Skillset programs build common service microskills throughout the organization to manage a diversity of customer interactions.
The courses are relevant and useful for people serving external customers, as well as for those working with internal service partners.

Superior Service Microskills - Overview

Superior Service Microskills is a competency-based program which provides simple, robust and effective service microskills to enable service employees to achieve service excellence. The course is application-based and the participants acquire the service microskills through a variety of learning exercises and practice sessions of real-life customer scenarios. In this workshop, service employees will learn the relevant 'how-to' in their customer interaction that are designed for them to implement immediately to strengthen customer experience for the positive moment of truth.

Empower yourself with these simple strategies for greater impact in your customer's interaction.

Key Learning Pointers

• Using of service language (C.R.M.) with logic and specific details to foster mutual respect, and promote understanding with customer especially when replying on organization's policies.
  
  
• Saying 'No' using service language (C.R.M.) and avoiding phrases that makes customer upset - Blaming, Discounting, Giving Orders and Excuses.
  
  
• Synchronizing non-verbal cues (body language and tone of voice) to the service language (C.R.M.) to project optimism in anticipating successful outcomes. Reshaping the top five undesirable tone of voice - bullet train, soft, weak and quivering voice, verbal garbage collector, mumble-r and monotonous cyborg.
  
  
• Identifying personal listening barriers and styles - Biased, Distracted, Impatient and Passive Listening Styles verus customer-centered listening. Using empathetic listening to calm the customer and bringing him to a more rational frame of mind to consider the solutions presented to him.
  
  
• Asking effective questions to obtain a "Yes" buy-in from customer. Demonstrating initiatives and resourcefulness in exceeding customer's needs and presenting the solutions in a systematic manner.

• Using organization specific case studies, participants craft their service script of how they will handle the routine and challenging service situations and applying the service microskills they have learnt.
  
  
• Post-training activities : partner-learning involved development of action steps for support, encouragement and accountability for positive purposes, motivation (energy) for desirable behaviors and to make sure we are not running in vain (off-course).

Engaging "Difficult" Customers With Impact - Overview

Challenging situations are critical moments of truth during which the customers can be satisfied or lost. Service professionals engage different customers who are upset and demanding, know-it-alls, complainers and even the same customer has different needs at different times. How you choose to handle the customers can make all the difference between creating a satisfied customer versus the scenario in which the customer walks away unsatisfied with the service. The ability to handle strong emotions, defuse conflict and resolve issues while preserving the customer relationship and professional credibility is essential to retaining your customers and your brand integrity. This requires the service professionals to be skilful to apply "the lens of understanding" in the customer interaction cycle.

This program is highly experiential and builds service micro-skills for the professionals to handle challenging customer interactions with finesse and professionalism. It is application-based and the service professionals will acquire the service micro-skills to understand, impact and influence difficult customers and colleagues confidently and assertively.The methodology follows Adult Learning Theory where the learning methods will be participative.The focus will be on addressing real-life service issues. The emphasis will be on the "How" of handling difficult situations. The approach will be translating concepts into applications. In the situational analysis, participants will share their experience in this peer learning activities. They are asked to identify the causes for service lapses, resistance for change and actions that can be taken for service recovery. Through actual work situations, participants will learn to craft and practice the responses appropriate for their situations.

If you work with people who are difficult, the good news is
you spend time to study them,
understand the patterns of their behaviour,
and plan your strategic response.

Key Learning Pointers

• Engaging difficult clients with a four stage process of the Customer interaction Cycle - G.A.S.P.: Gathering, Acknowledging, Solving and Performing.
  
  
• Tuning into self and others using Technology of Participation (ToP) workshop method for group facilitation. Engaging difficult customers with impact - What is holding you back?
  
  
• Analyzing customer's patterns of communication to understand his expressed and unexpressed needs (e.g. get it done, get it right, get along, get appreciated) and frame your client engagement accordingly.
  Examples :
  Aggressive behavior creating a scene, Not able to give customer what he asks for, customer needs an immediate answer, customer blames you for someone's mistake, customer has already had the run-around, enforcing rules and regulations etc.
  
  
• Using "I-R" (Involving and Reasoning) approach to convince the customer it is in his interest to consider your point of view.
  
  
• Expanding self-discovery with a listening evaluation to identify gaps in customer-centric listening Checking (i) do I allow the customer to speak even if I do not agree with him? and (ii) am I able to see things from the customer's point of view?
  
  
• Manage upset customers constructively and formulate a case plan to influence customers to co-create feasible solutions together.
  
  
• Using positive words in outcome frames rather than blame frames, to engage the customer's goodwill. Avoiding negative words and "You" in negative situations so that customer does not feel that he is singled out for negative news.
  Examples : disapprove, error, incomplete, trouble, problem, wrong, unclear, unfortunately negative words and words with negative connotations.

• Sharing responsibility for the quality of service the team provides. Service is as good as the weakest link in the chain.

• Together Everyone Achieves More - service professionals coming together to create mutually cooperative relations and pursue a common goal in order to produce a synergistic effect.
  

• Using specific case studies of challenging customers' needs and expectations to craft the customer-centric response in "Engaging Difficult Customers With Impact". The sharing of ways to respond to the customers' changing and increasing needs and expectations using Customer interaction Cycle - G.A.S.P.: Gathering, Acknowledging, Solving and Performing will add to the collective body of knowledge within the team.
  

Co-creation Through Service Micro-skills - Overview

This highly interactive workshop is for professionals who co-create the external and internal customer engagements and want to increase the level of skills, confidence and effectiveness of their service excellence. Are you able to accomplish the service work and what are crucial for a great customer engagement? Or do you find when challenges strike, obstacles arise, and plateaus hit that it is easier to give up? Most of us would like to be a little grittier when it comes to achieving our service goals, and cultivating the passion and perseverance to co-create a fulfilling customer engagement. In this workshop, the service professionals will be introduced to accomplish more of what matters for a great customer experience with the co-creation mindsets and behaviours which will help to bring effective service solutions to the customers. It is for anyone who works with others to co-create solutions and are looking for practical and proven ways to enhance the quality and engagement of the customer experiences.

Key Learning Pointers

• Cultivating more grit by applying a simple and scientific framework to develop your passion and perseverance for service excellence..
  
  
• Increasing your range, creativity and delight to bring more of your best self to the way you serve. Ways to boost lateral thinking for service ideas and multiple food for thought.
  
  
• Focusing on practices which help to boost confidence and adaptability when co-creating the experience with customers and colleagues. Practising the art of accepting and building on the ideas for service excellence.
  
  
• Serving together smarter and more joyfully with service micro-skills.
  
  
• Discovering practical ways to co-create with the customers and colleagues to ensure high engagement for service excellence
  
  
• Using appreciative conversations for open roads of co-creation : Accepting, Listening, Respecting, Encouraging,Supporting, Trusting, Negotiating.
  
  
• Finding the engine of connection for co-creation : belonging, power, safety, security and survival, choices and serious fun. Be aware of the danger of the dead end roads of obstruction : Criticising, Blaming, Complaining, hreatening, Punishing
  

• Working with your inner creative self and learn how to use resources to talk about things that matter, in engaging and powerful ways.