This document provides training on improving customer service skills over the telephone. It discusses goals of enhancing comfort, confidence, and the university's public image. The training covers defining customer needs, the 5 dimensions of customer service, managing calls, projecting a positive attitude, and techniques for difficult calls. Trainees are taught to recognize customer needs, respond quickly with accurate information, show genuine concern, and follow through reliably. The document also offers guidance for handling angry, abusive, or difficult callers in a calm and empathetic manner.

1. Customer Service
on the Telephone

2. Goals
 Improve comfort and confidence on the
phone
 Use customer-service strategies that get
results
 Enhance the public’s image of the
University by providing superior customer
service over the phone

3. Objectives
At the end of this training, you will be able
to define and describe:
1. A Customer’s Basic Needs
2. 5 Dimensions of Customer Service
3. How to Manage a Call
4. Projecting a Positive Image
5. Techniques for handling difficult phone
situations

4. Questions to Ask
Yourself
 Do my current skills help reduce my
stress when dealing with difficult calls?
 Do I enjoy being at work when I make a
valuable contribution to the university?
 Does the university save money when I
provide accurate and responsive
customer service on the phone?
 Do I feel personally satisfied when I’m
doing a great job?

5. Why Should You
Improve?
 Every call is an opportunity to enhance customer
relations, your image, and the image of the
university.
 Remember: The typical person tells 20 people
about a negative experience and tells only 5 people
about a positive experience.

6. The Basic Needs of the
Customer on the Phone
 To be recognized and remembered
 To feel valued
 To feel appreciated
 To feel respected
 To feel understood
 To feel comfortable about a want or need
View each caller (both internal and
external) as a customer

7. Satisfying customers over
the telephone is often more
challenging than serving
face-to-face.

8. 5 Dimensions of
Customers Service
1. Professionalism
2. Speedy Responses
3. Accurate Information
4. Genuine Concern
5. Reliable Follow-through

9. 5 Dimensions
1. Professionalism - use thank you and
please, control background noise, don’t use
office-specific jargon or acronyms
2. Speedy Responses - predict follow-up time,
don’t pad conversation with idle chatter,
don’t take more than 24 hours to return a
call, time is money

10. 5 Dimensions (Con’t)
3. Accurate Information - use easy-to
understand examples, don’t blame others,
don’t use outdated material
4. Genuine Concern - use empathy, don’t
judge caller’s feelings, don’t let one
negative call “bleed” into another
5. Reliable Follow-up - responsibility to carry
out promised action

11. Positive Attitude
The Engine that drives
excellent service
forward.
The key ingredient in providing the
5 Dimensions of Customer Service.

12. 1. Creates goodwill with caller
2. Reduces the potential for irritating the
caller
3. Lessens stress for you
4. Helps you enjoy your job more
5. Creates a more productive work
environment
Advantages of a Positive Attitude

13. Projecting a Positive Attitude
 Keep organized work space
 Make conscious effort to be
positive
 Link being positive with
consequences
 Choose role model who is positive
 Focus on the caller’s needs
instead of your own
 Feelings are a choice

14. Managing the Call
 Answer Promptly (within 3 rings)
 Greet the Caller and Identify Yourself
 Offer to Help
 Listen Carefully
 Use Caller’s name

15. Example
“XYZ Financial Services, this is Jan, how
may I help you today?”
“Yes, Mary, I will check on the status of your
application. Would you like to hold, or would
you prefer I call you back in a few minutes
with an answer?”

16. Applying Positive Attitude to
Create Positive Impressions
 Word choices seem simple, but small
changes make a dramatic difference
 Positive phrasing creates an
environment where caller can respond
with an open mind
“Hold on a minute?” – positive?

17. Turn Negative Into Positive
 “She’s not in yet.”
 “It’s a computer problem.”
 “Your file must be lost.”
 “That’s not my job.”
 “We never received your application.”

18. Managing the Call
 Avoid blind transfers
 Ask the caller whether he or she can hold
 Tell caller to whom they’re being transferred
 Briefly introduce the caller to the coworker
 Closing the Call
 Close Call Formally
 Repeat action you agreed to take
 Say “Good-bye” instead of “Bye-bye”

19. How to Give Bad News
The Sandwich Technique:
Insert the bad news
in-between two pieces
of good news

20. Voice Mail
 Keep it short
 Suggest person get something to take
notes on
 Give your availability
 Repeat name and phone number at the
end
 Close with “Thank-you”

21. Angry Callers
 Recognizing the Signs of an Angry Caller:
 High-pitch speech
 Long pauses
 Sighs
 Demands
 Short-terse answers
 Volume gets louder

22. 2 Problems of the Angry
Caller
1. A relationship problem with the University
 University’s relationship with the customer is
broken
 Usually because basic needs aren’t being
met
2. Specific problem that needs attention

23. 7 Steps for Resolving the
Angry Customer’s Problem
1. Deal with feelings first. Listen and respond with
empathy.
2. Ask questions to get specifics about the complaint
3. Summarize caller’s problem to get agreement
4. Offer a choice of alternatives to fix the problem
5. Let the customer decide which alternative to use
6. Follow through on what you agree to do
7. When possible, do something extra

24. Abusive Caller
Definition:
 A caller who goes beyond expressing
anger about a problem and begins
attacking the person handling the call
 Often includes swearing and personal
attacks

25. Handling Abusive Callers
Abusive Callers:
 Stay Calm
 You’re not the target
 Give caller warning
 “I beg your pardon?”
 “I don’t appreciate the language you are using.”
 “If you aren’t able to talk with me without swearing, I
will have to end this call.”
 If the call terminates, inform supervisor
immediately

26. Handling Other Difficult Situations
 Two or more calls at once: ask if one
can hold, thank for patience
 Caller angry about being transferred/put
on hold: brief, blameless apology
 Caller hangs up: tell supervisor
 Caller is crying: use empathy and slow
your pace, use “take your time”

27. More Difficult Situations
 Caller uses another language-don’t
increase volume, try simple phrases
 Caller is mentally challenged-gear level
of language, focus on critical
information, summarize for agreement
 Caller asks for manager- try to address
the problem yourself, ask if they can
hold, inform manager