while keeping the customer
- Offering alternatives and explaining the reasons
- Drawing the line at abusive, threatening or discriminatory behaviour
- When and how to end an interaction and escalate
- Looking after staff after a hostile interaction
Written complaints and social media
- Responding to complaints by email and letter
- Tone and structure for a written response
- Public complaints on social media and review sites
- When to take a public conversation private
- Following up once a complaint is resolved
Service recovery plan and close
- A service recovery plan for your team
- Complaint logging, trend analysis and fixing root causes
- Key learnings from both days
- Personal action plan and evaluation
How it is delivered
Two days, 08:30-16:00. In person at your offices anywhere in South Africa, at a BOTI venue, or live online. One delegate or a group of up to 20; mixed groups of staff and team leaders work well. Workbook, role-play scenarios and action plan templates included. We deliver it at your offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and anywhere else in South Africa, at a BOTI venue in Johannesburg, or live online for teams in different places.
What our clients say
★★★★★ 4.8 on Google from 790+ reviews · word-for-word quotes from signed letters of reference, from clients on this and/or related BOTI courses
“All training programmes were delivered in a highly professional manner, with effective coordination and strict adherence to our scheduling requirements. The facilitators demonstrated a commendable level of expertise, and the quality of delivery consistently met our expectations.”
“The sessions … were exceptionally well-organized and seamlessly integrated into our schedule. We were highly impressed by the calibre of the training and the deep expertise demonstrated by the facilitator.”
“…the general feedback received was that the course was very informative and participative. The training and the facilitator was of a high quality. We highly recommend BOTI for training services.”
Frequently asked questions
Can you run this course at our offices?
Yes. Most groups are trained at the client's premises anywhere in South Africa; we can also host it at a BOTI venue or deliver it live online.
How many people can attend?
From one delegate to groups of 20. The price per delegate drops as the group grows – see the price table, or ask us for a quote.
Is it accredited?
No – it is a non-accredited short course and delegates receive a BOTI certificate of attendance.
How is this different from the one-day Customer Service Excellence course?
The one-day course covers everyday service skills for front-line staff. This two-day customer service course adds service standards and measuring satisfaction on day one, and gives a full second day to difficult customers, complaints and service recovery.
Can the role-plays use our own complaints?
Yes. Send us a few typical complaints, emails or social media posts beforehand (with personal details removed) and the facilitator builds them into the practice sessions.
Is there a course just for difficult customers?
Yes – the one-day Handling a Difficult Customer course focuses on that alone, including managing your own stress.
Related courses
Ask a consultant for a written quote
A BOTI consultant emails you a written quote, usually within 15 minutes (Mon–Fri, 08:00–17:00). After hours, we reply on the next working day. To speak to someone now, call 011 882 8853.
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